Also called: ankusha · elephant goad · hook · driver's hook

Where on the hand: Palm surface; the classical formula groups it with pot, lotus-stalk and flag. Also listed among the marks on the soles conferring rule over a great nation.

What it looks like: A straight line (the shaft) whose upper end turns sharply into a hook — a short curved barb doubling back — with often a second small spike projecting from the outside of the bend. In outline: a walking-stick handle with a thorn.

Command and control — of elephants, of armies, of the senses. Bṛhat Saṃhitā makes it a guardian-of-treasure mark and a maker of kings, ministers and high officials; the '32 signs' list gives it a wholly interior meaning, self-control over the senses. Modern Hindi readings pair it with government service, a bungalow and a car.

Read with care: Citation correction: Bṛhat Saṃhitā 68.46's reading is “guardian of treasure”, full stop. “Makes a king, minister or high official” is an extension with no textual basis.

depicts self-control over the sensesthe 32 lucky signs list

brings the elephants of His devotees' minds under controlGauḍīya commentary on Kṛṣṇa's heel-mark