Which is the best Lal Kitab Book?

Long back I had written an article by the name of "Which Lal Kitab Book" to tell Lal Kitab students which are the good and the bad books available on this subject. The article was written in year 2004 and since then, much water has flown through the Ganga. One very important development is that now almost all five editions of Lal Kitab are available in Hindi, which gives Hindi readers more options. Today, somebody asked about Lal Kitab reference books in my Lal Kitab discussion forum and this was my answer (with some enhancements) -

Lal Kitab is not a name of one single book. There are five books published during year 1939 to 1952 written by Pt. Roop Chand Joshi. One need to read all those books to understand Lal Kitab fully. In my opinion 1952 edition is the most exhaustive and must be the first book to be read by all Lal Kitab enthusiasts. 1952 edition also covers most of the content in previous editions and hence kind of super-set of all Lal Kitab editions. The best transliteration so far for 1952 edition is available in the form of "Arun Samhita", published by Hare Krishna Trust, Chandigarh. Due the nature of language used in Lal Kitab, it is very difficult to understand in one single reading. My suggestion to Lal Kitab students is that one need to read and reread Lal Kitab to understand it.

For further reading, I would suggest reading books in following sequence -

• 1942 edition (Lal Kitab - Tarmeem Shuda): Hindi transliteration of 1942 edition by Pt. Beni Madhav Goswami is available from Durga Pocket Books.
• 1940 edition (Lal Kitab ke Armaan): Hindi transliteration by Pt. Beni Madhav Goswami available from Himalaya Publications/ Sagar Publications
• 1941 edition (Lal Kitab - Teesra Hissa, also known as Gutka): Hindi transliteration by Yograj Prabhakar available from Rahul Computers, Patiala
• 1939 edition (Lal Kitab ke Farmaan): Hindi transliteration by Pt. Beni Madhav Goswami available from Himalaya Publications/ Sagar Publications. This is primarily a book on Palmistry aspect of Lal Kitab.

Two other recommended books are -

• Lal Kitab Prishthabhoomi Aur Vyakhaya by Pt. Krishna Ashant
• Lal Kitab Aur Kashta Nivaran by Sumat Prasad Kalka

Both of the above books are good introductory books, but have some serious shortcomings. For example, reasoning behind remedies is flawed in both the books. So wherever these authors have explained the working of Lal Kitab remedies, those sections should be ignored. Also Pt. Ashant book's section on background of Lal Kitab does not seems to be correct where he questions the authorship of Pt. Roop Chand Joshi. Probably both the books -Krishna Ashant's book and Arun Samhita - questioned the authorship to avoid copyright issues. Sumat Prasad Kalka's book has listed remedies for all nine planets in twelve houses. That is not only incorrect but also risky. Remedies should always be suggested by analyzing the overall chart and should not be given for individual planet position. Lal Kitab has given detailed grammar (rules for analyzing chart) and the cause of problem should be identified using the grammar and the remedies should be suggested to solve that particular problem. In other words, last two books should be used with caution.

Note:

• One can find a list of astrology book stores here.
• If you are looking for the book in English, you will have to rely on the old article for some information on the Lal Kitab books in English. Nothing much has changed on English landscape.

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Lal Kitab in Hindi

A transliteration of 1952 edition of Lal Kitab (last and the most detailed edition of Lal Kitab) is available at Scribd at -
http://www.scribd.com/doc/3926068/1952vol1
http://www.scribd.com/doc/3926454/1952vol2
http://www.scribd.com/doc/3926313/1952vol3
You can read it online or download it in PDF format.

1941 Edition of Lal Kitab is available to download from -
http://www.archive.org/details/LalKitab1941

Apart from this, two other editions of Lal Kitab books can be found in Lal Kitab Yahoogroup's file section (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lalkitab/files/). Here are name of two files -

1. lal-kitab-in-hindi.pdf
2. Lalkitab-Hindi.pdf

Please note that you need to be a member of above forum for downloading these two books.

Free Online Lal Kitab Book

A free online book on Lal Kitab can be found at -

http://www.astrosage.com/lalkitab/LKintroduction.asp

This book in English serves a good introduction and reference.

What is Lal Kitab?

Lal Kitab is one of the branches of Vedic Astrology like KP System, Jaimini Astrology, Tajik Astrology, Nadi Astrology etc. I mean you can judge a kundli (birth chart) using various different methods and Lal Kitab is one of them. Lal Kitab method of birth chart assessment has been developed by Late Pt. Roop Chand Joshi. He has written five books all by the name of Lal Kitab and hence the name. The first book was written in year 1939 and the last & the fifth book was written in 1952. Lal Kitab is famous primarily because of its easy remedial measures. Lal Kitab talks in details about the remedies (upaya) that one can perform for various problematic planetary positions in a birth chart.

The language used in Lal Kitab is Urdu/Hindi popular during 1939-1952 period and written in Urdu script (Nastaliq). The language of the book makes it difficult to understand and that is the reason there are not many astrologers who understand Lal Kitab. Most of the astrologers use name of Lal Kitab just to make money without any in-depth knowledge of this system.

Lal Kitab remedies if correctly suggested and performed can be very useful. Though as I mentioned not many astrologers have the knowledge of this subject and they suggest remedy based on their half-baked knowledge. Mind you that the remedies of Lal Kitab can also backfire if incorrectly suggested or performed.


References:
http://www.astrosage.com/lalkitab/

Lal Kitab Free Astrology Resources

Free Lal Kitab Books Download
Download Lal Kitab (in English)
Download Lal Kitab - Arun Samhita 1952 Edition (in Hindi)

Free Lal Kitab Software
http://www.astrosage.com/
http://www.mykundali.com/

Discussion Forum/ Mailing List
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lalkitab/

Other Resources
http://www.AstroSage.com/lalkitab/

If you know any other resource on Lal Kitab, please leave a comment with the information and I'll update this article.