Jawaharlal Nehru had exhorted the citizens of India to develop a ‘scientific temper’. And so, he was naturally frustrated when, in February of 1962, thousands across India huddled together to pray. Millions of Indians, convinced by astrologers that the world was coming to an end, were preparing for their final hour.
A phenomenon called ‘Ashta-graha’, the conjunction of the Sun, Moon, Earth, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, touted as a sign of imminent disaster, was supposed to end the world. Across the country, saffron-robed men led mass prayer meetings from the time the moon ‘entered’ the Zodiac sign of Capricorn.
Speaking at an election meeting to over 300,000 people in Kanpur, Nehru said:
What strikes our intelligence as completely absurd should not be accepted.
The first prime minister called it a ‘laughing matter’ that so many were bathing in the Ganges during an eclipse – a practice that continues today. He urged a scientific temperament. But superstitions based on fear are hard to die. Across India, people started to deal with the situation. Beggars were paid more, the so-called ‘holy men’ raked in money as everyone was performing sacrifices and pujas. Those who paid more silver to the saffron-robed men expected to have better prospects of escaping this catastrophe. Many areas faced acute shortage of ‘holy men’. People even stopped buying country liquor – as sales dropped 50 percent.
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