The Ashtagraha: Eight Heavenly Bodies Line Up for Doom
Astrologers, 1962: Eight Heavenly Bodies in Capricorn Leave Earth 'Bathed in the Blood of Thousands of Kings'
As the sun, moon and planets gathered in Capricorn during a solar eclipse, astrologers in India forecast catastrophe. Crowds waited at temples and riverbanks; Nehru called it absurd.
What was claimed (paraphrase)
Astrology charts foretold an earth 'bathed in the blood of thousands of kings', with earthquakes and floods, when eight heavenly bodies met in Capricorn.
— Astrologers in India (the 1962 Ashtagraha forecast) · said Jan 1962 · due February 5, 1962 (5:38 pm in Delhi)
The conjunction came and went. As the Harvard Crimson put it on February 5, 1962: 'World Has Not Ended Yet This Morning.'
The Story
Paraphrase built from the Crimson's report, which quotes the 'bathed in the blood' line from astrology charts and says Indians 'prepared for earthquakes' while 'a devastating flood was predicted for the East coast of the United States.'
The Wire's P. Raman, an eyewitness in Delhi, recalls crowds expecting doom 'at 5.38 pm on February 5, 1962' and Nehru's verdict: 'What is absurd cannot be accepted.' Afterwards, he writes, some astrologers said good deeds had 'spared the worst disasters.' Compare jupiter-effect-1982 and noone-alignment-2000.
Later spin
A week later some astrologers claimed prayers and good deeds by people and holy men had spared the world the worst (The Wire).
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