By - Nirendra Dev
India has always lived with astrology. But something has shifted. What was once a quiet personal habit is now a booming parallel economy — and a sociological warning sign.
Across West Bengal, Tripura, Assam and the northeastern states, astrologers, palmists and fortune tellers are reporting surging footfall. The clientele is young, anxious and surprisingly cross-religious. The driver, almost universally, is economic uncertainty.
From Kumbh to Parrot Astrology: Why Jobless India Is Turning to Fortune Tellers — and Becoming More Communal
“When the going is good — a government job or a PSU bank posting — people do not have time for astrology or fortune gazing,” says Nishi Das, 42, from Agartala. “It is when things stop going well that they come.”
Astrologer Vivekananda Kumar Roy in Coochbehar, West Bengal, says a large share of his clients are young people worried about two things: careers and relationships. “Anxious about the future — jobs, marriage — they come to us,” he says. “I can claim I have saved a few marriages by recommending certain stones.”
The methods on offer range from classical Vedic astrology and numerology to palmistry and the distinctly local phenomenon of parrot astrology — in which trained parrots select cards from a deck of astrological symbols to answer specific questions. What is new is the scale, the demographics, and the digital reach. Astrologers in Guwahati now report online clients from IT sectors in Florida and California. Apps and platforms offering free initial consultations are harvesting premium fees for personalised reports. The spiritual economy has gone global.
Cross-religious, cross-border
The trend cuts sharply across religious lines. In Meghalaya and Nagaland, Christians consult palmists — quietly, away from family and church. In the Silchar-Badarpur belt of Assam, Muslim business owners are known to retain Hindu astrologer-gurus.
In Bengal, sociologists note the irony: a state that was once a communist bastion, where astrology was openly mocked, is now one of the most fertile markets for mysticism.
“In my school days, our science teacher said astronomy is science; astrology is nonsense,” recalls Sanjeev Purkayashta from Jalpaiguri in North Bengal. “Today, that same teacher’s two children are practising astrologers — one in Siliguri, one in Kolkata.”
Kumbh, Kamakhya and the temple surge
The phenomenon is not limited to fortune tellers. Temple visits are surging. Kumbh 2025 drew record crowds from the Northeast. A BJP leader in Agartala — where the Left governed until 2018 — frames it as a cultural resurgence. “It is not only astrology. People from Tripura made a huge beeline for Kumbh. They visit Ma Kamakhya on every solemn occasion,” he says, describing a pattern where job successes, births of grandchildren and exam results are all marked by temple offerings.
Dhruv Pal, a young man from Ambasa in Tripura, is about to fly to Malaysia for a hotel industry job.
Before he boards the flight, his family is taking him to Kamakhya temple. “My father had prayed that if I got the job, we would offer puja at the temple,” he says simply.
A global anxiety, not a uniquely Indian one
This is not an Indian aberration. According to the Pew Research Center, roughly 3 in 10 American adults engage with astrology, tarot or fortune tellers at least once a year — though only about 1% say they rely heavily on these practices for major life decisions. Most describe it as “just for fun.”
A netizen on China’s Weibo recently observed: “A few years ago, hardly anyone believed in metaphysics. In the past two years, such beliefs have clearly become more common.”
The pattern is consistent: economic downturn breeds metaphysical seeking.
The dark side
Sociologists, however, are troubled by what lies beneath the surface. “We find people are becoming more communal and superstitious,” says Vivek Gurung in Siliguri, who moved from Pokhara, Nepal to India in 2010.
“When I came here, people had a better sense of values and a scientific bent of mind. Today, half of my friends will not shave or cut their hair on Tuesdays.
The worship of Hanuman has never been more intense.”
The concern is not faith itself — it is what faith is being used for. Increasingly, say sociologists, the turn to astrology and ritual is not deepening spiritual values but feeding a transactional, self-seeking impulse. Delhi has a word for it: jugad — the quick fix.
Get the stone, do the puja, and hope the outcome follows.
(courtesy - The Raisin Hills)
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