Also called: Inner Mars · Mars Positive · Nimna Mangal
Where on the hand: The small area on the radial side, inside the life line, above the Mount of Venus and below the Mount of Jupiter, in the region of the thumb-web. Centre roughly x 0.24, y 0.68. The boundary between Lower Mars and Venus is where affection ends and aggression begins.
What it looks like: A compact firm pad tucked inside the curve of the life line, between the thumb-web and the base of Jupiter. Red and raised is a distinct sub-reading.
Lower Mars measures AGGRESSION — active courage, physical courage, initiative, the will to attack. Benham's Lower Martian pushes his plans to the fullest extent regardless of obstacles or opposition. It is the fighting mount, in the literal sense.
The quality it measures
- **Aggression** — active and physical courage, initiative, the will to attack.
- **Benham's Lower Martian** — pushes his plans to the fullest extent regardless of obstacles or opposition.
- **Contrast** — Lower Mars = aggression; Upper Mars = resistance; Plain of Mars = temper.
Well developed
- **Physical bravery, drive, initiative.**
- **Adventurousness, persistence, forcefulness.**
- **Athletic prowess; ardour; martial spirit.**
- **Unwillingness to be discouraged.**
- **Indian reading** — a well-built physique, warrior spirit, and success in police and military service.
Flat / deficient
- **Cowardice; no initiative.**
- **The great bluffer** — talks but never follows through.
- **Timidity in physical matters.**
- **Passivity in the face of a challenge.**
Over-developed
- **Temper, violence, quarrelsomeness, brutality** — the bully.
- **Combined with a red, hard hand and a short heart line** — cruelty.
- **At the extreme** — tyranny, immorality, criminality and anti-social behaviour.
- **A red and raised Mangal** — rudeness and harshness of speech.
Displaced / leaning (apex migrated)
- **Toward Venus** — endurance sustained by affection: one fights for the people one loves.
- **Toward Jupiter** — endurance sustained by pride: one fights to protect one's dignity and status.
- **Toward the thumb** — endurance sustained by will-power: pure, cold determination.
Professions & temperament
- **Military and police**; **firefighting and rescue**.
- **Surgery.**
- **Competitive and contact sport.**
- **Entrepreneurship and sales.**
- **Engineering and heavy trades; any work with metal, fire or machinery.**
- **Benham's Martian portrait** — medium height, strongly muscular, small bullet-shaped head, broad neck, round face, thick ruddy or mottled skin, short stiff auburn or red hair, harsh beard, large bold and often bloodshot eyes, low-set brows, Roman nose, firm slightly upturned chin, small close-set ears, short thick neck, broad shoulders, short stout legs, proud gait.
- **Character** — generous with money, devoted and combative for friends, brusque and tactless, cannot be driven but can be coaxed, amorous and audacious, a heavy eater of substantial food, fond of rough sport, war stories, battle painting and brass-band music.
- **Benham's warning** — confining a Martian to office routine is dangerous; he must discharge surplus energy physically.
Body parts governed
- **Sexual drive.**
- **The renal, reproductive and urinary functions** (Chinese table).
- **The muscular system.**
- **Blood heat.**
Marks on this mount
- **Star** — distinction in a fight, a war or a struggle; honour won by courage.
- **Cross** — strength, leadership potential, fighting spirit; on Lower Mars sometimes a violent quarrel or an injury.
- **Vertical lines** — energy, passion for adventure, resilience.
- **Horizontal / cross-bar lines** — accident tendencies; opposition and quarrels.
- **Triangle, quadrilateral, or clusters of points** — Indian sources: blood-related disease; Western sources: martial science and strategy.
- **Grille** — ungovernable temper; danger of violent death.
- **Line of Mars** (an inner line running parallel to the life line inside it, from Lower Mars) — a sister line: extra vitality, protection and recuperative power.
Western reading: Benham gives the fullest portrait of the Martian type here, including the practical warning that a Martian confined to sedentary routine becomes dangerous.
Read with care: Readings of criminality, tyranny and danger of violent death are traditional character judgements; the blood-disease reading of a triangle is disputed between Indian and Western sources.
RECONCILED — this was a mirror-image error that would put every mark on the wrong side of the palm. LOWER MARS (Mars positive / active, निम्न मंगल) is the small area INSIDE the start of the life line, in the thumb web. UPPER MARS (Mars negative / passive, उच्च मंगल) is on the percussion, below Mercury and above Luna. The nine-fold map entry had these two swapped.
pushes his plans to the fullest extentBenham
Palmistry is a traditional interpretive art, not a science. Offered for reflection and self-understanding — not medical, legal or financial advice.