Also called: Clapping sound · Cracking finger joints

Where on the hand: Heard rather than seen: the sound the palms make when clapped together, and the sound the finger joints make when the fingers are flexed and handled.

What it looks like: There is nothing to see — the observation is auditory. A clear resonant clap indicates solid, well-padded palms meeting evenly; a dull slap indicates hollow palms; a click or pop from a joint indicates looseness.

A Samudrika observation with no Western counterpart: the hand is sounded like an instrument. Full palms ring, hollow palms slap, and finger joints that crack are read as inauspicious — loose joints and a scattered, unsettled destiny.

Read with care: Joint cracking is a normal physiological phenomenon; the readings of degradation, poverty and sword cuts are classical text, presented as tradition only.

those whose fingers make a sound when handled become degraded and poorGaruda Purana, Samudrikam