In the 18th century in the Punjab region of Pakistan, Pandit Giridhari Lal Ji Sharma was doing government job under the British administration. During that time some copper scripts written in Urdu and Persian language were dug out from a Lahore construction site.
Pandit Giridhari Sharma was a scholar astrologer and expertise linguist of that time, so the copper scripts were taken to him. For many years Pandit Ji studied those scripts and was able to come in a conclusion that the scripts were actually related to astrology and is from Lal Kitab.
Another school says that the Lal Kitab was actually the work of Pt Roopchand Ji Joshi who was a cousin of Pt Girdhar Lal Ji Sharma and that Pt 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.
In Mughal period especially during the reign of Akbar and Dara Shikoh, many researches had been done on Indian literature, Vedas, Upanishad, philosophical and astrological texts. Lal Kitab came into existence from those researches. 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 simply by a native without any kind of assistance.
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. But truth is that during the Mughal period this astrological discipline traveled to Arab countries from India. There astrologers manipulate the components of Lal Kitab as per their conveniences.
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 kundli and treat Aries as the only Ascendant.
The mathematical calculation in Lal Kitab is also different from Vedic mathematical method. Vedic astrology provides prediction on the basis of Vargh kundli, navamsha and dashamsha. In Lal Kitab predictions are provided on the basis of andhi kundli and nabalig kundli. Lal Kitab has unique principles regarding 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 if properly carried out.