Shri Ram Shalaka Prashnavali
The Ram Shalaka Prashnavali is a chart of 225 letters printed with Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas. You hold one question in mind and touch a letter. Reading every ninth letter from there spells one of nine chaupais, and that chaupai is your answer.
Touch any letter to ask your question.
- Sit quietly and think of Shri Ram. Say the mantra below eleven times.
- Hold one clear question in your mind. Only one.
- Close your eyes and touch any letter in the chart.
Mantra: श्री राम जय राम जय जय राम (Shri Ram Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram), say it 11 times
Touch any letter to ask your question.
How does the Ram Shalaka work?
The chart has 15 rows of 15 cells, 225 in all. Each cell holds a syllable or a vowel sign. From the cell you touch, you count forward nine cells at a time, wrapping from the last cell back to the first. After 25 steps you are back where you began, and the 25 syllables you passed spell one chaupai.
There are only nine trails, because 225 is exactly 25 nines. Whichever cell you touch, you land on one of nine chaupais from the Ramcharitmanas: six from Bal Kand, two from Sundar Kand and one from Lanka Kand. Each has a traditional phal, the verdict it gives on your question. The page lights up the trail as it reads it, so you can watch the chaupai form.
Where does the Ram Shalaka come from?
The chart is credited to Goswami Tulsidas, who began the Ramcharitmanas in Awadhi at Ayodhya in 1574. Printed editions of the Manas have long carried the Shalaka chart at the front, with the nine chaupais and their phal listed under it, and households across north India have used it for generations before a journey or an exam result.
The phal on this page follows that traditional list. We checked the chart cell by cell: reading every ninth letter from each of the nine starting cells gives exactly the nine chaupais, and a test on this site reads all nine again on every change. The meanings in English and Hindi are ours.
How should you ask the Shalaka a question?
Ask one question and keep it simple: "Will this job offer come through?" works better than three worries rolled into one. Bathe first if you can, sit facing the chart, and remember Shri Ram for a minute before you touch anything.
Do not ask the same question twice in a day. The tradition treats a second try as doubting the first answer. Most families also keep to no more than three questions a day in all. If the answer troubles you, sit with it overnight rather than tapping again.
What if the chaupai says the work is doubtful?
Three of the nine chaupais advise caution and one says to leave the matter to Ram. That is a reason to slow down, not a sentence passed on you. Read the chaupai’s own words: "Bidhi basa sujana kusangata parahin" warns about the company you are keeping, and "Hoihi soi jo Rama rachi rakha" asks you to stop pushing and trust.
Many people use a hard answer as a cue to recheck plans, talk to elders or wait for a better day. For a start that matters, like a griha pravesh or a vehicle purchase, the choghadiya and Abhijit Muhurat for your city show the good windows of the day.
All 9 answers of the Ram Shalaka
Every number and its answer, as the chart gives them. Ask first, then read.
All 9 answers of the Ram Shalaka
| Chaupai | Answer |
|---|---|
| 1 | सुनु सिय सत्य असीस हमारी। पूजिहि मन कामना तुम्हारी॥Listen, Sita, our blessing is true: the wish in your heart will be fulfilled.Favourable: The question is a good one. What you are hoping for will come about. |
| 2 | प्रबिसि नगर कीजे सब काजा। हृदयँ राखि कोसलपुर राजा॥Enter the city and do all your work, keeping the King of Kosala in your heart.Favourable: Begin the work with God’s name on your lips, and it will succeed. |
| 3 | उघरहिं अंत न होइ निबाहू। कालनेमि जिमि रावन राहू॥In the end the truth comes out and a pretence does not last, as it did not for Kalanemi, Ravana and Rahu.Take care: There is no good in this work as it stands. Success is doubtful. |
| 4 | बिधि बस सुजन कुसंगत परहीं। फनि मनि सम निज गुन अनुसरहीं॥Fate sometimes puts good people in bad company, yet like the jewel in a serpent’s hood they keep their own worth.Take care: Step away from the wrong people around this. Whether the work gets done is in doubt. |
| 5 | होइहि सोई जो राम रचि राखा। को करि तर्क बढ़ावै साखा॥What Ram has already arranged is what will happen. Why argue and add more branches to it?Be patient: It is uncertain. The wise course is to leave the outcome to God. |
| 6 | मुद मंगलमय संत समाजू। जो जग जंगम तीरथराजू॥The gathering of saints is full of joy and blessing: in this world it is Prayag, king of pilgrim places, on the move.Favourable: The question is a good one. The work will be accomplished. |
| 7 | गरल सुधा रिपु करहिं मिताई। गोपद सिंधु अनल सितलाई॥For one whom Ram favours, poison turns to nectar, enemies make friends, the ocean shrinks to a cow’s hoofprint and fire turns cool.Favourable: A very good question. The work will succeed. |
| 8 | बरुन कुबेर सुरेस समीरा। रन सन्मुख धरि काहुँ न धीरा॥Varuna, Kubera, Indra and the Wind: none of them could hold steady facing Ravana in battle.Take care: Whether this work will be completed is in doubt. |
| 9 | सुफल मनोरथ होहुँ तुम्हारे। रामु लखनु सुनि भए सुखारे॥May your wishes bear fruit. Hearing this, Ram and Lakshman were glad.Favourable: A very good question. Your wish will be fulfilled. |
Ram Shalaka: frequently asked questions
Is the Ram Shalaka the same as astrology?
No. It does not use your birth chart or the planets. It is a devotional practice: you ask Ram a question and read the answer from his story in the Ramcharitmanas.
Can I ask the Ram Shalaka twice about the same thing?
Tradition says no. Ask once, accept the chaupai and return another day if the situation has really changed.
Why are there only nine answers when there are 225 letters?
Because 225 divided by 9 is 25. Counting every ninth cell from any start walks one of nine fixed trails, so every one of the 225 cells belongs to exactly one chaupai.
What is the best time to use the Ram Shalaka?
Many people ask in the early morning after bathing, in Brahma Muhurta or soon after sunrise, when the mind is quiet. Any calm moment with a clear question will do.
More prashnavalis
Today’s timings for this
A prashnavali is devotional guidance, not a prediction. For decisions about health, money or law, talk to someone qualified as well.
Pictures: Ravi Varma Press prints, about 1910, public domain (Wikimedia Commons).