SOME QUESTIONS CONCERNING THE UGC COURSE IN ASTROLOGY

Kushal Siddhanta

18 AUGUST 2001. Dr. Murali Manohar cient Indian astronomer Varahamihira who Joshi, the present Union HRD Minister and in the sixth century AD spoke about the a former professor of physics in the Alla- earth’s rotation.” Citing another fact in sup- habad University, was invited to the IIT, port of introducing astrology as a university Kharagpur, as the chief guest at an open- course, he said, 16 universities of the coun- ing function organized on the occasion of try had already been offering astrology as its fiftieth foundation anniversary. The a subject in various forms. So his govern- West Bengal Chief Minister Mr. Buddhadeb ment is doing nothing new. People should Bhattacharya was another guest. not oppose the astrology and other courses only on political reasons. There may be de- As expected, Mr. Bhattacharya in his bates and arguments over the issue. The speech indirectly criticized the policy of the Government, he assured all, was ready to Union Government to introduce worn out hear. So on and so forth. subjects like astrology, paurohitya, vas- tushastra, yoga and human consciousness, It all had started when the UGC issued a etc., in the universities through the Univer- circular on 23 February 2001 with a pro- sity Grant Commission (UGC). Dr. Joshi posal to all the universities of the country in his address, however, did not go into to introduce UG and PG courses as well the trouble of explaining why his depart- as doctoral researches in Vedic Astrology ment was so keen on funding these anti- which it later renamed in parenthesis as quated subjects in the universities in spite Jyotirvigyan (astronomy). In another circu- of the opposition of the informed people of lar of the same date, it further proposed to the country. Instead, he took an oblique introduce two other allied courses on Vas- route and reminded the enlightened audi- tushastra and Paurohitya (originally called ence that they should not ignore the “rich Karmakanda). The same UGC which is heritage” of ancient India in different fields nowadays used by the Union HRD Min- of life. The Indian scientists, in his opin- istry to squeeze financial grants to the uni- ion, are unnecessarily too much dependent versities, has expressed its commitments upon the “western science”. They should to provide all the necessary fund to initi- now engage themselves to create an inde- ate and run the courses — estimated to pendent structure of Indian science on the be around Rs.15,00,000 per course. Only basis of the knowledge available in the an- for the astrology course it has decided to cient texts and scripts. “We are eulogizing sanction 6 permanent posts (one professor, Copernicus and Galileo for their contribu- one reader, two lecturers, one library at- tions in propounding and proving the helio- tendant and one computer operator), which centric theory of the universe, but,” Joshi will cost a regular recurring expenditure of alleged, “we don’t pay homage to the an- 10-12 lacs of rupees per university per year.

Breakthrough, Vol.9, No.2, November 2001 1 From the Breakthrough archives Similar posts are to be sanctioned for the NDA government at the centre. They ask other courses too. All these additional ex- a very cogent question: If Dr. Joshi and penses will be borne by the Union Govern- his Government were really eager to hear ment through the UGC. It is learnt that so arguments for and against, why did they far 45 universities have applied for these not first hear and then proceed? Once a courses of which 20 have obtained approval department is opened — good or bad — it of the UGC. Informed circles are wondering cannot be closed down, even if it is con- as to why the same UGC which has been demned later by the public debate and in- asking the universities to curtail expendi- formed opinion. tures on all teaching menus (like journals, We don’t know what else are due in their reference books, etc.) and to appoint teach- next move. But what they have already ers on part-time or contractual basis, is not brought in requires an elaborate analysis. advising similar prescriptions in the case of In this essay we confine ourselves in the as- these new courses. This indicates that the trology issue. UGC has already received a green signal for liberal fund sanction by the government for PART — I these courses. PROBE INTO FUNDAMENTALS The HRD ministry and the UGC, however, are not satisfied yet. As recently reported in the press, they have further decided to pro- The Official Arguments mote another course in Human Conscious- At the outset we want to make it clear ness — this time in science — with ancient that we don’t consider all or most of the as- Indian elements like Yoga. Some 10 univer- trologers to be just a band of charlatans or sities are reported to have already agreed to cheaters, neither do we think it proper to crit- start the course with the UGC fund. icize or reject astrology only or mainly for the The UGC further notified that unlike very many glaring cases of its failure. We other graduate courses, the students of first take into account the arguments of the these courses will be given credit for suc- UGC or the HRD Ministry and some oth- cessful completion of every academic year. ers prevalent in the society, assume that The first year pass-outs will be given a cer- all the official claims of and about astrol- tificate, the second year pass-outs will be ogy are true, and then review the conse- provided with a diploma and the graduated quences that follow from them. And finally students will be conferred a B.A. degree. we undertake detailed examination of each This unusual move of the UGC has natu- of these claims in terms of facts and in the rally evoked a mixed reaction in the coun- historical perspective. try. Some people were happy at this and According to the UGC circular: “Vedic as- welcomed this exercise of the central gov- trology is not only one of the main subjects ernment to recover and cultivate the an- of our traditional and classical knowledge cient wisdom of India as stored in the an- but this is the discipline which lets us know cient texts like the Vedas, Puranas and the events in human life and in the universe other literatures. But many eminent aca- on time scale. The distinguishing feature demics of the country sensed a danger in of this subject is that it makes us familiar the entire game and saw in it another at- with time, its nature and feature and its ef- tempt to vitiate education with the commu- fects on human life and other events and nal ideology of the BJP, the main axis of the that way it helps us to manage and make

2 Breakthrough, Vol.9, No.2, November 2001 From the Breakthrough archives optimal utilization of time.” rooted in the Vedas’. The common people It continues: “It is a common feature might be made to think that the astrology that despite best method adopted for esti- they want to introduce as a university cur- mation the events happen in different ways riculum is of Vedic origin, and is, therefore, and add to worries, tensions and frustra- not only very ancient but an original one tion in life. Here Vedic astrology can help too. to see the unforeseen, it being the subject And yet all this is a vulgarization of facts. dealing with the time.” The UGC believes Those who have read all the four Vedic that introduction of this course “will also texts, the Upanishadas, all the Puranas in- add a new dimension for research in the cluding the Ramayana, the Mahabharata fields of Hindu Mathematics, Vastushas- and the Harivansha, or the older smriti- tra, Meteorological Studies, Agriculture Sci- literatures (the social codebooks), may re- ence, Space Science, etc.” call that there is no trace of astrological Prof. Hari Gautam, the UGC chairman, practice or fate reading in them. It is true while addressing a function of the Central that one of the Vedangas is called Jyotisha, Institute of English and Foreign Languages but the phalita-jyotisha (applied astrology) (CIEFL) at Hyderabad on 12 April 2001, that has been practised since long past has stated in support of their venture into the nothing in common with Vedanga-jyotisha. past, “The great Indian Physicist and Nobel It would, moreover, be wrong to think that Laureate C. V. Raman also used to believe the Vedangas were parts of, or, concerned astrology to be a science.” [1] So in his opin- with the study of only the Vedas. In fact, in ion there is nothing wrong in introducing ancient India the word ‘veda’ (from the root astrology as a university course. ‘vid’ = to know) meant knowledge as well as Let us see how far these observations of source of knowledge. Hence the tradition the UGC agree with facts and truths. to attach ‘veda’ as a prefix or a suffix to any subject of knowledge, like, Ayurveda, Dhanurveda, Vedanta, Vaidic Ganita, etc. ‘Vedic Astrology’ — A Misnomer The six Vedangas were written much later Before entering into the discussion over the than the Vedas when it was felt necessary questions of validity and relevance of astrol- to introduce the young uninitiated learn- ogy we would like to clarify a fact. The UGC ers to the study of the grammar, meters, as well as the Ministry of HRD tell the peo- rhetorics, etymology, etc. of the Sanskrit ple a damn lie when they describe the as- language as well as to the method of watch- trology prevalent in the country as “Vedic”. ing the heavenly bodies and their move- Dr. Joshi even claimed that “Vedic astrology ments, before they could read and under- is the oldest system of astrology. ...Vedic stand the Vedas, Puranas, and other texts astrology, as I understand it, is based on of literature, science etc. Vedanga Jyotisha, information provided by the scholars of the at that time — as it itself declared and as Vedic times.” [2] One might say that prac- we shall shortly see — was concerned with tice of astrology has a long history in India. observing the sky in order to count the in- But to brand it as Vedic is to indulge in a tervals of time from the lunar phases, from gross distortion of facts. It may undoubt- a full-moon to a new-moon, and vice versa, edly help them to play upon the prevail- and thereby locate some omens or specific ing sentiment of a large number of Hindus auspicious moments for both daily chores that ‘all valuable knowledges are ultimately and occasional rituals. There was no men-

Breakthrough, Vol.9, No.2, November 2001 3 From the Breakthrough archives tion of any planet in it — which implied its The Ramayana and the Mahabharata — lack of knowledge about planet. Moreover, the two main epics among the Puranic lit- it was never concerned with the fate of any eratures — also do not refer to any astro- individual man. It goes to the credit of the logical feat. They contain no mention of ancient Indian scholars that in giving physi- rashichakra, saptaha (week), bara (week- cal names to each of the limbs (angas) of the day), individual fate-reading, palmistry, or Vedic literatures, they had rightly compared any action based on these. There are ref- the Jyotisha with the eyes. erences, following Vedanga jyotish, to var- The Rigveda, the oldest available literary ious tithis (lunar days) with respect to the document of mankind, is a grand collec- varying positions of the moon. But that tion of beautiful verses composed by the is related to defining the auspicious or in- seers of the Vedic tribes while wandering auspicious moments for different ceremo- through the forests and settling in the sub- nial functions of the royal court. Planning Himalayan Sindhu-Ganga terrace. They any social festival or ceremony according were astonished as well by the grandeur of to lunar time table while following the so- the celestial and terrestrial objects like the lar calendar for routine activities is an old sun, the moon, the mountain Himalayas, practice in Indian traditional culture. Both the river Sindhu, etc. as by the beauti- of these time schedules are equally valid for ful natural phenomena like the ushering of all members of the community in question. the dawn, the outbreak of forest fire, etc. There is nothing specific for separate indi- These feelings of awe and wonder at natural viduals. The tradition is still living in India objects and phenomena were emotionally today. The tithis on which marriage and recorded by them in their verses. There is other social or religious functions are sup- no trace of any thinking among them about posed to be auspicious or otherwise — as the influence of the celestial objects on the described in the almanacs — are so for all fate of an individual man - as claimed by members of the society irrespective of their astrology. The Samaveda and Yajurveda horoscopes. are actually anthologies of instructions and Astrology in the current sense of the term mantras (incantations) about the design (in which BJP and UGC are interested and and construction of the sacrificial altars, which is called applied astrology by its the procedures of the various rituals and practitioners) begins at the point when dif- ceremonies, and the slokas to be uttered. ferent arrangements of the celestial objects The Atharvaveda is a grand book of mag- at the time of birth of different individuals ical performances about how to extract are declared to define courses of life of those benefits from nature, ward off evil influ- individuals in different specific ways. It as- ences of man and nature, fight out dis- cribes not only different characters to the eases and cause harm to unwanted peo- different celestial objects, but also different ple. The Upanishadas were composed as behaviours of the same object in different the philosophical discourses about different configurations. These features are absent religious questions of the time, about the in Vedic and Puranic literatures. mysteries of life and death of man, emer- In view of all these available facts, we may gence of the world, source of human con- call it Indian astrology. We should, however, sciousness, nature of the so-called atma also acknowledge the fact that in its origi- (soul) of man, etc. We don’t find any as- nal form it was brought to India from the trology in all this. west — from Babylonia, Greece and Rome.

4 Breakthrough, Vol.9, No.2, November 2001 From the Breakthrough archives Today the BJP lobby and others are busy ter its propounder who admitted having re- to conceal this fact, but the ancient Indians ceived it from the Arabs in 1587. Tajika in were much more frank and honest to openly Sanskrit means an Arab. Thus the Arabs acknowledge their debts to the sources. were another source, or, at least another Let us give some examples. medium for the passage of astrology from The two important sources of Indian as- the west into India. trology were named as Romaka Siddhanta Shukra or Shukracharya in the post-Vedic and Yavana Siddhanta, the first parts of tradition is an antigod, the teacher of the the titles of which directly refer to the Ro- Asuras, and a distinctly masculine entity. man and Ionian sources of the systems de- But the current Indian astrology describes scribed therein (the Greeks were called in Shukra as the planet—goddess of love, Sanskrit Yavanas derived from the word Io- which is in definite accord with the clas- nia). Similar is the case with another astro- sical Greek tradition of describing Venus logical text — Paulish Siddhanta — which as the goddess of love, and sharply con- had probably been borrowed by the Indians tradicts the ancient Indian tradition. Sim- from a book written by Paulas of Alexan- ilarly, Chandra, the moon, has been con- dria (376 AD) in the fourth or fifth cen- sidered a masculine member of the Puranic tury. The absence of any astrology text with pantheon with not less than 27 prominent the title of ‘Vaidic Siddhanta’ or the like is stars as his ‘wives’. But in the Indian as- quite significant. Dr. Meghnad Saha, one trological literature the same moon has be- of the great scientists of India, had elabo- come a feminine ‘planet’ — again in conso- rately studied the original sources of Indian nance with Graeco-Roman characterization astrology and showed that the founders of the goddess Luna or Diana, etc. of Indians astrology had themselves put It may also provoke a curious reader here these facts on written record. For exam- to ask why the planet Mars, which was ple, Varahamihira, the first astrologer of In- called by the ancient Indian observers as dia, in his Panchasiddhantika had clearly Mangala (goodness), was converted by the placed the classical Indian source-books Indian astrologers into its direct opposite to like Paitamahasiddhanta and Vashisthasid- represent amangala (harmfulness), again in dhanta, which followed the lead of Vedanga strict conformity with Graeco-Roman tradi- jyotish, much lower than the Romaka, tion. Yavana and the Paulish siddhantas, and Palmistry, the system of study of the fur- called them ”durvibhrasta” (strayed afar).[3] rows in one’s hand palm to ‘read’ his or her One of the main source books of Indian fate has been studied in traditional astrol- astrology is titled as Brihat Parashara Hora, ogy in a treatise called Hasta Samudrika where the term Hora is surely a modified Shastra (trans-oceanic study of the palm). form of the word Horace, the sun-god of an- What is this if not an irrefutable record cient Egypt. It may be recalled here that of the fact that it had come to India from the term horoscope also derives from Hora overseas? It further illustrates the enviable (which in Greek means hour or time, and honesty of the ancient Indians. represents in Indian astrology lagnakhanda It is also interesting to note that the — that is, fraction of time-intervals). names and images of the 12 rashis (con- Another system of Indian astrology is stellations — through which the sun is called Tajika Jyotish which is also known observed to proceed) in Indian astrology by its other name Neelakantha Tajika af- closely resemble those of the Graeco- Ro-

Breakthrough, Vol.9, No.2, November 2001 5 From the Breakthrough archives man tradition: mesha (ram — aries), vr- wherefrom it passed on to Europe. Prob- isha (bull — taurus), mithuna (sex relation ably, it had entered India during or af- — gemini), karkata (crab — cancer), sinha ter Alexander’s imperial invasion into India, (lion — leo), kanya (maiden — virgo), tula with the Greeks. That explains the identi- (scale — libra), vrishchika (scorpion - scor- cal rashi- images and many other facts. But pio), dhanu (man with a bow — sagittarius), even after adopting solar studies into its as- makara (crocodile — capricorn), kumbha trology, the Indians astrologers — unlike (pitcher — aquarius) and meena (fish — their European counterparts — still deter- pisces). Had it originated independently mine the horoscopes of the people with ref- from within the Vedic and Puranic tradi- erence to the varying positions of the moon tion it would have been more natural to only. adopt the names of kurma (turtle), varaha Swami Vivekananda, who was a great (pig), vamana (dwarf), hanumana (monkey), Hindu revivalist preacher of the 19th cen- jambuban (bear), byaghra (tiger), garura (a tury, emphatically said: “I think the Greeks bird), ashva (horse), gaja (elephant), sarpa first gave astrology to India and took from (snake), etc. Apart from fish, which is ac- the Hindus the science of astronomy and tually a common element in the mythology carried it back with them to Europe.”[4] The of many ancient cultures including those of great scholar of Indian languages and cul- Babylonia and India, none of the ancient In- ture, Suniti Kumar Chatterjee is also re- dian elements has been taken. This is quite ported to have said that, “India accepted a strong evidence of the real source of In- Greek astronomy in toto as being more ac- dian astro(nomy + logy). curate than the Vedic astronomy which she Moreover, as far as facts are known, an- abandoned by A. D. 420.” [5] cient Indians were better conversant with Although there are many more evidences, the movement of the moon, which is why all we hope that these will suffice to make the the important ritual and social functions of point clearer. It is totally unhistorical to the Hindus are situated in the lunar cal- attach the epithet ‘Vedic’ to Indian astrol- endar, on specific tithis — that is, lunar ogy. It is not only a misnomer but a sheer day. In fact, in Manusmriti the brahmins untruth. It neither had originated in Vedic are advised to worship, among others, the times nor was independently developed in moon, as the only celestial object consid- India. The RSS lobby has been trying, with ered a deity. The sun, an important god of the shameless backing of the BJP govern- the Rigveda, is relegated to insignificance. ment, and through the person of Dr. Joshi, This means that by the time astrology had the HRD Minister, to disown the historical appeared in India the ancient people had fact of its origin and get that officially ac- found it easier to study the movement of cepted by the academics. the moon than that of the sun. They had Astrology versus the Concept of Time rightly noted that the place of moon-rise ev- ery night shifts from the neighbourhood of Now let us examine whether astrology can one bright star to that of another. So they at all provide any idea about time, or studied the moon’s ecliptic in terms of such ‘events happening in time scale’. It is true 27 nearby nakshatras (groups of stars) and that the ancient Indian philosophies dealt not the solar ecliptic with its rashis. The with a concept of time (kala or mahakala) solar calendrical system had been first de- which irretrievably absorbs or consumes veloped by the Chaldeans in the Babylonia all events of nature and human life. For

6 Breakthrough, Vol.9, No.2, November 2001 From the Breakthrough archives the ancient people with primitive ideas and actual value now known, involving an er- limited experience it was definitely a com- ror of the same order 1. Can such a subject mendable effort to comprehend and repre- which gives so gigantically erroneous a con- sent the concept of time. As far as mea- cept of motion of the sun so familiar to us, surement of time was concerned, the an- provide us with any idea of time today? cients could not count below a small and Today in the light of the relativity the- subjective unit called prahar roughly equiv- ory we know that time-scale differs with alent to three hours (the whole day being motion of the frame of reference with re- divided into astaprahars). The still smaller spect to which it is measured. Astrology, units called pal were highly subjective. just like pre-relativity science, did not obvi- Is man’s idea of time still confined to that ously know this. However, there are people subjective concept? With the invention of in India who never think twice before ex- the mechanical clock in the 15th century in tolling ancient Indian wisdom to any fanci- Europe man was able for the first time to ful height: “The ancient Indians showed a count time precisely as well as objectively. keen interest in the metaphysical character In India the clock entered still 200 years of the universe and an almost Einsteinian later. Today modern science has devel- understanding of time.” [6] These people do oped the concept of time much further and not understand that Einsteinian concept of shown it to be an objective entity, related time has developed simultaneously with the to motion of matter or change of events, Einsteinian concept of space. One is insep- a dimension in which motion or change of arably related with the other. Ancient as- events takes place. Can we extract this trology had no idea of space at the extra- modern idea of time from any ancient In- terrestrial level (it placed all astronomical dian text, let alone astrology? objects at the same distance from the earth on an imagined ceiling in the sky — on S the inner surface of the so-called celestial sphere), and, therefore, no idea of time in the large scale. But has it acquired this

knowledge even today? Obviously no! It

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¢¡¢ ¡ ¢¡¢ has not absorbed the knowledge of science r E at the level of Copernicus or Newton till to- day. How could it approach Einstein? As we shall see below, astrology by its very na- ture is insulated from any new knowledge. Hence it is not possible for astrology to give us the correct concept of time. Figure 1: Earth-Sun system as per astrology. Astrology and Future Forecast Can astrology explain events happening in time-scale? Let us check with a simple According to the UGC circular, astrology example. Astrology held and still holds that “lets us know the events happening in the sun moves round the earth in 24 hours.

1  Since   km., the velocity becomes

This implies that the velocity of the sun in 

£¥¤§¦©¨¥£ ¦

  !    "  kmph or kmps, whereas the actual

space is kmph, where is the dis-  #$" value is nearly  kmph. This is an absurdly tance of the sun from the earth (see Fig.1), large velocity comparable only with the velocity of light, which is more than one thousand times the and hence impossible.

Breakthrough, Vol.9, No.2, November 2001 7 From the Breakthrough archives human life and in the universe on time Table 1: Satellites of Other Planets Compa- scale”. Moreover, while the events in real rable to Moon. life happen differently than expected and ”add to worries, tensions and frustration”, planet satellite radius mass (0ne they claim, “Vedic Astrology can help to see (km) moon unit) the unforeseen”, and relieve us of the wor- Earth Moon 1738 1.000 ries etc. Let us examine the claim in detail. Jupiter Io 1816 1.214 The so-called predictions of astrology are Europa 1563 0.663 based on two basic tenets, namely, (1) the Ganymede 2638 2.027 course of events in a man’s life is pre- Callisto 2410 1.463 determined by the special arrangements of the celestial objects in the sky at the time of Saturn Tethys 530 0.010 2 his or her birth; and, (2) astrology, being Dione 560 0.014 able to study all such arrangements of the Rhea 765 0.034 planets and stars at that time, can calcu- Titan 2575 1.849 late the influences of these celestial objects Iapetus 730 0.026 on the life of that man and foretell his/her future. Uranus Titania 840 0.016 Let us for the time being agree with Oberon 850 0.011 astrology and then consider the following questions. 1) If the planets like Mercury, Neptune Triton 1900 0.776 Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn can ex- ert influence on a man’s life — good or bad Source: L. Berman & J. C. Evans Exploring The Cos- — then why cannot the other planets like mos; Little, Brown & Co., Boston; 1983; Table 6.5, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto do the same? p.125 2) If there is an influence of the moon on man’s life, then should not the satellites of Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Nep- — and the related explanation of eclipses, tune — some of which are much bigger than even when man could also observe the par- the moon (see Table-1) — also be supposed tial eclipse of the earth from the moon (who to exert influence? would eat up the earth during a vishvagra- But no. Astrology did not acknowledge han, dear astrologers?). It could not look the existence of the four new planets dis- much farther beyond the 18 degree zodiac covered by astronomy, namely, Uranus, to see the other stars. It knows only the five Neptune, Pluto and our earth, as the most planets correctly and the sun and the moon influential planet. Instead, it continued to wrongly; it does not even know that the sun uphold the two imaginary planets (in their is a star and the moon is a satellite and that parlance shadow-planets) — rahu and ketu they are not planets. In addition, it knows 2Indian astrology considers the following three none of the asteroids in between the Mars things at the time of the child’s birth, to prepare their and the Jupiter, none of the known 600 horoscopes: a) janmalagna — the rashi which rises in comets, none of the other so far known 72 the eastern horizon of the sky; b) janmarashi — the satellites (see Table-2) of the Mars, Jupiter, rashi in which the moon is supposed to stay; and, c) janmanakshatra — the bright group of stars which is Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. These nearest the moon. objects simply do not exist for astrology.

8 Breakthrough, Vol.9, No.2, November 2001 From the Breakthrough archives Astrology which sought to predict man’s future from the influences of the stars and Table 2: Celestial Objects and Astrological planets forgot to calculate the influence of Knowledge Bank. the earth on a man’s life — where he lives, collects foods from, receives the impact of Name of Actual Astrology the weather of, so on and so forth, that is objects number knows to say, the maximum share of influences planet 9 5 exerted by the most important planet for satellite man. It does not know even today what is Earth 1 ¢¡ this earth — a planet, a star, or a satellite! Mars 2 But again no! There is no satellite in the Jupiter 16 astrological dictionary! It continues to talk Saturn 17 of moon as a planet influencing man’s life Uranus 15 in certain ways even when some men have Neptune 21

already set foot on the lunar surface and Pluto 1 saw the earth as a celestial luminous ob- Total 73 ¡ ject. What to speak of the lay astrologers, asteroids big 6 & 0 even Dr. Joshi is reported to have asked many small with exclamation “why then does the posi- comets 600+ 0

tion of the moon affect the tides and even visible stars 12001+ ¤£¦¥§¡ ¡ ¡ mould conditions of the human mind”. [7] Total 12689 ¦ ©¨ However, on this later. Let us go back to Source: 1) Berman & Evans op. cit.; 2) Dr. Partha astrology’s fund of knowledge. Sarathi Gupta Vigyaner Aloy Jyotish (Bengali); New Astrology knows about the influence of Horizon Book Trust, Calcutta; 2001 only 108 stars in the above mentioned 27 * Of course its ideas about the sun and the groups of stars in the sky. However, there moon is wrong. are approximately 12000 stars in the sky ** One may add the two so-called shadow- on both sides of the hemisphere visible with planets of Indian astrology – namely – Rahu the naked eyes (let us forget for the time be- and Ketu. But it does not increase the knowl- ing the actual number of stars in the uni- edge bank of astrology, rather shows its fur- verse in billions of billions, as found out ther lack of knowledge about the sky. by modern astronomy with the help of tele-

scope, radio-telescope and other means). Hence, Astrology Knowledge Quotient =

¥ £  That means, astrology fails to take into ac- ¤¨ § ¤¦¦ ¥ ¤£¦££§ % count the influence of 99.094 per cent of And, Astrology Ignorance Ratio = 99.094% the nearer and/or visible celestial objects which it claims to know and apply (see Table-2). How can a subject with such an the planets, satellites, comets, and visible acute paucity of knowledge in its own spe- stars, and, therefore, also about the same cialized field tell the future events? amount of their influences. How will they They say they can tell the future of a man calculate? by calculating the influences of the stars Another point. The UGC tells us to be- and planets. But actually, as seen from lieve that astrology knows the events hap- the above table, they are ignorant about pening “in the universe”. But what are the the existence of more than 99 per cent of length and breadth of this universe of as-

Breakthrough, Vol.9, No.2, November 2001 9 From the Breakthrough archives trology? Its knowledge-base does not cover anything. even one-tenth of the solar system as such, Let us take two simple examples of these let alone the milky way galaxy of which it two kinds in order to make the point is only an imperceptible point, and the bil- clearer. If an average Indian unemployed lions and billions of other galaxies beyond youth asks whether he will get a job in near (see Fig.2). With this vast expanse of (al- future, it can be answered with 90% suc- most total) ignorance about the real uni- cess rate that he will not — whatever his verse it is made to enlighten us about the star-signs be. If the father of a newborn events ”happening in the universe” at the baby wants to know the blood-group of the dictate of the UGC and BJP pundits! Their child, he has to arrange a blood test. In the ignorance about the universe really enlight- first type of cases astrology is simply un- ens us about the universe of their igno- necessary. In the second type of cases it is rance! hopelessly helpless. To foresee the future is a much coveted So before claiming that astrology can desire of mankind which is but very diffi- “help us to see the unforeseen”, it befalls cult to fulfill. Man has always sought af- the UGC as a duty to elicit their claims with ter some tricks to know the future in ad- some concrete cases of predictions where vance. Although man could correctly pre- sciences have failed and astrology has suc- dict the eclipses of the moon and the sun ceeded — unless they want to prove to only on the basis of empirical observations be a group of charlatans of the street as- since very ancient times, an idea prevailed trologers’ type. among them that some wiser men could We have, however, some cases at hand: foresee the future events in the life of an the disastrous supercyclone of Orissa in individual with their special power. 1999, the devastating flood of West Bengal Astrology has been considered one such in 2000, and the catastrophic earthquake means they could adopt for the purpose. of Gujarat in 2001. The possibilities of all But all such efforts were proved unsuc- these natural calamities were precisely pre- cessful. It is only with the emergence and dicted by the concerned scientific commu- growth of modern science since the renais- nity well in advance. The fact remains that sance that man has been able to know some the State Governments of Orissa, West Ben- of the future events in advance. The power gal and Gujarat — run by different political has gradually increased with the sequential forces — showed equal kind and degree of increase in his knowledge. Even then the deafness to the warnings. Side by side, no power is very limited compared to what man astrologer of the country had even remotely wants to know. hinted at such disasters to the people af- When the learned members of the UGC fected. How would the honourable mem- claim that other “best methods of estima- bers of the UGC explain this? tion” fail to correctly foretell the future, they The simple point is that astrology by its should have discussed the reasons. The de- very nature could not foresee these calami- gree of accuracy of prediction depends on ties. Because, according to it, the life and the background knowledge. If the knowl- death of every individual man are uniquely edge about an event is more or less com- controlled by his or her particular star- plete the prediction can be fairly good. In signs, which are usually different for dif- case the knowledge is not yet available, it ferent men. So any two neighbours taken will not be possible for anybody to predict at random in Paradeep, Bhuj, or Nabadwip,

10 Breakthrough, Vol.9, No.2, November 2001 From the Breakthrough archives with different dates and times of birth, dif- there is a real causal connection between ferent star-signs and hence different fates, the two phenomena that the two clauses could not be predestined, per se astrology, describe. Joshi’s quip can be rendered on to die in the same incident. Or we have to simplification as: “Because the moon exerts come to the conclusion that “all the horo- a tidal force on the earth, therefore it may scopes of a cyclone or earthquake victims also affect the mental conditions of man.” will reveal the same date [and also time] of This only demonstrates the need of cultivat- [birth and] death” — which, according to Dr. ing Trivedi’s words with greater attention. H. Narasimhaiah, a former Vice-Chancellor However, we are thankful to Dr. Joshi for of the Bangalore University, and well known giving us a chance to examine the claims science activist, it would be simply “prepos- of astrology with a concrete case study, terous to believe”.[8] namely, with respect to the influence of the This implies either of the two things: moon on some specific aspects of man’s 1. Astrology could predict these natural body and mind. events on some other basis than indi- Ancient people thought that the moon vidual star-signs, which would be com- was somehow responsible for mental dis- mon to all to be affected; in which case orders (incidentally let us remember that the time-honoured theoretical founda- they did not call the phenomena as men- tion of astrology would be proved inef- tal problems — this is a modern concep- fective for any future forecasting; or, tion), that is , for the peculiar behaviour of 2. Astrology would stick to its principles, men under stress. They looked for material look into the individual signs of the zo- causes for material phenomena — although diac for every individual and predict in most cases they wrongly associated one separate results for each of them; in thing with another as cause and effect sim- which case it would obviously prove it- ply by observing some overt similarity be- self wrong. tween them. The idea, in this particu- lar case, occurred to them probably from Planetary Influence: A Case Study the apparently erratic and irregular daily When an educated man like Dr. Joshi movement of the moon, that is, the daily equates the gravitational force of the moon changes of its shape and of the space and with its so-called control of the human time of its successive appearances in the mind, it reminds us a comment of Ramen- nights (which is known today as the cycli- dra Sundar Trivedi, a great scholar of the cal phases of the moon). Hence the term early 20th century Bengal and a reputed lunatic was derived from Luna, the moon. science popularizer. While discussing the Modern psychology had long back sal- pros and cons of astrology, he warned vaged the study of mental phenomena — against the use of misplaced correlation of both normal as well as abnormal — from facts: “Don’t argue in the way that if the the domain of magical cult like shamanism, moon can cause high and low tides in the possession, etc. In the process it has also Ganga, why cannot it also cause Mr. Ra- shown, despite Joshi and his Vedic astrol- makanta to get a judge’s job?” [9] The es- ogy, that man’s moods and mental diseases sential point of this slant was that one can- had no relation with the movement or grav- not put at random a “because” and a ”there- itational pull of the moon. The two Amer- fore” between any two clauses of a sentence. ican astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Such a sentence will be meaningful only if Aldrin, the first men to land on the moon in

Breakthrough, Vol.9, No.2, November 2001 11 From the Breakthrough archives 1969 in the Spacecraft Apollo 11, confirmed ical reports, is that the arthritic pain rises that their stay for one hour on the sur- and subsides in a cyclical pattern no doubt face of the moon created no mental stress following its own pathological conditions, or strain in them, apart from the ecstasy of but not in an exactly 29-day cycle, nor the adventure. One might of course refer to strictly from a full-moon to a new-moon. the changing romantic moods of the poets Those who believe in astrology mentally the world over centring round the moon’s make the two cycles parallel and cotempo- appearance in the sky. But what has as- ral. One may check the fact from a doc- trology or UGC or Joshi to do with it? tor’s clinic and/or a medicine store. If the There is another popular argument about pain really increases on full-moon and new- lunar influence on man — this time on his moon, visitors to the physicians will in- physical being. Those who have joint pain crease on or around those days compared (arthritis) often complain that the pain goes to the other days. Similarly, the sales of up with the lunar cycle of full-moon and analgesic medicines also will go up on those new-moon and subsides thereafter. Does days and diminish on others. None is the it not show that moon exerts a direct in- case. fluence on our life? And if moon can ex- Thus the only physical case study which ert influence why not also the sun? And so it is possible to conduct and observe by any on. Some people advance further and try to body at any large scale, simply demolishes adduce a ‘scientific’ argument in support. the claims of astrology about planetary in- Since the gravitational pull of the moon in- fluence on man without the slightest shred creases on those special days, it causes the of doubt. oceans to undergo bigger high-tide. Life on the earth originated in the sea water. So Research in Astrology? even today man’s life feel the pull of the The UGC assures us that the astrology moon on these days. course “will also add a new dimension for The argument is self defeating. Even if research” in the field of — among others — arthritic pain cycle and lunar cycle were “space science”! A bold, although baseless collateral, the point is, does it work ac- claim! A well-informed person may feel un- cording to the time table of the individuals’ easy in a discussion like this. But we can- birth? Is it not, on the contrary, supposed not avoid it since the point has been raised to be common for all arthritis patients, ir- — and that too by some learned people. respective of their horoscopes? This proves Let us note at the outset that a subject that astrology cannot claim it as an argu- can promote research if and only if (1) it is ment in its favour regarding planetary influ- itself grounded on some positive knowledge; ence on man according to their positions at (2) it can assimilate all relevant advances in the time of the man’s birth. It goes against knowledge in the allied areas; and (3) it has astrology. Then again, if the ‘scientific’ ar- the potence to advance its frontier to the gument is true, why should only the arthri- benefit of human knowledge and society. tis patients feel the moon’s pull? Why not Does astrology satisfy any of these two other patients and the healthy people too? criteria? Let us check. And in that case how does it agree with as- 1) Astrology, as we have already seen, trology? does not know most of the things about the Secondly, the fact, as it is already known sky. Its knowledge bank is absolutely poor. from the science of medicine and from clin- It makes the entire universe rotate round

12 Breakthrough, Vol.9, No.2, November 2001 From the Breakthrough archives the earth. It does not even know that in horting about new dimension added by as- spite of being much smaller in size than trology in promoting research, had better Jupiter by a fraction of 1/72, the moon ex- read the following, a very cogent remark erts a much greater gravitational force on of the astrological authorities themselves: the earth, and in fact, the greatest propor- “Some astrologers today, noting that sci- tional tidal force among all the members ence had discovered three more planets and of the solar family including the sun (see numerous asteroids, assert that Jyotish is Table-3). These are only the most rudimen- somehow incomplete and can be improved tary knowledge about the celestial objects, by adding these new bodies to its repertoire. and, astrology is ignorant of even these ...Jyotish needs no more than these Nine things — let alone the higher body of knowl- Planets 3 to describe reality because, as we edge! What will it teach others? shall see, these Nine Planets are more than 2) As to the second criterion, the picture mere material entities. Those who seek to is still worse. More than four centuries had add new planets to Jyotish do so only be- passed since science came to know that the cause they have not yet comprehended its sun is a star and not a planet and that it is heart.” [10] the earth which moves round the sun, not Thus it is clear that astrology is ignorant the vice-versa. Astrology could not learn about the things it talks about, and it could or absorb this rudimentary lesson in these not learn anything new at least for the last 458 years! Dr. Joshi told the Kharagpur 1500 years. At the heart it does not want IIT teachers that long before Copernicus it to learn these new information. Can it help was Varahamihira in ancient India (6th cen- any learning activity — let alone research? tury AD) who had been the first to propound We invite the UGC members to think over the heliocentric theory. Forgive the learned and answer the question. Minister for his two minor mistakes that Man has learnt a lot of things down the it was not Varahamihira but the great as- ages. In the wake of expanding knowl- tronomer Aryabhatt who in the year 499 AD edge in different fields of life, the differ- had actually propounded the diurnal mo- ent branches of natural and social sci- tion of the earth, and not a heliocentric the- ences have been created and gradually en- ory. But with reference to this fact Joshi riched. Man has extracted three fundamen- has to answer a more pertinent question: tal lessons from this history: (1) Knowledge Why Indian or “Vedic” astrology could not in each and every field of life is cumulative; absorb even this ancient Indian knowledge it grows slowly and bit by bit by gather- about the earth’s motion during the last ing and synthesizing the truths learnt over 1502 years? time; (2) Knowledge must be accommoda- 3) Lastly, if we look at the history of as- tive; that is, man has to incorporate any trology and its contributions, we find noth- new information into the appropriate body ing it has given man in the form of knowl- of knowledge; for this, it may also be nec- edge or application. No new knowledge has essary to modify or even reject some exist- been gained from the study, cultivation and ing elements which are incompatible with application of astrology. Neither has a new the new knowledge; and, (3) Knowledge in branch of knowledge developed from the different branches or fields are contiguous, womb of its practice. No problem in the life that is to say, a truth acquired in one field of man has been solved by astrology. 3This refers to the 9 planets as understood in as- In fact, the UGC members who are ex- trology and not by modern science.

Breakthrough, Vol.9, No.2, November 2001 13 From the Breakthrough archives

Table 3: Proportional Tidal Forces of the Solar Family Members

name mass distance force

(kg) (a.u.) (a.u.)

§ £  ¤£¢¡¤£

Mercury 0.55 198

"

¡

   ¥  ¤£

Venus ¥ 0.29 19964

¥ ¤¥  £¢¡¤£

Mars § 0.40 1003

!

¦  ¥ ¥  ¤£

Jupiter ¡ 4.40 2229

¡¤§

  ¦¥  ¤£ Saturn ¨ 8.60 89

Total 23483



£©¨

¥¦ ¥  £ ¤¥¦¥  £ sun ¦ 1.00

moon



£ ¡©¡ ¨   £

(perihelion) 7.348  0.00239



¡©¡

£ ¦¨  £

(aphelion) 7.348  0.00272

¨¦  

 The tidal force is given as:   , where, = proportional tidal force, = mass of the concerned body,  = the distance of the object from the earth. Source: Farhad Mahmood Jyotish Bishwas: Kichhu Prashna; in Tapan Chakraborty and Bhavani Prasad Sahoo (ed.) Dui Banglar Kusanskar Virodhi Vigyanchinta (Bengali); p.49

or branch cannot contradict another truth PART — II: ASTROLOGY IN gathered in another field or branch. HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE Astrology fails in all these respects: 1) Its body of knowledge did not grow beyond the Origins of Astrology point it started with in the sixth century AD To grasp the point it is necessary to know in India, and still earlier elsewhere. 2) It how astrology had evolved in history. It could not accommodate the new truths ac- may be pointed out here that in the re- quired by the sciences, because, it was not mote past astrology had appeared in his- prepared to modify or reject any of its tradi- tory as an empirical study of the luminous tional beliefs. 3) It does not bother when its objects of the sky (called jyotiska in San- claims about the sun or moon do not agree skrit), which were visible with the naked with the current astronomical knowledge. eyes, in relation to daily human affairs. As- In this sense, in the history of man’s intel- trology was then identified with astronomy lectual development astrology today repre- at its primitive stage, namely, study of the sents a branch of ”rejected knowledge”, like stars (in Sanskrit, similarly, it was called witchcraft, demonology, occultology, magic, Jyotish shastra as it was engaged in the spirit-cult, etc. which are still practised by study of the jyotiskamandal). At that time the so-called medicine men among a large the luminous heavenly bodies were, appar- cross-section of the tribal and rural people all over the world 4. past, the ancient man’s ideas and conceptions, proved wrong long back; and, the latter denotes those cases 4We ask the readers to notice the term “rejected which represent the wrong application and/or inter- knowledge” as distinct from another cognate term pretation of the present body of scientific information, “pseudo-science”. The former is used in the cases with faked experimentation, e.g., social Darwinism, IQ which carry into the present history the burden of the theory, parapsychology, etc.

14 Breakthrough, Vol.9, No.2, November 2001 From the Breakthrough archives ently, related with the day-to-day struggles ent vegetables, the time of availability or for existence of the earthly men. The sun scarcity of various hunting games, etc. In was a constant source of light and heat order to locate these time-points more and in the day, the moon was another source more precisely, the agriculturist tribes had of light for some of the nights for differ- to learn to count time. The attempts thereof ent lengths of time, and they together were gradually led to the birth of the earliest also guides of man to differentiate time — forms of annual calendar — somewhere so- day and night, summer and winter, dry and lar and elsewhere lunar — depending on rainy seasons, high-tide and low-tide in the whose movements they studied in greater rivers and seas, etc. Similarly, the bigger detail for the purpose. planets like the Jupiter and Saturn, or the To achieve this they started observing brightest planet, the Venus, etc., were also the sky along the path of the sun and the guides for man in the nights through the moon and in the process located there some dense forests, in the rivers, lakes or moun- prominent stars in different periods of time. tain valley, for finding the way from and to For their limited purpose it was sufficient to their shelters. All the human groups in the identify the stars falling on the imaginary world were then living a nomadic life with orbital path of the sun and the moon in the most primitive tribal form of social or- the sky, called krantivritta (ecliptic), as seen ganization. from the earth within an approximate an- However, human society has never been gular width of, say, 18 degree — called the an immutable system. It continued to zodiac. And they did it superbly. Since the slowly change, evolve and take on new apparent orbits of the sun and moon viewed forms. In the wake of his relentless strug- from the earth almost coincide, there was gle with nature for existence and survival, no major differences in their study. As they man with his magnificent brain went on discovered it, the same specific stars are as- studying nature. While often he misun- sociated with the sunrise as well as sun- derstood it, in between he grasped some set for some specific time period of the year, thing correctly and therefore advanced in which are replaced after that time by other his mode of living. It was in this pro- stars, and so on, until the first group is re- cess that the palaeolithic culture which had peated when the same kind of season is re- lasted for one or two millions of years, was peated. Each of these associations of stars subsumed in the neolithic revolution. Some was called a constellation (sign of the zo- groups of men in the “fertile crescent” of diac) or rashi. Thus the now well-known 12 west Asia invented agriculture while oth- rashis were differentiated and given names. ers in the western hemisphere started do- Each of them was allotted a house by di- mestication of animals. The heavenly bod- viding the 360 degree ecliptic into 12 equal ies assumed now greater importance in this parts and each of them was seen to make new form of productive activities of man in a complete rotation around the earth in a showing him the proper sowing season for day (actually they appear to rotate because different crops, the mating season of differ- of the earth’s diurnal motion). Each of the ent livestocks, the time of river-flood or of rashis, as we know today, also appears to heavy or poor rainfall, etc. move eastward (owing to earth’s orbital mo- Moreover, the different positions of these tion) by approximately one degree per day objects in relation to one another indicated (360 degrees in 365 days). So each of them proper times for the cultivation of differ- stays in nearly the same position in the

Breakthrough, Vol.9, No.2, November 2001 15 From the Breakthrough archives against the solar calender year, and have Table 4: From Stars to Months therefore shifted from the monthly cycle of the full-moon by quite a large magnitudes, name of international Indian the importance of these observations can- the star name month not be underestimated.

Bishakha Librae Baishakha All these were commendable achieve-

Jyestha Scorpionis Jaisthya ments of the ancient men. They must Purba Ashada ¡ Sagittarii Ashada also be given the credit for another signif-

Shrabana Aquilae Shrabana icant discovery — the distinction between

Purva Bhadrapada Pegasi Bhadra stars (taraka or tara) and planets (graha).

Ashvini Arietis Ashvin They called those luminous objects planets

Krittika ¢ Tauri Kartika (in Greek — wandering objects) which rel-

Rohini Tauri Agrahayan atively quickly changed places in the sky Pushya ¡ Cancri Pousha compared to the stars. It was according to

Mogha Leonis Magha this definition of theirs that they identified Uttara Phalguni ¡ Leonis Phalgun the sun and the moon also as planets, since

Chitra Verginis Chaitra these two objects are daily seen to change position in the sky very quickly. The mis- take that was involved in this was a prod- sky with respect to the sun for about one uct of their narrow empiricism. It required month. It is this clockwise movement of a wider database as well as a high power the rashis that had helped ancient man to of abstract thinking and reasoning to over- count time with precision. come the limitation. This is how the ancient astronomers There were other limitations too. As per constructed the idea of the so-called their psyche born out of the then magical Rashichakra (Signs of the Zodiac). To re- culture, the primitive men considered ev- member the constellations, as we have al- ery moving thing to be animated, living like ready seen, they attributed various images themselves — the flowing river, the surging of man, animals and things on to each of sea, the quaking earth, the sliding moun- them. Then it was easy for them to define tain rocks, the raging storm, the heavy the various units of time in the descend- downpour from the sky, and so on. Simi- ing order starting from year, through sea- larly, the planets and stars in the sky were son and month, to week, day, etc. It was also animated, given names like man’s, and now also easy to divide the day in some still provided with man-like social and family re- smaller units called hour. lations among one another. They were sup- It is to be remembered here that the an- posed to possess volition, facilitate or dis- cient Indians had observed quite correctly parage man’s livelihood, according as the a specific feature of the moon. The moon roles their movements appeared to play in repeated its full-moon phase almost after his life. The sun and the moon were ob- every 29 days, but every time near a new viously good for man. The Jupiter and group of stars. The names of the months the Venus — also very luminous objects, in the ancient Indian calendar were given observed over a longer period, and there- in accordance with each of these stars (see fore helpful — were considered benevolent below): to man. On the other hand, the Mercury Although the months are now adjusted which because of its proximity to the sun is

16 Breakthrough, Vol.9, No.2, November 2001 From the Breakthrough archives rarely seen and the Saturn which with its community, and not for this or that indi- peculiar ring moves slowly were supposed vidual. Almost all the prayers and appeals to be inauspicious. The Mars being reddish to the nature-gods were meant to cater to in appearance was supposed to contribute the needs of us and not of me. [11] to warfare and bloodshed. So on and so Naturally, the primitive man elaborated forth. The primitive people of all countries the role of the planets and stars in their life more or less adopted this kind of character- also in terms of their collective existence. ization of the planets. Like their other rit- All the objects had equal imports for all. uals the primitive people had devised some Some of them indicated good crops for all magic procedures to propitiate the benev- members of the community, easy hunting olent and exorcize the malevolent planets. for all of them, victory of their tribe against The astrology of the time also had absorbed the other, on the one hand, and, some oth- all these features. ers stood for dangers like flood, landslide, Even then astrology was not called upon hail-storms, drought, scarcity of foods and to foresee the fate of individual man. Be- games, pestilence, etc. for them all alike. cause both these concepts — fate and indi- Astrology or jyotish till then was not con- viduality — were still unknown to the prim- cerned with the effects of the celestial ob- itive man. From the enormous volume of jects on the life of individual men. data collected by sociology and anthropol- ogy about the culture and social organiza- Class Division and Its Consequence tion of the primitive people of different parts Advent of agriculture — the first technolog- of the globe, it is fairly certain that human ical revolution of mankind — led in course society was till then divided into small units of time to the first social revolution with of tribes and clans living in scattered settle- two important consequences. On the one ments on the river-sides, mountain caves, hand, it could sustain an increasing pop- forest clearances, etc. Every community ulation with the relative certainty of foods was a unified whole with no division into a obtained, and at the same time required privileged small group and a deprived ma- participation of a larger number of people jority. A member of a tribe or a clan had to carry out the complicated and multifari- nothing like his or her personal interest ous jobs of cultivation. In the process sev- apart from the group interest, and none had eral tribes were compelled to unite into a time or scope to be concerned about his or bigger whole, thereby creating the possibil- her own affairs. Every body lived in and ity of a non-tribal form of societal organiza- through the collective — blindly but rigidly. tion. On the other hand, for the first time in The idea of some supernatural power called the history of mankind, some stable prop- Fate, an invisible but inexorable distributor erty — namely, the cultivable land — was of the consequences in the life of an individ- brought into being which could be located, ual was then unthinkable. preserved and multiplied. The Rigveda, a valuable document of the From this resulted a major rupture in ancient people in India, is a very good the common human relations within soci- repertoire of evidences in point. In most ety creating class division. Until then when- of the verses in it the poets expressed their ever two tribes used to meet, (1) they would desires for corns, games, cattles, children, invariably clash with each other, and one victory in war with the Dasas and Dasyus group would rout the other; or, (2) the vic- (the other heterogenic tribes) for a whole torious group would kill all the members

Breakthrough, Vol.9, No.2, November 2001 17 From the Breakthrough archives of the other; or, (3) one group would sel- of man ever since this moment of history dom absorb the other to form a bigger com- had become different for different individu- munity. But by now man had the experi- als. Most of the people then — as they are ence that animals could be harnessed by still now — were unaware of the real fac- him into his farming activities. So it grad- tors at work behind this sharp division. So ually occurred to some people that mem- they sought for an explanation in fictitious bers of the defeated tribes instead of being things or they themselves imagined things. sent away or killed could rather be capti- Looking at the social order maintained by a vated and enforced into labour for the vic- king or any other ruler they contrived a gov- tors. This is how slavery had once started. ernor of the entire natural and social order However, it was not confined among the — a God. The heavenly luminous bodies, enslaved members of captured tribes only. as distinct from this mundane earth, were The experience of employing slave labour considered to be the soldiers of this God. gradually prompted a section of the victori- They carried his orders to define the fates of ous tribes to introduce it within their own different men in different ways by sitting in community too. A small group of people special positions at the time of their birth. converted all or most of the resources of the These changes in men’s social positions society into their private property and be- and their outlooks were, therefore, also re- came the owning class and the masters of flected in the sphere of their knowledge the society. The larger bulk of the remain- about the sky. Before the emergence of ing people were subjugated and enslaved the class divided society, the celestial bod- under them. ies too, like the terrestrial objects, were From this historical moment there arose viewed by man as animated beings, and a separate personal interest of each mem- not as supernatural entities. But now with ber of the society. The present course of the change and the split in men’s social life and hence the future prospects — de- positions and functions, their attitudes to scribed under a sublime title of ‘fate’ — these entities also changed. These were of men were no longer same for the two thought to be possessed with some God- classes but were directly opposite to one given supernatural and occult powers, in- another, in compliance with their respec- cluding the power to decide and control the tive social position. Here again some per- course of events in the life of every individ- tinent evidences can be cited from the later ual man in particular ways. The kings and sections of the Rigveda, where for the first slave-masters were the first to have become time an entity called bhaga appeared, dis- interested to foresee their future: tributing resources among some chosen few If they go out for imperial expansion and and depriving others. It is from this bhaga expeditionary war, will they be success- that the idea of bhagya — also called niy- ful? When is it the most propitious time ati (meaning fate) — and the term bhagavan to launch the battle? Suppose, there are (powerful/resourceful) originated in the In- many expectants in a royal family waiting dian tradition. In the 10th mandala (sec- to occupy the throne; who will succeed? So tion) of the Rigveda, the primary intent of on and so forth. the prayers is seen to have been changed; So the first generation of astrologers were it is no longer for the benefit of us, but for all deputed to serve the royal families. In me.[12] our country they were called in Sanskrit The course of life, and hence, the ‘fate’ the Rajajyotishi [13]. That is why, whereas

18 Breakthrough, Vol.9, No.2, November 2001 From the Breakthrough archives Aryabhatt, the great scientist of ancient In- and expand, gradually passed astrology by, dia had engaged himself in the study of as- in the process retained whatever valuable tronomy, men like Varahamihira, one of the data it had till then collected, rejected its nine jewels of the court of Ujjaini, devoted wrong perceptions one by one and went themselves in astrology. His Panchasid- on absorbing all the new information that dhantika can be considered to be the first came in the way. The advancing frontiers authentic treatise of Indian astrology. Simi- of the sciences have long back left astrology lar thing had already happened in the west- far behind and shelved it in the museum of ern countries. ancient history. From this time onwards astrology lost its original function, namely, to study the PART — III: heavenly bodies to learn about their move- APPLIED ASTROLOGY ments. It stopped to study them any further but took things till then known for granted Astrological Metallurgy and final. On the basis of that knowledge it Now let us look at the other aspects of as- built up an esoteric system about the roles trology. The astrologers do not stop at prog- and functions of the handful of stars and nosticating the future life events of their planets it knew, and began to prognosticate customers. They also suggest remedies their mystical influences on the life of an to improve the future. Usually nobody — individual man in virtue of their special po- even though a believer — goes to an as- sitions at the time of his or her birth. trologer when he or she is passing through Astrology now changed its function but good times. It is the unhappy people, job- retained the name. So those who contin- less youths, parents with unmarried aging ued to study the celestial bodies and dis- daughters at home, persons afflicted with cover new ones had no alternative but to chronic and incurable health problems, or coin a new title for their pursuit: astron- involved in a complex tangle of lengthy lit- omy (in India also it had to differentiate it- igation, etc. who go to consult the as- self from jyotish shastra as jyotirvidya or trologers. jyotirvigyan). It is an irony of history that But, they are hardly ever aware that by today the jyotish-lobby, behind the facade going to the astrologer they contradict their of the UGC and under the umbrella of the own belief, namely that, every thing in their BJP Government, has to try to capture this life is already pre- determined by the stars new name too and label their course on as- and planets in their birth charts. trology as ‘jyotirvigyan’! Probably, at the The astrologers also never tell a client inmost recess of their heart they are also that the position he/she is bogged in has aware of the real ‘worth’ of their astrology. been created by the special arrangement of From this brief historiography it is now the planets and stars at the time of his/her clear how astrology degenerated into a form birth, and it can’t be helped. Right or of “rejected knowledge”. It has remained wrong, it would sound logical enough. The static where it stood at the time of its di- conclusion would be consistent with the vorce with astronomy, like the stagnant proposed theory. segment of a river cut off from the main They, on the contrary, suggest that the stream when it had changed its course. situation can be improved by neutraliz- Over the centuries man’s knowledge about ing the actions of the kupita grahas (an- the objects of the sky continued to increase gry planets) with the help of some tabeez

Breakthrough, Vol.9, No.2, November 2001 19 From the Breakthrough archives (amulets) etc. made of astadhatus (eight Astrologers or their ‘scientific’ apologists metals), or wearing rings with special gem- further claim that since there are many stones meant for the purpose. Before argu- metals in the physical constitution of hu- ing the case against the efficacies of such man body, like iron, use of metals in what- practices, we would like to point out a seri- ever form is bound to act on the body by ous problem. virtue of the properties of matter. Many Let us for the time being agree with as- people are found to be convinced by this ar- trology that the metals or gemstones can gument. ward off the evil influences of the bad plan- All right. Then we can put forward our ets. But then, what does that mean in second series of questions:

our objectively existing physical world — as Which metal is present in our body in studied by the sciences? the largest quantity?

According to the astrologers, the entire Which element — metal, or, non-metal course of events in the life of a man under — is present in our body with the question had been predetermined by the largest quantity?

special positions of the planets and stars Why does not astrology suggest these obtaining at the time of his/her birth. The elements as the contents of the horoscope of the man, if prepared by a well- amulets? informed astrologer, could accordingly pre- These questions cannot be answered dict all the afflictions he/she is now con- within the purview of astrology. Its apolo- fronted with. Nothing could alter this div- gists can only bypass the issues and digress ination of fate. to other issues with the shunting tactic, as But if the astrologer now claims, he can Dr. Joshi did at the IIT, Kharagpur. But we change the eventuality by applying a suit- can find out the answers to all these ques- able metal and/or stone, that implies he tions if we delve into the socio-historical can change things created at the time of perspective of the origin of astrology. the man’s birth. That further means that Let us elaborate. he can change what has already happened. Astrology had extricated itself from the He can change and influence the past by his process of man’s active and continuous action at present (see Fig.2) What an absur- cognition at a time when man’s knowledge dity is this! To be able to extend his hand about the natural elements did not go be- in the opposite direction of time!! yond the 8 metals of antiquity, namely, But we cannot help. Applied Astrology — gold, silver, copper, lead, tin, iron, zinc and or to be more precise — Commercial Astrol- mercury. This is true in the history of both ogy is bound to lead to such an absurd po- Europe as well as India. Man acquired the sition. knowledge about the identity and process There are some other vital questions too. of extraction of the other metals much later, In nature there are 92 elements in all, of most of them only after renaissance, when which 64 elements are metals and the re- modern chemistry was born. Astrology, be- maining 28 are non-metals. The first series ing stuck at the old level of human knowl- of questions is as follows: edge and divorced from the process of as-

Why does astrology refer to only 8 met- similating new information, could not nat- als? urally learn about any new metal.

Why does it refer to only metals? The same is true of non-metals. Alchemy,

Why does it not refer to any non-metal? the precursor of modern chemistry, had no

20 Breakthrough, Vol.9, No.2, November 2001 From the Breakthrough archives * * * * *

0 t Birth Adulthood Time

Figure 2: Action in time backwards. Jewels taken in adulthood acting on the planetary determination of fate at birth, per se astrology.

idea about the distinction between elements cluding some others as trace elements, as- and compounds, and therefore, also no idea trology could not incorporate any of these about the nature of the non-metals. The in its application. only non-metal it had been able to lay its Here special mention should be made of hands on was sulphur. Besides, most of the oxygen. How many people are aware that non-metals are gases. It was not possible more than half of their body weight is con- for alchemy to handle them. Again, it was tributed by oxygen? only after the birth of modern chemistry fol- Let us explain. More than two-thirds of lowing Lavoisier that non-metals were dis- human body mass is actually composed of covered, separated, and studied. Astrology, water. And water (H  O) contains hydrogen as we already know it, is quite securely in- and oxygen in the 1:8 ratio, that is to say, sulated from the impact of knowledge. This 8/9 parts of the mass of water is due to is the reason that it does not refer to any of oxygen. This implies that at least 16/27 the non-metals. parts of the body mass (59.26%) of a man is contributed by oxygen. Will any astrologer After the development of chemistry, therefore ask any of his customer to take a man’s knowledge about human anatomy tabeez full of oxygen? also expanded in all directions. Today it is All these points go to show that the ‘sci- well-known that — contrary to popular be- entific’ data base of astrology did not go be- lief — it is not iron but calcium which is yond the level of knowledge rejected by man present in the largest quantity in the hu- long ago. man body. Since it had been unknown in the past and since astrology stopped Astrology and Gemstones learning after that, it cannot prescribe any body to wear a ring made of 9 metals in- The same historical approach may help cluding calcium, or an amulet containing us to understand the social psychological calcium. Similarly, although human body background of astrology behind the pre- contains many other elements like magne- scriptions of different gems and stones. sium, phosphorus, sodium, potassium, io- Since long past man had attributed var- dine, hydrogen, oxygen, sulphur, etc., in- ious symbolic significances to the differ-

Breakthrough, Vol.9, No.2, November 2001 21 From the Breakthrough archives

Table 5: Semiology of Colours

colour symbolic significance

red death / danger / stop / prohibition / fertility / war / bloodshed green life / creativity / safety / good news / approval white peace / compromise / gladness / sacredness / cleanliness blue expanse / vastness / aristocracy / venom black grief / mourning / sadness / bad omen / evil / darkness yellow stale / dry / barren gray infertility / sadness / worn out / dead / dying orange living / sacrifice / asceticity etc.

ent colours. This is a universal feature of 6). mankind. Let us have a glimpse of that in Now one might be interested to know brief in Table-5. what are the colour producing factors in Many of the symbols of the ancient peo- these gem stones. During the last three ple were based on these conventions. Yes, hundred years chemistry has identified the these were no more than just conventions, chemical composition of these compounds accepted by the members of the social and exhaustively studied their physical groups concerned. These are still in use chemical properties. On chemical analy- even in modern society as conventions, for sis it has been found that these are noth- example, in the railway and roadway traffic ing but some mineral compounds of alu- signals, celebration of peace, expression of minium, silicon, calcium, sodium, potas- grief at the death of some respected person, sium, etc. in the form of oxides as well as religious and cultural symbolism, etc. some organic products. (see the 5th col- But while modern people are in general umn). Most of these compounds are colour- aware of the mere semiological significance less in their pure state. The peculiarity of of these colours, the ancient people were their colours are actually due to the pres- not. They often mistook the symbolic rep- ence of some impurities (usually oxides of resentation as real message — as omens. iron, copper, chromium, etc.) in certain lat- That is how the reddish colour of the Mars tices of the molecules of these compounds. was looked upon as a signal for warfare and In their pure state these would be totally bloodshed, the blue colour of the Saturn as irrelevant for astrology. Long live the impu- old and vicious, so on and so forth. rities! Astrology had taken things at the ancient Be that as it may, we have to once again level of perception including this colour delve into the sociological history behind symbolism. So it built up its theory of reme- this practice. The use of the gemstones re- dies against the evil influence of the plan- flects the stage of ancient man’s psychologi- ets on the basis of matching colours of the cal development when they associated simi- planets with some of the stones (see Table- lar objects or phenomena together as cause

22 Breakthrough, Vol.9, No.2, November 2001 From the Breakthrough archives

Table 6: Gem Stones and Their Identities versus Astrological Significance

target popular name scientific name chemical colour planet Indian International composition

sun chuni ruby corundum Al O + Cr O red

¡ £ ¡ £

surya- sunstone quartz SiO white ¡ kantamani

moon vaidurya cat’s eye chrysoberyl BeAl O ,(SiO ) red, orange

"

¡ £ £

chandra- moonstone feldspar K O,AL O3,6SiO whitish

¡ ¡ ¡ kantamani or

Na O,AL O ,6SiO

¡ ¡ £ ¡

Mars prabal coral skeletal remains CaCO red £ of an organism

Mercury pokhraj sapphire topaz Al SiO ,(FOH) yellow

"

¡ ¡

Jupiter mukta pearl secretion by CaCO white £ molluscs Venus heera diamond a crystalline C bright carbon colours

Saturn neela blue sapphire corundum Al O blue

¡ £

Rahu gomedh Indian garnet garnet Ca,Mg,Fe,Al Si O red

£ ¡

Ketu panna emerald beryl Be (Al SiO ) green

£ ¡ ¡ §

opala opal amorphous silica SiO , nH 0 translucent

¡ ¡

gomedh Srilankan garnet zircon ZrSiO "

and effect. They thought, dangers posed by This kind of practice, quite prevalent in an object from above could be thwarted by the pre-class society, is termed as sympa- brandishing a similar object from below. So thetic magic in anthropology. Although in use red against red. If Mars holds out a these efforts the causes and effects were bad omen, show it something red. If Sat- all misplaced and wrongly associated, one urn is sending evil influences ward it off thing is surely appreciable. For the people with something blue. Since the moon is of few thousands of years back it was a re- a benevolent entity, entice it further with markable achievement to try to explain nat- white stones. And so on. ural phenomena in terms of material fac-

Breakthrough, Vol.9, No.2, November 2001 23 From the Breakthrough archives tors and to work upon the external reality member that there are two kinds of fore- to extract services from it. casting, namely, arbitrary speculation and However, appreciation of ancient wis- systematic prediction. The first kind con- dom in its own historical background is sists of those cases where the background one thing, but idolizing it as the epitome and the result are not causally connected of knowledge and confining oneself within but sometimes happen in succession fortu- it when man’s knowledge base has out- itously. In the second case, the background stripped it far behind is a completely dif- of prediction and the result predicted are ferent thing. What astrology is doing today known to be causally connected and they is adhering to those antiquated ideas about most often (if not always) happen in succes- association of colours with functions. It is, sion necessarily. One should check which thereby, again showing its position in his- is the case with astrological prediction. tory — a system of rejected knowledge. For example, suppose there is a mango tree in my garden. In the summer when the Successful Prediction or Manipulation? fruits are ripe, suppose one day a crow flew Some times believing people ask: If astrol- over the tree and a mango fruit fell down ogy is wrong, how does it correctly retrodict below. Can any body conclude from this past events of a man’s life? Why do its pre- that there is a connection between the two dictions about future often prove true? events? Can any body predict that when- Valid questions no doubt. Mr. X went to ever a crow will fly over the tree a fruit will an astrologer to consult for the prospects fall down? The fortuity involved in such of marriage of his daughter. The astrologer, cases of accidental connection can be eas- just looking at the girl’s horoscope for once, ily theoretically understood and/or statisti- said, “Your daughter has some slight phys- cally tested by taking large number of ob- ical deformity.” Mr. X is astonished. He servations and comparing the data. starts propaganda about this pundit all On the other hand, if we say that in the around. Another Mr. Y had it stated in his month of July gathering of dark clouds in horoscope that at the age of 40 he would the sky will indicate forthcoming shower, it suffer from a serious disease. Now he is is a necessary connection and can be eas- suffering from acute acidity and insomnia. ily theoretically explained as well as verified He is also telling every body how the effects with respect to any number of observations. of the planets are correctly studied by the In scientific procedures there is a definite astrologers. rule for checking the fortuity. If a connec- Stories like these are galore. The problem tion between two phenomena is not sup- with the believing people is that they keep ported by at least, say, 95 per cent of the in mind only those cases where the predic- data (at 5% level of confidence), it is taken tion or retrodiction tallied. They forget how as spurious, accidental or fortuitous. In our many cases of forecast or extrapolation of example, the first case will not be supported the astrologers go wrong for one success- by 95% of the data of crow and mango ful case. Whenever something happens that fruits. The second case will necessarily be has a semblance of similarity with the event found to be true in at least 95% of the ob- told, the belief of the credulous people is re- servations. inforced. The case of astrological prediction is of Actually, to ensure proper logical attitude the first type. You can find it to hold in a to the question of prediction one should re- few cases no doubt. You cannot see it to

24 Breakthrough, Vol.9, No.2, November 2001 From the Breakthrough archives hold even in more than, say, 30 per cent It would be worth recalling here some ob- of cases. It fails in its predictions in over- servations of Swami Vivekananda who was whelming number of cases. But credulous very unequivocal in this matter: “I have people forget those contrary case histories. seen some astrologers who predicted won- They remember only the fortuitous tallies. derful things; but I have no reason to be- It was noted by Bacon, the great empiricist lieve they predicted them only from the thinker, in a quite succinct way: “Such is stars, or anything of the sort. In many the way of all superstitions, whether in as- cases it is simply mind-reading. Some- trology, dreams, omens, divine judgments, times wonderful predictions are made, but or the like; wherein men, having a delight in in many cases it is arrant trash.” [15] such vanities, mark the events where they 2) According to the law of probability in any are fulfilled, but where they fail, though this system of events a particular event has a happens much oftener, neglect and pass certain probability of occurrence, that is, if them by.”[14] the system is run for sufficiently long time, In addition, there are some tools of the that event will come about at least once at game which ensure successes in prediction some instant whatsoever. It is on the basis or retrodiction: of this law that man can play ludo, cards, 1) The intelligent astrologers, like an ex- chess, dice, etc. So is the case with even- pert detective, can extract relevant infor- tualities of real life. If the astrologers fore- mation from their customers — bit by bit, cast some moderate phenomena which may disconnected, scattered — through suit- occur with an appreciable frequency, there able manouevres and talks, leading ques- is every likelihood that the speculation tions and suggestions. They are adept at will come true sooner. Speculations like reading the psychology of the customers. ”You may earn/lose money”, “Your health They pursue or change the line of conver- will show improvement/deterioration”, “You sation depending on the degree of progress have a predisposition for an accident”, of the talk or the type of reaction of the ”Those you trust most will betray you”, etc. latter. The majority of people visiting as- etc. are fairly possible eventualities. In all trologers are usually of weaker personal- such cases of prediction the chance of suc- ity and feeble mind. They, moreover, come cess is very high. to an astrologer usually when they are in 3) The speculation of astrology is always some trouble or distress, and, when they very hazy. The influences of the planets themselves do not find any way out or have are not stated in simple and straightforward lost all hopes of any other earthly solu- terms. It is described in terms of very many tions. They come to the astrologer with the complicated relations of the planets with hope to get some miraculous remedy. So one another (most of them simply mean- when they start talking and reporting their ingless) which only the astrologers can de- problems, in most cases they remain virtu- cipher from the birth hour of the person ally unaware that they themselves supply concerned. So almost all the speculations most of the information with which the as- of the astrologers are of the non-exclusive trologers surprise them in retrodiction. The type. Whatever happens go to prove one or function of the latter is to keep a good mem- another of the results predicted by the as- ory of the separate bits of information and trologer. One cannot apply the falsifiability gradually reconstruct a complete picture of test criterion (as suggested by Popper) to as- some of the past events of the visitors. trology.

Breakthrough, Vol.9, No.2, November 2001 25 From the Breakthrough archives Let us explain. is no relation — positive or negative, what- Suppose, a student goes to an astrologer soever — between job success of a man and wants to know whether he/she will and his/her birth signs. The same group pass the M.A. examination which is ahead. undertook another, still larger study — a The astrologer looks into the star-signs of comparison of the biographical descriptions the student and tells him/her: “Your days of 2,000 eminent personalities with 52,188 in near future are going through a good character traits and their horoscopic pre- time. Jupiter is the ruling planet for the dictions. The huge volume of data were time being. Naturally there is nothing to computed and analyzed with the help of worry. Of course Mercury is not friendly a sophisticated computer program “to test with Jupiter. So it will try to pull you out of a possible correlation between zodiac and Jupiter’s influence. Better you take a sap- personality”. The scientist concluded: “The phire in your ring to ward off Mercury. It results of our study are clear-cut and need might strengthen Jupiter’s power.” few comments. There is no correlation be- There may arise any one of the following tween character traits of the subjects and four situations: the signs under which they were born.... All this presents a large body of evidence sapphire sapphire against the alleged influences of the twelve taken not taken signs.”[16] the student passed failed Similar tests have been carried out by failed passed others too. John Mcgervey, a physicist of the Case Western Reserve University, USA, In each of these cases, the prediction of collected the birth-dates of 16,634 scien- the astrologer will appear to be true. If the tists and 6,475 politicians from standard student passes after taking the sapphire, or biographical sources and checked their cor- fails without taking it, the result is obvi- responding star-signs. They found that ously in conformity with the prescription of “the distribution of these signs were as ran- astrology. On the other hand, if the student dom as for the public at large.” Profes- fails in spite of taking the sapphire then sor Silverman, a psychologist of Michigan, Mercury is still holding power over Jupiter; USA, explored the relation between suc- or, if he/she passes without sapphire that cesses and failures of marriages and the shows Jupiter’s strength. There is hardly matching of star-signs of the married cou- any possibility of such type of predictions ples, by comparing the relevant data of to fail. Hence it is also meaningless to say 2,978 couples who had married and 478 that astrologers’ predictions come true. couples who had divorced in 1967-68 in However, some scientists and enquirers the state. He found no correlation of these made some objective and empirical stud- data with astrologers’ predictions. “Those ies on the results of astrological forecast- born under ‘compatible’ signs married and ing. For example, Michel Gauquelin and divorced just as often as those born un- his associates conducted a large scale sta- der ‘incompatible’ signs.” James Barth and tistical experiment in 1978 testing the pos- James Bennett of the George Washington sible connection of the star-signs on the job University studied the frequencies of the successes of 15,560 persons from 10 differ- Mars (sign of war and courage) and the ent fields of profession. ”Results were en- Venus (sign of love and beauty) in the birth tirely negative”, implying thereby that there charts of those who had re-enlisted them-

26 Breakthrough, Vol.9, No.2, November 2001 From the Breakthrough archives selves in the Marine Corps during 1962-70. the centre.” (November 1979) c) ”Therefore, They found nothing special about the plan- we conclude that Mrs. Gandhi can at best ets and the profession.[17] help her party in improving its position. Im- Many people in the western countries be- provement in her present status is practi- lieve that the lunar cycle has a direct bear- cally ruled out.” (ibid) ing on the number of childbirth, that the What happened to the Jupiter etc. of the numbers of live births during full-moons Janata Party’s fate is now too well-known to are much greater than at other times. Two need any comment.[19] scientists undertook an extensive study of 2. Mrs. Gayathridevi Vasudev, the daugh- the matter. They collected the details of the ter and illustrious successor of Raman’s, data about 11,691 live births at a hospi- had predicted the following about Indira tal for a period of 51 synodic months (in- Gandhi and her son, Rajiv, in their maga- volving lunar phases) from 17 March 1974 zine (February 1984): to 30 April 1978, and prepared a day-by- a) “While these indicate her strong desire day chart of the number of births. They to see her progeny in her own place after found no special rise or fall in the number she quits the scene, the astrological factors of births on any full-moon or any other day. would thwart her designs at the last mo- These authors referred to some other statis- ment or just when she is beginning to gloat tical studies on the distribution of suicides, over her anticipated success in her plans.” homicides and admissions to mental hos- b) “Since [according to the horoscope of Ra- pital, ”none of which shows any correlation jiv Gandhi] the Rajayogas are relegated to with the phases of the moon”. [18] the 12th house, power in this case may only Let us finish this excursion into the va- imply ‘near power’ and alliance with it but lidity of astrological speculation with some never ‘power proper’ ..... The Prime Minis- interesting episodes. When the astrologers ter’s wish of her progeny occupying the gadi have to predict something very discrete and may be the proverbial case of a slip between specific, their entire profession is put to a the cup and the lip.”[20] serious test. Let us take three such cases: 3. A renowned astrologer, Shukracharya, 1. Elderly people may remember that in the President of the Calcutta Astrological 1977 Indira Gandhi miserably lost the elec- Society, had predicted the immediate future tion and the Janata Party came to power. of Mrs. Indira Gandhi on the basis of her But In 1979 there were internal squabbles birth chart in September 1984. The fore- in the Janata Party and a mid-term poll cast was published in a well-known jour- loomed large. Mr. B.V. Raman, the sup- nal of astrology. It ran thus: “The Saturn posedly greatest astrologer of India and the and the moon have exchanged places, so editor of the Astrological Magazine, pub- the Saturn will not be ominous. It is a ma- lished in his magazine the following pre- hayoga (great coincidence). Since the Sat- dictions: a) “There is no indication of the urn is the ruling planet of Srimati Indira Government of the Janata Party collaps- Gandhi, there is no chance of Srimati Indira ing. Jupiter in the ascendant saves the losing power or falling from the present seat situation.” (July 1979) b) “For the Janata of leadership within this great period (up to Party, the planetary movements during November 1989).” [21] 1980 Dasha Bhukti period are favourable. But alas! Indira Gandhi was murdered As such the Janata Party will emerge as the at her official residence within a month of ruling party and will form Government at the forecast. And Rajiv Gandhi became the

Breakthrough, Vol.9, No.2, November 2001 27 From the Breakthrough archives Prime Minister thereafter. One may only ogy which could not assimilate any of the ask, what happened to the stars and plan- knowledge gained by man from the time of ets, the mahayoga of Mrs. Gandhi’s horo- Aryabhatt through Copernicus to this day, scope? And also of the Rajayogas in the go to use computer? In fact, as long as com- 12th house of Rajiv’s horoscope? puter had been at the stage of the ‘analog’ There can be only one explanation of system, when it was very difficult to han- these facts. All these astrologers - all their dle even for the technical people and when planets, stars and horoscopes notwith- it could not give out well-printed sheets of standing — pinned their forecasts on their result, no astrologer thought of using the own readings of the prevailing political sit- computer. Today, with the invention of uation of the country. When Janata Party’s the digital type desktop PC and the laser rule had appeared stable, they predicted ac- printer, it is now not only easy to handle cordingly. In the early 80’s it was again the data with a computer but also possible quite natural to expect a longer and safer to supply a nice-looking and precise print political career of Mrs. Gandhi. So they out. forecast the same and saw no chance for As to the second point it has to be un- Rajiv Gandhi’s coming to power. There are derstood that computers are only tools of many such concrete and glaring instances man’s practical works extending highly in- where the predictions of the reputed as- tricate services. It is primarily a new and trologers failed in the face of the subse- highly sophisticated system of information quent hard facts. This clearly shows that storage and retrieval. The content or qual- the entire foundation of astrology is based ity of knowledge is not changed or improved on subjective readings and crumbles down with any change in its storage system. It at any such serious test. works on the basis of the information it has been fed. It cannot go beyond what it Computer and Astrology has been taught to do and how it has been Nowadays, many astrologers are using designed. The rapidly growing differences computers to attract their clients. The in the level of performance of the comput- common people have a common psychology ers from generation to generation within the to idolize machines like computers as all last few years amply testify to this fact. You knowing all solving kits. If such an equip- cannot make a 486-type computer do all ment supports astrology then why should things that you can get from a pentium-III we doubt its validity as well as efficacy? type one. Actually however computers help us to So also the computer of an astrologer is show the real place of astrology in the his- fed the primary data of astrology on the ba- tory of human knowledge in two ways: sis of which it functions. It answers the a) No text of astrology had ever predicted questions of the visitors on the basis of the coming of computers in the aid of man; these data. Apart from its sophistication it and is in no way different from the astrologer’s b) Computer can add nothing to the exper- parrot often seen on the roadside to foretell tise of astrology. man’s future. The parrot picks up a card The first point needs no elaboration. You in response to a query of a customer. The have only to recall the texts of the jyotish man is stunned by the superiority of knowl- shastra in India to see the point. Moreover, edge of the parrot to his own. But an alert one should ask oneself, why does astrol- and intelligent man would easily discover

28 Breakthrough, Vol.9, No.2, November 2001 From the Breakthrough archives that the bird picks up the cards according into two class formations — the exploiters to his master’s instructions tacitly conveyed and the exploited. The course of life, and in the form of conditioned signals. hence, the ‘fate’ of man had become differ- Or one may think of the tickets obtained ent for different individuals. Most of the from the weighing machine which, besides people then — as they are still now — were giving the figure of weight of a man who unaware of the real factors at work for this pays a one-rupee coin, also provides a com- sharp division. So they sought explanation ment on the man. Most of the comments in fictitious things or they themselves imag- are so framed that they will fit or please any ined things as we have already seen. person of any description. And there are In course of social development, man’s only a few comments which are printed on knowledge about the world has gradually all the tickets and are repeated from time to improved. With the advent and onward time. There is nothing specific about a par- march of modern science man’s knowledge- ticular man. If a same man takes weight base has increased manifold and is contin- and collects many tickets one after another, uously growing every day. However, the rel- he or she will get different comments on the ative position of the different classes — the successive tickets. owners of the productive resources of the Computer astrology is of the same type. society on the one hand, and the actual Apart from the technical services no ad- producers divorced from all the major re- vanced knowledge is involved in it. It is sources and most of the products of their still in the stage of ”rejected knowledge”. own labour on the other — did not change, One might also feed data of demonology but is heading towards a complete polariza- or witchcraft in the computer. Would it tion. It is, therefore, a tragedy of history thereby raise them to the level of modern that man’s knowledge about nature, that knowledge? is, natural science, has not led to a uni- form distribution of the fruits of science and PART - IV: SOCIOLOGY AND technology among the people at large under SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY the class divided societies. It is another tragedy of history that man’s Why People Believe? knowledge about society and history has Thus ultimately we come to the moot ques- not been commensurate with his knowl- tion of the problem. We who are trying to edge of nature. The reason is obvious. So- build up a new science movement in our cial sciences, the sciences involving various country have to address this question in or- activities of man in society, have a direct der to find the ways and means to dispel the bearing on the various interests of man. disparaging impacts of astrology and other The laws and theories about social devel- forms of antiquated superstitions. The so- opment, about interrelation and interaction cial psychology of the people who subscribe among different aspects of economy, poli- to these false systems of beliefs has to be tics, etc., about structures and functions understood. The sociology behind the con- of different human institutions, the role of tinued existence of these beliefs has to be ideology in human affairs, and so on, — carefully explained. all these involve concepts that either legit- Astrology had originated at the point of imize or condemn an existing social system. social development when the human soci- Whereas, even the most reactionary regime ety underwent for the first time a major rift cannot totally dispense with the cultivation

Breakthrough, Vol.9, No.2, November 2001 29 From the Breakthrough archives of natural science and its procedures, ev- ment. A father is not sure whether his chil- ery existing ruling elite in every epoch of dren will get education properly, an edu- history has an active interest in promot- cated youth is afflicted by unemployment, ing only those ideas, concepts and analysis an employee is constantly under the threat which justify their rule, their role and func- of retrenchment (nowadays sublimated as tion as the ruling body, and in suppressing “voluntary retirement”), an average citizen those that may prove to be indicting them. always trembles under fear that he or she It is for this reason that the social scien- may suffer from a disease that is incur- tific knowledge of man, in general, is domi- able and/or economically unmanageable. nantly vitiated by this ruling class vision of In a certain sense, the uncertainty in life society. The same man who understands of man has increased hundred fold in mod- causality in natural phenomena, if he/she ern society compared to the previous feu- is guided by the ruling class philosophy, dal epoch. War, share market crash, eco- may not understand operation of causality nomic collapse, erosion of real income, etc., in social phenomena. This explains per- have become the other major threats before haps why even some renowned scientists man. But the average man does not un- also sometimes fail to follow and uphold the derstand the causes behind all these regu- scientific principles in matters other than lar social hazards in life. He does not see their specialized fields. the spade, nor the spade holder. He at- In this connection we must point out a tributes all these disorders to chance, to fact: It is not true that Professor Raman be- fate, to some inexorable destiny. He views lieved in astrology or believed it to be a sci- all these malaise as his personal problems ence — Dr. Gautam has created the episode and therefore seeks redressal to these at the for his role. In his Bombay (now Mumbai) personal level by somehow manipulating University Convocation Address in 1932, that fate or destiny on the basis of chance Professor Raman had openly called upon factors. He does not understand that man the literate gathering to fight all variants can create a social order completely differ- of superstitions: “Let the dogs of conser- ent from what exists today where the life vatism, ignorance and fanaticism bark, but of every individual could be governed by a the glorious caravan of the Indian nation common cause of social wellbeing. Educa- will move on with irresistible force.” tion, employment, medicare, old-age secu- But there are some others who may be- rity, would be ensured by the social mech- lieve in astrology and its cures, who may anism itself. He therefore cannot stand up even hold that it has some scientific ba- and declare, “I will control my fate”. sis. But because one is a good scientist This is where astrology comes in. This this opinion does not become true. In such is where Jupiter and Saturn take the hold. cases we must remember that truths of sci- This is where even a parrot appears wiser ence and the statements of a scientist are than the believing man. This is where some not always and necessarily the same thing. pieces of metal, some impure chemical sub- We must be able to see this point. stances, some fossil-crusts of lower animal For the common millions the situation is origin, seem to be able to command over still more precarious. They take the exist- the distant planets and therefore attract his ing order of things for granted, as a per- unbound respect. manent establishment, in which they find Vivekananda had quite candidly de- himself placed in an unalterable predica- scribed this astrology-philia as a mental

30 Breakthrough, Vol.9, No.2, November 2001 From the Breakthrough archives weakness and mental sickness in his char- sciousness of a larger section of people be acteristic language: “Weak men, when they raised to a higher level, this fortune telling lose every thing and feel themselves weak, profession suffers a serious setback. At try all sorts of uncanny methods of mak- least among those who are participating in ing money, and comes to astrology and all these movements, those who have read the these things. “It is the coward and the fool lessons of history, science and the history who says, ‘This is Fate’” — so says the San- of science on the one hand, and tasted the skrit proverb. But it is the strong man power of people’s united struggles on the who stands up and says, “I will make my other, the idea will find a fertile soil that fate”...... You will find that astrology and all human destiny is made (in its both good these mystical things are generally signs and bad aspects) by man himself. It is the of a weak mind; therefore as soon as they strong-willed man who makes it for himself, are becoming prominent in our minds, we and he makes it for the feeble-minded too. should see a physician, take good food and rest.” [22] How They Enforce? In point of fact, as regards astrology, At the same time, we have to keep in mind magnificent results were obtained by a sec- that there are social forces which require tion of humanity in some parts of the world to sustain astrology for their own interests. for quite a long time - where astrology was Otherwise we shall not be able to under- rendered redundant for man as soon as his stand why the NDA government, the HRD problems had been addressed to and re- Ministry and the UGC are so bent on intro- dressed by the system. In the erstwhile ducing these antiquated courses. USSR from 1920 to 1970 and in the People It is true that there is a pressure of the Republic of China during 1950-75. Large RSS lobby to carry out its hidden agenda number of people in these countries had in the field of education. A deeply in-circle once believed in and practised astrology — man and a long-trusted RSS veteran, suffi- for reasons enumerated above. But from ciently streamlined and orthodox, Dr. M.M. the moment the uncertainty had gradually Joshi, as soon as he had taken the charge of begun to vanish from life, the differences in the HRD ministry, went ahead with the Hin- sharing the opportunities of life were gone, dutva agenda and started taking one pro- all resources whatsoever were equally avail- gramme after another, for example: able to all irrespective of their stars and a) Introduction of Sarasvati vandana in all planets, and all the hardships had to be schools; similarly shared equally by all no matter b) expulsion of the qualified scholars like who was born in which constellation, when Satish Chandra, Bipan Chandra, Sumit it had become a concern of the state to keep Sarkar, Ram Sharan Sharma, K. M. all the citizens healthy in body and mind — Panikkar, T. K. V. Subramanium, and the profession of astrology, palmistry, nu- many others from the authoritative bodies merology, etc. found little or no clientele in like ICHR, ICSSR, UGC, NCERT, and from seeking forecast about health, job, educa- the Indian Institute for Advanced Studies, tion, marriage, etc., and therefore, little or Simla, etc., and, induction of RSS men or no practitioner to advise the people in these reliable yes-men like K. G. Rastogi, G. C. areas. Pande, Kireet Joshi, Hari Gautam, J. S. Even if there be a strong social movement Verma, J. S. Rajput, etc. in their places; in a country for a better society, if the con- c) withdrawal of authoritative history text-

Breakthrough, Vol.9, No.2, November 2001 31 From the Breakthrough archives books written by the afore-mentioned his- Although many of these things have not torians from circulation; yet been included in formal curriculum, d) recommendations via the channels of Joshi wants to keep the initiative running. the NCERT for (i) introducing a compul- If these programmes are successful, very sory course of the so-called Vedic Mathe- well. And even if they fail, the Hindus as matics at par with general mathematics in the majority community can be given a sig- schools, (ii) making science and mathemat- nal that they can do nothing for the Hin- ics optional in classes IX and X, (iii) teach- dus, the ‘original Indians’, because of the ing of the Sanskrit language and a religious coalition politics and opposition of the ra- course compulsory in all classes of schools, tionalists, secularists, Marxists and the mi- (iv) replacing the different subjects like his- norities, etc. Unless the BJP is alone in the tory, geography, civics, economics, social government, it can do nothing further. studies, etc. by a single condensed course However, that is not the whole picture. prepared in line with the RSS imagery of In- Dr. Joshi was honest enough when he told dia; the press: “My position is very clear. If the e) curtailment of fund for the research 1986 NEP (National Education Policy) was a projects of the ICSSR, ICHR, etc. while lib- move towards saffronization, then my pol- eral sanction of huge fund for the RSS-led icy too is so, for I have not moved an inch Deen Dayal Upadhyay Research Centre. from the NEP.” [23] It is a fact that Mr. Rajiv f) Side by side, attempts are afoot to res- Gandhi, the late Congress Prime Minister cue the so-called Rigvedic Sarasvati river by had adopted this policy and offered a broad drawing water from the existing channels scope to introduce any ancient and anti- and filling up some of the dry channels west quated subject into the formal curriculum of Yamuna, to show some factual relevance in the name of national heritage etc. The of the Vedic history and geography; NEP stated: “Efforts will be made to delve g) There are concerted efforts through vari- into India’s ancient fund of knowledge and ous statutory bodies (i) to revise and rewrite to relate it to contemporary reality.” [24] It ancient Indian history, (ii) to transfer the continued: ”The pre-occupation with mod- credit of Harappan civilization (estimated ern technologies cannot be allowed to sever to exist in between 3500 to 1800 B.C.) on our new generations from the roots in In- to Vedic culture (which started not earlier dia’s history and culture. ... Education can than 1500 B.C.), (iii) to throw back the time and must bring about the fine synthesis be- of onset of the Vedic culture to a preposter- tween change-oriented technologies and the ous period of 6000 B.C., (iv) to claim that country’s continuity of cultural tradition.” the original home of the Indo-European [25] It was not meant to promote a thor- language groups (who are wrongly called ough study of the ancient history of India, Aryans) was in India wherefrom they had but to underscore some relevance of an- scattered northward and westward, (v) to cient wisdom even today, as was clarified eulogize the Gupta era as the golden epoch by the expanded “Programme of Action” of of India and brand the entire Muslim period the policy. It declared that the excavation of as a consistently anti-Hindu tyrannical rule the ancient knowledge was taken up “with — in strict compliance with the colonialist a view to establishing the validity and re- British policy of using history as a tool to lationship of the knowledge and experience pollute the mind of the people, etc.; so on embedded” in the classical languages of an- and so forth. tiquity “to contemporary scientific thought

32 Breakthrough, Vol.9, No.2, November 2001 From the Breakthrough archives and technological development.” [26] when some revivalist movements, launched Similarly, Mr. Gandhi could claim that he under the guidance and inspiration of had inherited the charge from his mother’s Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, Ramkrishna, programme. Mrs. Indira Gandhi, when Dayananda, Vivekananda, Aurobindo, and she was the head of the central govern- many others, sought to reverse the efforts of ment had also promoted a course in the Ram Mohan, Vidyasagar, Phule, and some name of “value orientation” which foreshad- other great personalities of the time to lead owed many of these things. The Working India towards modern education and cul- Group set up under the chairmanship of ture. Instead of fighting against the age- Kireet Joshi, then advisor to the of Min- old ideas, values, superstitions, beliefs and istry of Education (the same Kireet Joshi customs prevailing among the people, they now enrolled in the RSS panel of intellectu- sought to justify them, glorify them and als to replace the unwanted members of the called upon the people to uphold them as academics), on the future Teachers’ Train- the national heritage of the country (al- ing Programme towards Value Orientation, though Vivekananda, as an Advaita Vedan- recommended in its Report an elaborate tist, was opposed to astrology, as we have course design about what to teach in the already seen). name of “values”, for example: “Aim of hu- During the freedom movement also the man life — supra-cosmic, supra-terrestrial, revivalist trend continued. Political lead- cosmic-terrestrial, integral; Education of ers like Gandhi or scholars like Dr. Rad- the in-most being and values of psychic hakrishnan took to the path of glorifying and spiritual culture; Philosophy and the the ancient India and her religion, culture, idea of the God, Proofs of the existence of customs, outlook and the way of life. Very God, Attributes of God; The Problem of evil, few personalities like Sarat Chandra Chat- suffering and death; Psychology of worship topadhyay, Premchand and Bhagat Singh and prayer; Psychology of action without made serious efforts to convince the peo- desire; Psychology of concentration, medi- ple about the futility of pursuing this long tation and contemplation; Central spiritual trodden path of antiquated habits and cul- experience, Liberation from the ego, Cosmic tural stagnancy. However, for many histor- consciousness, Transcendental conscious- ical reasons their attempts were not suc- ness; Yoga as practical psychology, Yoga as cessful. Anything past became the symbol science of spiritual experiences, Systems of of India’s greatness, no matter how irrele- yoga, Integral yoga of Aurobindo, Synthesis vant or even harmful that might be for the of science and spirituality; Telepathy and progress of the country. This created a se- Clairvoyance;” etc. etc. [27] rious hurdle on the way to cultivating the It is very difficult to find out any trace of logical bent of mind, critical outlook, ratio- values in these foamy areas! But it reveals nal approach among the common people. the long existing persistently obscurantist After independence those who rode on the tendencies in the field of education in In- saddle of power and began to control the dia among a large cross-section of the pol- country’s economy and politics, found in all icy makers. these old things a good opportunity to keep the teeming millions in darkness about the And Why.....? why behind the what of their life. Whatever In fact, it is a still older problem. It the ruling class does in its profiteering in- started in the days of Indian renaissance terests and however harmful that may be

Breakthrough, Vol.9, No.2, November 2001 33 From the Breakthrough archives for the common millions, the people, un- lim), or in the next birth (if Hindu or Bud- der the spell of astrology, will not be able dhist), by the God himself. Other countries to see the root cause of their problems in are doing it by dubious means, through them. They will at best accuse their stars various propaganda channels, programmes and their fate. and publications. The present rulers of In- That is why all the successive govern- dia has taken a step ahead. Here the cen- ments at the centre have encouraged inclu- tral government is going to introduce formal sion of these things into education — no educational courses for the purpose. matter who were in the office, what were That is the background of the astrology their jargons or what colours of flags they course. On the one hand, common peo- brandished. Today, however, the BJP gov- ple’s belief in astrology will be further re- ernment has surpassed all previous exam- inforced, it will earn a dignified status in ples in renouncing even the last residuals society. On the other hand, this will lend of rationality. But note that the non-BJP an additional force to their belief in blind secular champions within or outside NDA fate and their abject surrender to fatalism. have not registered the faintest of objec- The educated youths who are unemployed tion against these Hindutvavadi steps of the will blame their star signs. If crores of peo- HRD ministry. Some Congress leaders, no- ple starve while tonnes of food-grains rot tably the chief ministers of MP and Ker- in the FCI godowns, that is their predes- ala openly supported the astrology course. tined fate. Who can fight with the stars and While the chief minister of West Bengal, planets and avoid the pre-divined eventual- Mr. Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, was protest- ity? You had better pray to the gods or the ing against the communalization of educa- God, consult the astrologers and the priests tion, the Executive Council of the Rabindra certified by the universities accredited with Bharati University of his state (dominated UGC courses, and seek redressal through by his party lobby) applied for the astrology pujas, homs, yagnas, offerings, amulets, course. rings, gemstones, and so on. Don’t be- In this respect, let us note in pass- lieve the scientists, social scientists and the ing, the Indian ruling class is not alone. Marxists, don’t find fault with the social The present capitalist economic system the system, the economy, or the policies of the world over has for long been submerged governments. Work, work and work hard in an insoluble all round crisis. The en- without asking anything from anybody. It tire system is trembling in fear of popular is only then that the God and destiny will be outbursts and insurgency against it at any pleased with you and fulfill all your needs. time anywhere in the world. Almost all the The ruling elite knows it for sure that since capitalist states — big or small, developed you have no desire, and since there is no or undeveloped — are therefore trying to en- god or fate, none of these indoctrinations gage the people’s attention and energy in has any chance to be disproved in time. this or that conservative, reactionary and Let The Clock Move Clockwise fundamentalist ideas and actions so as to divert their mind from the temporal suffer- This has, however, a serious implication ings as well as from the real course of liber- for the cultural, intellectual and scientific ation. They will then seek consolation in achievements of the country. The neces- the hope that they will be rewarded post sary courses which create rational mind mortem in the heaven (if Christian or Mus- and prevent superstitions are being system-

34 Breakthrough, Vol.9, No.2, November 2001 From the Breakthrough archives atically undermined in divergent ways at here to science and scientific truths. We the school level and higher up. If astrology must keep the clock moving clockwise! and the other allied UGC courses enter the campuses of the universities, the highest REFERENCES seats of learning, its ideological, philosoph- 1. The Hindu — 13 April 2001 ical and epistemological levels will surely 2. From an Interview published in ‘India leave a gravely negative impact — directly Today’ — 11-17 September 2001 or indirectly — on all subjects of study. 3. Meghnad Saha — Samalochak Anil The impact would be of either of the two Baran O Hindu Jyotish; in Shanti- kinds: 1) If the courses are based on teach- moy Chattopadhyay (ed.) — Meghnad ing true material content and level of the Rachana Sankalan; Orient Longman, basic original texts available on the sub- Calcutta, 1986; pp.141-153 jects, which represent some specimens of 4. Swami Vivekananda — Man the Maker the ancient man’s knowledge of the time, it of His Destiny; Collected Works (in En- will, first, undermine the intelligence and glish), vol. 8; Advaita Ashram, Cal- sensibility of the people who will come to cutta; 1974, p.183 teach as well as to learn; and then, it will 5. Quoted by S. S. Apte — Preface to A. effectually degrade the standard of learning J. Karandikar — Vedic Astronomy and in all subjects taught in the universities. 2) Mythology; Gokul Masik Prakashan, Otherwise the courses will be framed by in- Pune; 1978, p.vi corporating the large stocks of information 6. Ravi Shankar and Suchi Sinha — Sci- from many different subjects to make them ence or Sham? India Today — 11-17 appear uptodate, but be presented to the September 2001 students as being recovered from the Vedic 7. From an interview — India Today, 11- and other ancient Indian sources; which 17 September, 2001 will be a sheer plagiarism and rank false- 8. H. Narasimhaiah — Astrology — Sense hood. And false courses can never render or Nonsense? in Narasimhaiah (ed.) — true knowledge. It will only help to spread Science, Nonscience and the Paranor- falsehood in other academic areas of the mal; Bangalore Science Forum, Banga- universities. lore, 1987; p.191 Whatever happens, it will put the clock of 9. R.S. Trivedi — Phalita Jyotisha; in Ji- progress backward. gyasa (an anthology of popular science The message is clear to all who can read articles in Bengali); A.C. Ghosh; Cal- the wall-writings of history. A formidable cutta 1947, p.269 attack is going to be launched on educa- 10. Hart Defouw and Robert Svoboda — tion, science, culture, scientific outlook and Light on Life: An Introduction to Astrol- morality. Those who can understand must ogy of India; Penguin Books Ltd., Lon- rise up in defence of logic, science and civ- don; 1996, pp.11-12; emphasis added ilization! It is not enough to argue and de- 11. Rigveda — 1/69/8; 1/123/3; liberate, we must act and fight. We must 1/127/8; 2/11/21; 3/30/18; 3/45/4; oppose introduction of anti-sciences in the 5/42/5;6/66/1; 7/26/2; 7/56/21; precincts of education. We must not allow etc. any group or lobby to vitiate the mind of the 12. Rigveda — 10/165/1-4 people with their sectarian and reactionary 13. Vivekananda — op. cit. ideas from the seat of power. We must ad- 14. Francis Bacon — Novum Organum I;

Breakthrough, Vol.9, No.2, November 2001 35 From the Breakthrough archives cited in Narasimhaiah (Ed.) “Sci- ence, Non-science and the Paranor- mal”, Bangalore Science Forum, Ban- galore, 1987, p.193 15. Vivekananda — op. cit., p.183; (italics ours — K.S.) 16. Michel Gauquelin — Zodiac and Per- sonality; in Narasimhaiah — op.cit. 17. Paul Kurtz and Andrew Fraknoi — Sci- entific Tests of Astrology Do Not Sup- port Its Claims; in Narasimhaiah — op.cit., p.213 18. George O. Abell and Bennett Greenspan — The Moon and the Maternity Ward; in Narasimhaiah — op.cit., pp.203-211 19. S. Balachandra Rao — Indian As- trologers’ Squibs Go Damp; in Narasimhaiah — op.cit., pp.315-16 20. Ibid. — p.318 21. Shukracharya — Srimati Indira Gandhi O Bharat Rastre Shanigraher Bhu- mika; Jyotish Siddhanta (the Ben- gali journal of the Astrological Re- search Project, Calcutta), special au- tumn number, 1984; (emphasis in the original; translation ours — K.S.) 22. Vivekananda — op.cit. p184 23. India Today — op.cit. 24. National Policy on Education 1986; GOI, New Delhi, 1986; Art. 5.33 25. Ibid; Art. 8.1; (emphasis added) — K.S 26. Programme of Action for the NPE’86; GOI, New Delhi, 1986; Para 20.37; (em- phasis added — K.S.) 27. Report of the Working Group to Review Teachers’ Training Programme (In the Light of the Need for Value-Orientation), GOI, New Delhi,1983; pp.30 and 35-39.

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