Locating Aṅgavijjā: Prognostication in Jaina Tradition (c. First Century BCE – SixthCentury CE)

Abstract

Prognostication or fortune-telling is a fascinating esoteric tradition that was widely popular in
ancient India. A text that can be useful in understanding the prognostic institutions of the early
centuries CE is the Jaina Aṅgavijjā (lit. ‘knowledge from/ of the body’). Three major aspects can
be gleaned from a contextual and content analysis of the text – the advent and formalization of
the discipline of prognostication, its accommodation within the Jaina philosophical tradition, and
the relevance and incorporation of prognostication in the lives of its practitioners and seekers.