Lal Kitab is a single treatise written in old Urdu , with no mention of authorship ; the reason as to why the writer chose to remain anonymous is not clear , but it seems that he was not interested in getting any credit . The Divine instruction to do so is also not ruled out.
The conventional Hindu school of astrology is based on many great , voluminous works by our rishis and munis . The most famous and perhaps the most respected of these is Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra, written by the great sage Maharishi Parashara . In view of this, the conventional Hindu school of astrology is frequently and justifiably referred to as the Parashari system of astrology. Needless to mention this and other similar texts are in Sanskrit, the literate language of India.

The Parashari system is one of pure astrology and refrains from even mentioning other methods of Divination (foretelling) such as numerology and palmistry. This could be understood in light of the fact that astrology, palmistry and numerology have progressed in Indian sub-continent as independent, unrelated and hence competitive sciences.
In contrast, the Lal Kitab is a treatise on astro-palmistry ; astrology and palmistry complement and supplement each other instead of competing and deleting each other. For example, in Lal Kitab ,if the sun is in 2nd house of a native's horoscope, he must possess a certain kind of sun-line in his palm. Since the hand is always available, the horoscope can be verified and even cast on the basis of the hand's print, called a palmoscope, for brevity.

In Parashar Hora, the determining inputs for prediction are:

• the birth chart
  
• the influencing periods or dasas as they are called
  
• and the transit movement of planets called the gochar.
  

While in the Parashari method, Sun is regarded as the king of all planets and hence the most important factor in the horoscope, in the Lal Kitab, Jupiter or Deva Guru Bhrispati ( the preceptor of all gods, including Sun ) is given the supreme status.

Interpretations of placement of planets in rasis and houses vary greatly in both. For example Jupiter in Cancer in 1st house is regarded as excellent by Parashar pundits, the Lal Kitab considers this placement as average. Instead the best house for Jupiter is 2nd and not 1st , and Cancer is not the best sign for it. Similarly pisces for moon is bad and scorpio for moon is good in Lal Kitab ; the last part will amaze many because in Parashari school moon is debilitated in scorpio.