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Leaves of life

Every individual's past, present, future and previous births are recorded on Ola

leaves say the believers. Ruwanthi Herat Gunaratne and Vidushi Seneviratne

report.It's a rainy Monday morning. But theinclement weather does not deterthe steady stream of people makingtheir way down a literally unknownlane on the seaside off Galle Road,Bambalapitiya. It's a mixed bunchthat enters the building. Youngstershiding behind their grandmothers'saris, stern-faced men claspingheavy files and folders, anxious-looking young couples and

schoolchildren dragged along byeager mothers.

What is the force that draws themhere? The building is notimpressive, there is no signboardinforming patrons of what is in storefor them. There's no smilingreceptionist to greet you. Thoughapprehensive at first we too enter,up the winding staircase and onto

the landing looking out to the sea. There is still no one to greet you,just a throng of people. There seems to be an unwritten set of rules

to follow. Slip off yourshoes and join the queue.

At 8 a.m. the main door opens and everyone scrambles to be the firstin. The procedure after that is simple. When your turn arrives, youplace two thumbprints on the given paper. You are then asked foryour birth-date, which is quickly noted down, as is your gender. After

that, it's time to wait. The door closes. By around nine, everyone is impatient. Yet there's not a murmurfrom the crowd.

The birth-dates are called out as a form of identification. It is then that you are told when to come back.But what is the ultimate goal of this tedious exercise? Simple, it's to fulfil a need that grips this country. It'sthe inherent desire to know your past, present and future being read by a complete stranger. There's palmistry and there's astrology. Numerous are the times we've listened to interpretations of ourhoroscopes. Now there are even computer-generated life histories. They analyse your life, yourpersonality through your handwriting and your body language. There's hypnosis and there's mind reading.And then there's the ola leaf.

But what are these ola leaf readings? "The horoscopes of people, Asian and non-Asian written on ancientola or palm leaves have been found in southern India, particularly in Tamil Nadu," says P. Jaisankar, thehead of the ola leaf readers down Galle Road who have been practising the art in Sri Lanka for the past19 years. "The ola leaf contains the life histories of nearly every human being on earth."

Saga of seven sagesWhere did the ola leaf reading originate? Three thousand yearsago, seven rishis (sages) in India set themselves a mission. Theywould write down the fate of as many people in the world as theycould.

These forecasts are said to have been originally written ongoatskins, later transcribed onto copper plaques and then ontoola leaves. The script was initially written in Sanskrit and was

translated to Tamil only a century ago. It seems that they weretutorial exercises set by the ancient sages to their pupils whowere set the task of composing the horoscopes of persons yet tobe born in a series of dates and times.

It is said that the leaves were unearthed during colonial times bythe British, who then auctioned them off. The ones that were leftover and retrieved are the leaves that can be found and readtoday.Source: Virtual Library

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According to the ola leaf readers, every individual's life can be split into 12 chapters. The first or generalchapter must be read, if you are to discover your fate in relation to the other chapters. The other chaptersrange from education, marriage and lifespan, to employment, details and particulars relating to parentsand siblings. For whoever is courageous enough to check it out, there is even a chapter on your previousbirth.When the thumbprint and birth-date are handed over to the readers, they shortlist a number of bundles,which carry roughly 50 ola leaves each. Once the thumbprint has been studied it can be categorised intoone of the 108-thumbprint varieties. Amongst them being Magudamse Saghu Rekha, Erusuti EruwalRekha and Sanggumani Vatta Rekha. But isn't each thumbprint unique? "Yes, it is. But there are a fewcommon traits in the lines, loops and dots." It is by using this method that the matching bundles arefound. On the appointed day, the leaf is read whilst a tape recording is made. There are several readersand translators, one pair dealing with a given leaf. The other Indian readers in Sri Lanka at present are B.S. Sendhil, Shanmuga Sunderam, Kalyana Sunderam, R. Sekhara and Gopal. The readers are selectedby their gurus in India as only a few are blest with the ability to read, they say.

After each sentence or part of it is read, it is followed by a translation in the required language. There isno discussion between the reader and the person seeking the horoscope except initially when he is askedto verify that the leaf is indeed his. Questions such as the initials of his parents' names, number of siblings

and age are asked. Yes or no answers are expected. After this initial communication the person canchoose the chapters to be read. No more questions are asked. The relevant chapters are noted at thebottom of the general leaf as reference.

Most of those who visit here on a regular basis, swear by the ola leaf readings. M. Silva from Kalutara firstvisited 'Shri Kowsika Agasthiya Nadi Astrological Bureau' on seeing a notice in the papers five years ago.He's been a regular ever since. "I've mainly questioned them on my children's education and marriage.They once told me that my daughter's first marriage would not be a success, and that she would have asecond marriage and one child. This troubled us and we resorted to fulfilling a vow that they asked us todo for the marriage to work. And it has."The vows vary depending on the religion of the person concerned. Most are encouraged to give alms tothe poor and help out in temples, kovils and churches. Ruvindra (23) is also a regular visitor. He first came here out of curiosity after completing his A/Lexamination. "They reeled off everything that was going on in my life at the time. They also foretoldaspects of the near future, which did come true." He also took some of his foreign friends along and theirreadings too proved to be accurate and satisfactory.

But there are the disbelievers. "When I first visited, the entire reading was very accurate, they even toldme where I live,"says Maria (30). "But I went back to them out of curiosity without my tape, and got themto read it again. It was a far cry from the first reading and I haven't gone back since." Thilan (28) is another disbeliever. "I felt that they retrieved most of the information from me. While thepast and the present was very accurate, the future was hazy." Some of our questions still remain unanswered. How is it possible that each and every person in theworld has a pre-written leaf? "Not everyone has the balma to have their leaves read, and some of theleaves did get misplaced during the last three thousand years. It all depends on an individual's karma,"insists Mr. Jaisankar.A translator at the establishment also said that they are yet unsure of how many generations have beencovered by the ola leaves. Some leaves not found in Sri Lanka at the moment have to be collected fromtheir main base in Tanjavur, famous for its ancient temples in southern India.

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The ola readers are confident that each individual's fate is pre-destined and written down word for wordon an ola leaf somewhere.