The mounts are the fleshy pads under the fingers and along the edges of the palm, which palmistry names after the grahas (Jupiter, Saturn, Sun, Mercury, Mars, Venus and Moon) and reads for the different colours of a temperament. This is a traditional reading, not a forecast: no mount decides your fate, and there is no direct arithmetic linking them to the planets in your birth chart.
Where the mounts are
In the diagram above each mount is marked with a labelled circle. To see them on your own hand, cup the palm slightly and the pads rise.
- Jupiter (Guru): below the index finger.
- Saturn (Shani): below the middle finger.
- Sun (Surya): below the ring finger.
- Mercury (Budh): below the little finger.
- Upper Mars: on the outer edge of the palm, below Mercury, between the heart and head lines.
- Lower Mars: between the thumb and index finger, inside the start of the life line, above Venus.
- Plain of Mars: the hollow in the middle of the palm, between the two Mars mounts.
- Venus (Shukra): the fleshy base of the thumb, encircled by the life line.
- Moon (Chandra): the lower outer part of the palm, above the wrist in line with the little finger.
Some Hindi books also assign the centre of the palm to Rahu and the area near the wrist to Ketu, but the books do not agree on where, so most readers work with the nine areas above.
What tradition reads in each mount
Each mount is seen in three states: balanced, flat, or overdeveloped. Tradition rates balance highest; both the absence of a quality and its excess are worth noticing.
| Mount | Balanced | Flat or low | Overdeveloped |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jupiter | leadership, confidence, a liking for teaching | hesitancy, avoiding the front | pride, dominating others |
| Saturn | patience, discipline, serious thought | a light, easy-going nature | love of solitude, excess worry |
| Sun | art, a sense of beauty, recognition | shuns display, works quietly | hunger for praise |
| Mercury | speech, business sense, quick wit | shy of speaking up | a lean toward cleverness over candour |
| Upper Mars | staying power, calm under pressure | giving up quickly | stubbornness |
| Lower Mars | courage, the nerve to begin | avoiding conflict | quick temper |
| Plain of Mars | level: a balanced mind | very hollow: low self-belief | raised: restlessness |
| Venus | affection, warmth, zest for life, music and art | a cool, reserved nature | a pull toward indulgence |
| Moon | imagination, intuition, love of travel | practical, less fanciful | daydreaming, a wandering mind |
Displaced mounts
Readers also note whether the highest point of a mount sits right under its finger or leans toward a neighbour. Jupiter leaning toward Saturn is read as seriousness added to leadership; the Sun leaning toward Mercury as business sense added to art. This is fine-grained reading, and experienced readers disagree about it.
Mounts and lines together
Mounts are never read alone. The life line encircles Venus, the head line slopes toward the Moon, the fate line climbs toward Saturn, the sun line ends on the mount of the Sun. A clear mark on a mount, such as a star or square, is read together with it too.
What the mounts cannot tell you
- Doshas in your chart. A flat Saturn or Mars mount is no proof of "Shani dosha" or being manglik. That is a separate calculation from the kundli.
- Health. How full a mount looks depends on muscle, age, weight and the work your hands do. No mount diagnoses illness.
- Wealth or failure. Mounts describe temperament, not outcomes.
- Anything permanent. The mounts of people who work with their hands change over time, so treating them as a fixed stamp is a mistake.
Indian and Western readings
The planet names for the mounts are nearly the same in both traditions: Western books use the Graeco-Roman gods (Jupiter, Saturn, Apollo, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Luna), Indian books the navagraha. Cheiro split Mars into two mounts with a plain between them, and many Hindi books took over that layout. Indian reading puts more weight alongside on the thumb and the relative length of the fingers.
How to look at your own mounts
- Which hand: the common teaching is that the working hand shows present effort and the other inborn nature. Differences in the mounts usually show more on the working hand, whose muscles move more.
- Compare within the hand. Weigh one mount against the others on the same palm, not against someone else's.
- Light: light from the side throws a shadow that shows each rise clearly.
- Touch: press lightly with your thumb. A full, springy pad counts as raised, a flat, firm one as low.
Read next
For marks that appear on the mounts, see signs on the palm, and read the sun line and life line. The full list is on the palmistry hub. For hand shape, mounts and lines together, read our palm reading lines guide, or if you would like your own palm read from a photo, try the online palm reading.