Study of palms for characterizing and foretelling the future is known as palmistry. There are various features of palmistry, each of which is essential for complete characterization. Practice of palmistry is popular throughout the world. Features of Palmistry include lines of hands, mounts on it, shapes of hands and various other aspects. Features of each hand differ from each other conferring different interpretations for each individual.

Significance of Right and Left Hand
Both the right and left hands are significant in their own ways. Traditionally it is believed that right hand represents the personality of an individual whereas the left hand is indicative of the potential of the person. It is also said that past of a person reflects in his left hand while his right hands shows his future. The choice of hand actually depends on the experience and instincts of the palmist. It has also been established that the left part of our brain controls our right hand and inference about the outer person, influence of social environment, experience and education of a person can be drawn from the right hand. On contrary, left hand is controlled by the right part of the brain and it represents the inner person including his natural self and lateral thinking.

Shape of Hands
Study of hands depends on crucial examination of all the features of hands among which the shape of hands is an important one. Various characteristic traits such as creativity, temperament, ambition, energy etc can be predicted with the help of the shape of hands. These shapes are commonly classified into various types such as Earth, Air, Water and Fire. Broad and square hands with thick fingers of ruddy colour are designated as Earth. Air hands generally have rectangular or square palms having long fingers. Short, oval shaped hands with long, conical and flexible fingers are called Water hands. Lastly, Fire hands represent rectangular or square palms having short fingers and pink skin.

Lines of Palms
Examination of the lines of palms is another important feature of palmistry. Commonly three lines are most prominently studied. Heart line which is present under the fingers towards the top of the palm deals with emotions and relationships of a person. Head line is the next important line that initiates under the index finger and runs across the palm towards its outside edge. This line signifies the thought process of a person, his intellect and communication style. Often this line merges with the life line. The third important line on the palm is the life line which starts from above the thumb and travels towards the wrist. This line represents the physical health of a person including his life changes, physical injuries and longevity. Apart from these three lines, there are various other lines on the palms too that signifies other aspects of a person`s life. These include fate line, Sun line, Union lines, Mercury line, Travel lines, Apollo line and Ominous line.

Mounts of Palms
Hands of each individual are divided into segments known as mounts. There are seven mounts present on each hand. Each mount is related to a specific planet and represent the planetary influences on one`s life. Various mounts on the palms are designated as Luna, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Sun, Mercury and Rahu and Ketu. Luna is related to the creativity, imagination and perception of a person. Venus corresponds to the presence of several qualities in a person like charm, kindness, love, harmony, sensuality and beauty. Mars relates to internal energy of a person which is categorized as positive and negative. Jupiter reflects confidence, ambition, justice and leadership in a person. Mount of Saturn indicates coordination and wisdom. Sun represents success, integrity and charisma whereas Mercury symbolises spontaneity, intuition and communicative ability. Mars denotes persistence and endurance. Mount of Rahu and Ketu are intricately linked where Rahu signifies the immediate environment and Ketu indicates the circumstances that had attracted a person in past and his attitude towards them. Study of mounts is ideal for understanding the real characteristics of a person.

Efficacy of palmistry is often questioned owing to the lack of empirical evidences. According to the scientific literature, palmistry is simply a manifestation of superstitious beliefs and is regarded as pseudoscientific. However palmistry is still prevalent in the country and is widely practiced throughout the country. Nowadays it is suggested by contemporary palmists that features of hands keep on changing over time and thus for appropriate characterisation repeated reading is required.