Also called: Rahu Parvat · The north lunar node · Dragon's head

Where on the hand: The central depression of the palm, below the head line — effectively coincident with the Plain of Mars, crossed by the fate line. Three competing placements are given: (1) the centre of the palm, the shallow basin ringed by the other mounts; (2) between Upper Mars and Lower Mars beneath the head line, a horizontal band across the mid-palm; (3) the area enclosed by the Moon, Mars and Venus mounts below the head line. All three circle the same central basin. Centre roughly x 0.50, y 0.45.

What it looks like: A shallow central basin rather than a raised pad. Read by its firmness, colour, evenness and by whether the fate line crosses it clean or broken. A deep padded centre, or a sharp ditch or pit, are the two extremes.

Rahu is the north lunar node, the dragon's head — a chhaya graha (shadow planet) with no body, which in Jyotisha amplifies whatever it touches and rules sudden events, foreign things, illusion, obsession and unorthodox gains. On the palm it reads sudden reversal of fortune, gain from unexpected quarters, and susceptibility to deception. A purely Indian addition with no counterpart in Cheiro or Benham.

Read with care: The placement of Rahu is the least standardised feature in the whole literature and Indian sources actively contradict each other; any palm map should show this explicitly. The mortality and accident readings, and the gemstone remedy, are traditional practice — record them as such, not as advice or prediction.