An Astrologer’s Day

R. K. NARAYAN
 About the Story

An Astrologer’s Day is a thriller, suspense story which

describes a day in the life of an ordinary but fake
astrologer.
The main character here in this story is an astrologer
who is unnamed.
 He earns his livelihood through selling his prophecies,
cosmic insights to gullible villagers though he does not
know the cosmos or actual spiritual insights.
There is a typical situation of the astrologer where he has
to face his past life’s story. He becomes an astrologer just
to hide the crime which he had done in the past.
 About the Story contd…

He changes his outlook and life style so that his

crime won’t be revealed. He uses his mind
completely in making people fools in astrology belief.
He was not a real astrologer but impressed the
villagers by his fake means.
The story creates suspense and surprises together.
The astrologer becomes successful to get rid of his
great burden of his past life by using his skill in
convincing others.
 Setting

There is a setting of a town named Malgudi, located

in South India.
Time shown in the story is before India got its
independence. Aana also used to carry much value in
transaction.
People are busy doing their own business. Some are
buying the things and some are selling.
 Theme

There are multiple themes in the story-

Hypocrisy, shrewdness, revenge, selfishness,
betrayal, greed, guilt and fear.
Through his story, the writer has tried his best to
show proper dimension of life related to past activity
and connection to the present.
 Morals

We should show good behaviour to others.

We shouldn’t cheat and harm others to earn a living.
We must be responsible about what we have done in
the past.
We shouldn’t run away from mistakes we have done.
We should struggle hard to survive through good
means.
 Story plot

The astrologer always opened his astrology business during

midday. He used to sit and run his business under a
tamarind tree on the Town Hall road.
The road led to Town Hall park which was quite good for his
business to attract his customers. The road was crowded
with different people with different trades and professions.
The groundnut vendor also used to sit beside him. The
gaslight of groundnut vendor enabled the astrologer to run
his business even after the sunset.
The astrologer was quite skilful at analysing human nature
and psychology.
 Story plot contd…1

When he started his business during the midday, he

decorated his business of astrology making various
preparations.
He took out his professional tools like square cloth piece,
cowries shells, charts, Palmyra writings etc from his bag.
He also dressed typically like an astrologer to attract
customers. He put sacred ash and vermillion on his
forehead.
Due to his makeup, his forehead seemed quite bright. He
placed a saffron turban on his head. Hus, the astrologer
presented himself perfectly to attract his customers.
 Story Plot contd…2

The astrologer was a shrewd person who hardly had any

knowledge of astrology. He just made guesswork to
satisfy the customers.
According to him, he left his village because he didn’t
want to continue the traditional occupation of his
forefathers i.e. farming.
He never had any plans to return to his native village. He
had to work so hard to earn his wages using smart mind.
During the day time he earned easily from the people
who came to know about their future happenings. In the
evening time, he gave his money to his wife.
 Story Plot contd…3

He thought that he would get good life through his business. He
never thought that his past could disturb his present.
One day, while he was packing all his professional tools, he saw
a man standing in front of him. he guessed him as a customer.
When the astrologer invited him, the man challenged the
astrologer and astrology science. He made a bet with the
astrologer.
He provided an anna to the astrologer and demanded his
satisfactory answer to his question. He even added that if he
didn’t answer satisfactorily, he would have to return hid anna
with interest
 Story Plot contd…4

The astrologer denied saying that he charged three pies for per
question’s answer. He demanded eight annas for a satisfactory
answer.
The man became ready to pay up. But, he put up a condition in
front of astrologer. According to him, if the astrologer answered
his question satisfactorily, he would provide him with eight
annas.
But, if he failed to satisfy him with his answer, he would have to
return double amount i.e. sixteen annas. The bet was made.
The astrologer prayed to heaven. A bit later, when the man lit
up his cheroot, the astrologer caught a glimpse of his face.
 Story Plot contd… 5

He denied the challenge and asked the man to let

him go. But the man held him tight on his wrist. The
astrologer got nervous and started to tremble in fear.
He accepted the challenge unwillingly. He started
telling him about woman but the man was not
satisfied. He only wanted to know whether he would
get that what he was searching for .
The man promised him a rupee after getting a
satisfactory answer. The astrologer again prayed and
revealed about the incident of a man in the past time.
 Story plot contd…6

According to him, the man had been attacked by an unknown

person with a knife on his chest. The man became excited to
hear astrologer’s words.
In the past he had been attacked with a knife. After he got
wounded, he was thrown into a well nearby to die. A
passerby saw and rescued him.
The man wanted to know about culprit’s detail from the
astrologer so that he could take a revenge. But the astrologer
informed about culprit’s death four months ago in a far town.
The man was disappointed to hear this. The astrologer even
identified the name of the man before him as Guru Nayak.
 Story plot contd… 7

He told the man that his village was located in the
north and it took two days journey to reach there. He
warned him to go back home and never to travel
south again.
He asked him to return to his hometown
immediately otherwise he might get inside problems.
The man wanted to know the reason behind the
culprit’s death. The astrologer satisfied him by
saying that the culprit was crushed under a lorry.
 Story plot contd… 8

The man was satisfied by the answers given by

astrologer and gave him a handful of coins before
leaving.
The astrologer also packed his belongings and went
home. He reached quite late. He gave the coins to his
wife.
She was happy to see that amount and made plans to
buy various requirements such as jaggery and
coconut for their child, who was demanding sweets
for a long time.
 Story plot contd…9

This time the astrologer was not happy to get money. He

looked quite worried. He was angry with Guru Nayak,
who promised him to give him a rupee but only provided
him twelve and half annas.
 After dinner, he shared his secret about his past. He felt
that the great burden was gone that day after sharing
that secret. He always felt that he had killed Guru Nayak.
 So, he had to run away from his village due to the fear of
being accused as a murderer. He settled in Malgudi and
got married. He had decided that he would never return
to his village.
 Story plot contd…10

 The man who tried to kill Guru Nayak was the

astrologer himself. So he was able to make accurate
predictions about him though he hardly knew astrology.
 The astrologer confessed to his wife that in his youth he
was into bad company with Guru Nayak. He drank,
gambled and quarrelled badly one day. In that fight, he
killed Guru Nayak.
After that he came to Malgudi and started the business
of astrologer with fine preparations.