What is the irony in "An Astrologer's Day"?

There are several examples of irony in "An Astrologer's Day." The most striking example of situational irony is the fact that Guru Nayak comes to the astrologer for help in finding the man who nearly killed him--and the astrologer himself is the very man he is looking for. Guru Nayak does not recognize him because the author has established that it is late at night and the lighting is very bad. Most of the vendors have shut down for the night and turned off their lights. Furthermore, the astrologer has changed his appearance considerably since his nemesis last saw him.

His forehead was resplendent with sacred ash and vermilion, and his eyes sparkled with a sharp abnormal gleam which was really an outcome of a continual searching look for customers, but which his simple clients took to be a prophetic light and felt comforted. The power of his eyes was considerably enhanced by their position, placed as they were between the painted forehead and the dark whiskers which streamed down his cheeks....

In addition to the situational irony, there is considerable dramatic irony in the dialogue. The astrologer amazes Guru Nayak by seemed to know all about him through supernatural power, and this enables the astrologer to persuade his client to give up his search for the man who knifed him and threw him into a well. He assures Guru Nayak that the man he has been looking for is dead.

He took out a pinch of sacred ash and held it to him. "Rub it on your forehead and go home, never travel southward again, and you will live to be a hundred."

"Why should I leave home again?" the other said reflectively. "I was only going away now and then to look for him and to choke out his life if I met him." He shook his head regretfully. "He has escaped my hands. I hope at least he died as he deserved."

"Yes," said the astrologer. "He was crushed under a lorry."

There is more situational irony in the fact that the astrologer is able to bring home a relatively large number of coins because he collected so much from the grateful and happy Guru Nayak. The man who had been striving for so long to find and kill the astrologer ends up paying him generously for his advice to give up his searching and go back to his native village. The astrologer's wife is happy because she will be able to buy some extra treats for their little girl. In a sense, the astrologer deserves the coins he has received from Guru Nayak because he has given his nemesis exactly what he wanted. Guru Nayak wanted satisfaction and closure. He wanted to put an end to his exhausting searching and stay at home for the rest of his life. The astrologer knows nothing about the stars, as the author explains at the beginning, but he is still able to give most of his clients the assurance and satisfaction they really want.

What is the  irony in "An Astrologer's Day"?

There are many ironic aspects to "An Astrologer's Day." For example, it is ironic that Guru Nayak should end up paying the astrologer to tell him where to find the man he is looking for, when the man he is looking for is the astrologer himself. The main irony is that the protagonist was forced to flee from the village where both he and Guru Nayak lived, because the protagonist had stabbed Guru Nayak and left him for dead. Even if he hadn't killed Guru Nayak but had only wounded him, he would have had to flee anyway, because the ferocious Guru Nayak would have wanted revenge. So the protagonist came to a big city and had to find some way to survive. He was an ignorant peasant. There were hordes of others like him who couldn't find work. Many died of starvation and their corpses were hauled away in carts each morning. Out of sheer desperation the protagonist tried becoming an astrologer. He must have acquired the so-called "professional equipment" for virtually nothing. Perhaps he found it where it had been abandoned by another astrologer who had died of starvation. It is obviously nothing but a lot of old junk. Then the ironic feature is that Guru Nayak comes to him just because he is posing as an astrologer. Guru Nayak has been looking for him for a long time, and in that time he has acquired a deep suspicion of astrologers, although he is still sufficiently superstitious to consult them. We see his skepticism in his opening dialogue with the astrologer.

"Yours is a nature . . . " "Oh, stop that," the other said. "Tell me something worth while. . . ." 

...

"I have some questions to ask. If I prove you are bluffing, you must return that anna to me with interest."

...

"Stop," said the other. "I don't want all that. Shall I succeed in my present search or not? Answer this and go. Otherwise I will not let you go till you disgorge all your coins."

The astrologer is only saved by the darkness and by the fact that Guru Nayak lights up a cheroot and reveals his face. This gives the astrologer an opportunity to show that he really has uncanny knowledge. At this point even the reader is amazed. The astrologer is able to tell his nemesis his name and what happened to him in his village. Once he has convinced the dangerous man of his supernatural ability, he is also able to convince him that the enemy he is looking for is dead and can persuade Guru Nayak to go back to his village and remain there for the rest of his life. 

The most ironic thing about "An Astrologer's Day" is that the astrologer and Guru Nayak should meet again in this tiny spot beneath a tamarind tree. It is not a mere coincidence. Guru Nayak has been searching all over for the man who stabbed him. He has been consulting many astrologers. It was perhaps inevitable that he would eventually encounter this particular astrologer. We might call it "fate."

What is the conclusion of "An Astrologer's Day"?

The conclusion of “An Astrologer's Day” comes when the astrologer returns home to his wife and, after a quiet supper, explains to her in a few brief sentences the meaning of his meeting with the customer at the vendors' market. Up until the conclusion, the reader really has no idea of what the astrologer knows or doesn't know or, more importantly, of why he had to run away from his village under cover of dark in his youth. Plus, we have no idea how that event might relate to story or to the customer.

The conclusion explains that the customer is the reason for the astrologer's flight from home because he is the man the astrologer stabbed, as he believed, to death:

"[You] were pushed into a well nearby in a field. You were left for dead."

From this revelation we understand two other things about the astrologer. Not only was he protecting his own life by telling the customer that his attacker had died in "a far-off town," (1) he is also giving the customer the satisfaction of hearing that his attacker has met an end that might be considered just punishment for his deed, that of being "crushed by a lorry."

In addition, (2) he is exposing the truth about himself that all these years he has been trying to atone for his evil action by doing good to as many as he can by being a good astrologer who listens, understands and gives "good advises.” Therefore, the conclusion, the scene between astrologer and wife--to whom he has been so good that she has no thought he could have done evil--explains why he had to leave his village; how he knew the customer's life; why he kept trying to back out of the challenge; and how he knew what to say about the customer's assailant. It also gives insight into what kind of man the astrologer really is, and what his present motive in life has been: to atone: "I thought I had the blood of a man on my hands all these years."

What is the irony in the astrologer's conversation with Guru Nayak in "An Astrologer's Day"?

The irony of the situation centers around the fact that Guru Nayak comes to the astrologer for help in finding and killing the very man he is talking to. No doubt, as soon as he realizes the identity of this client, the astrologer would like to tell his ferocious nemesis that the man he is seeking is dead and buried. But the astrologer wisely refrains from blurting out that misinformation right away. He makes Guru Nayak wait and haggle over money. When he finally calls his client by his name and tells him about what happened back at their village, he has Guru Nayak in the palm of his hand. This comes as astonishing news, not only to the client, but to the reader, who has been given no clue that the astrologer knows this apparent stranger.

"You know my name!" the other said, taken aback.

"As I know all other things. Guru Nayak, listen carefully to what I have to say. Your village is two day's journey due north of this town. Take the next train and be gone. I see once again great danger to your life if you go from home."

The only hint that the astrologer might have recognized Guru Nayak comes when the author writes:

The astrologer sent up a prayer to heaven as the other lit a cheroot. The astrologer caught a glimpse of his face by the matchlight.

The other vendors have put out their lights and gone home. The astrologer and this last-minute customer are practically in pitch darkness. If Guru Nayak had not struck a match the story might have ended differently.

In one of O. Henry's short stories (with which R. K. Narayan may have been familiar) a character reveals his identity when he strikes a match to light his cigar. In "After Twenty Years," 

The man in the doorway struck a match and lit his cigar. The light showed a pale, square-jawed face with keen eyes, and a little white scar near his right eyebrow.His scarf pin was a large diamond, oddly set.

O. Henry does not reveal that the policeman talking to the man in the doorway recognizes him as a wanted man. It is not until the end of the story that the reader understands how "Silky" Bob gave himself away by striking that match.