During the 19th century in Punjab region of Pakistan, Pandit Giridhari Lal Ji Sharma was working for the government under the British administration. At that time some copper scripts written in Urdu and Persian language were discovered from a Lahore construction site.

Pandit Giridhari Sharma was a scholar astrologer and an expert linguist of that time, so the copper scripts were taken to him. For many years Pandit Ji studied those scripts and came to a conclusion that the scripts were actually related to astrology and are from Lal Kitab.

Another school of thought says that the Lal Kitab was actually the work of Pandit Roopchand Ji Joshi who was a cousin of Pandit Girdhar Lal Ji Sharma and that Pandit Sharma was only the publisher of the book. Whichever is the authentic version, it remains true that Lal Kitab is a wonderful treatise of astrology that has some very powerful remedial measures.

Pandit Roop Chand Joshi had a good knowledge of Palmistry, Vaastu and face reading along with astrology. He attempted to make a good combination of all these and named it Samudrik Knowledge. Samudrik means ocean. He aimed to bring together various branches of prediction and make it one.

For the first time,it emerged that whatever is readable from a Kundali can also be judged from the palm and he explained it nicely. He first published a book titled Samudrik Ki Lal Kitab ke Farmaan in 1939. This book had many discrepancies and found difficult to understand. After a year another book titled Samudrik Ki Lal Kitab Ke Armaan was established.

Pandit Ji kept on improving it version after version. He also explained why the name Lal Kitab was given. According to him as per Hindu religion the colour red is an auspicious colour which represents Lord Ganesha and Maa Laxmi. In Hindu tradition, books of accounts are in red color binding. Lal Kitab is also Duniyavi Hisaab Kitab.

These books were written in a simple language so that common man could understand easily. In the Mughal period, especially during the reign of Akbar and Dara Shikoh, a lot of research was done on Indian literature, Vedas, Upanishad, philosophical and astrological texts.

Lal Kitab came into existence from that research. Lal Kitab gives more importance to predictive astrology than mathematical astrology. It has domestic usefulness that has been appreciated in Arab countries.

Soon Lal Kitab emerged as a popular astrological book because of simple Totkas that proved to be very efficient for common people. The Totkas can be performed easily by a native without any kind of assistance. The Lal Kitab Upay has become popular and has become part of daily life as these are simple for example feeding grass to a cow, offering food to girls below 8 years, giving food to dogs, offering coins in flowing water, feeding crows, etc. These remedies or Upay are simple as compared to wearing costly gems, doing Yagya and Havan which are also costly to the common man.

However, there are many superstitions regarding Lal Kitab in our society. Some people say that Lal Kitab was penned down after a voice was heard from the sky; another group says that Arab scholars wrote this astrological book. During the Mughal period this astrological discipline traveled to Arab countries from India.

Differences in Lal Kitab And Vedic Jyotish

Theoretically, Lal Kitab is very different from Vedic astrology. Vedic astrology gives prime importance to Ascendant whereas Lal Kitab doesn’t give any importance to Ascendant in a Kundali and treat Aries as the only Ascendant.

The mathematical calculation in Lal Kitab is also different from Vedic mathematical method. Vedic astrology provides a prediction on the basis of Vargh Kundali, Navamsha, and Dashamsha. In Lal Kitab predictions are provided on the basis of Andhi Kundali and Nabalig Kundali. Lal Kitab has unique principles regarding the aspect of houses.

Keeping aside the predictive and mathematical astrological methods of Lal Kitab, the Totka which has made Lal Kitab very popular is an effective measure for the common people. It has direct usage and instant results.