I met her many times at her home in Poes Garden. In 2014, a few of her associates came to meet me after she was sentenced to jail in a corruption case. I went through her jathakam (horoscope) one more time and said there was no reason to worry. Her jathakam was extraordinary. It was one of the best jathakams I had ever seen.
I first met her around 15 years ago. I had then told her to offer an elephant at Guruvayur Temple in Kerala to remove the dosham [curse] in her jathakam. She did just that. Krishna, the elephant donated by her, is now a star among the temple elephants, and has even won an elephant race at the temple.
Jayalalithaa had a liking for astrology. The first time I met her, I did an ashtamangala prasnam [an astrology-related practice] on her. She went through the subject in detail and learnt it thoroughly before meeting me. She would then remind me on the aspects I had missed, and ask me to clarify doubts. I was surprised at seeing her knowledge on that specific branch of astrology.
Panicker was Jayalalithaa’s astrologer.
As told to Anirudha Karindalam.
