Hindu scriptures indicate that an eclipse signals a time of change and thus people must be very cautious so that the change is not a change for the worse. The cautionary period begins 12 hours before the eclipse and ends 12 hours after the eclipse. During this time one should not eat; exceptions are made for children and the sick. One should bathe just before the eclipse begins, remain indoors praying during the eclipse, and bathe immediately after the eclipse. During the eclipse one should abstain from eating, drinking, urinating, or defecating. Both solar and lunar eclipses last several hours because the eclipse begins with the beginning of the partial eclipse phase and ends with the last of the partial eclipse phase. Apparently it is not good to even look at an eclipse. Hindus believe that if a persons bathes during a solar eclipse in a particular sacred pool near the town of Kurukshetra, the site of the epic battle described in the Mahabharata, then upon dying that person will be released from the cycle of death and rebirth; that person will receive salvation.
There was a total eclipse of the Sun in India in 1980 which caused considerable havoc to the transportation system in the country. Just before the eclipse trains were stopped and rail workers left the train to be inside during the several hours of the eclipse. Bus drivers and passengers left their buses, and in general people left the normally crowded streets and highways to avoid being outside during the eclipse.
There was another total solar eclipse which crossed India on October 24, 1995. My wife and I went to India specifically to view the eclipse and study Hindu astronomy. Weeks before the 1995 eclipse newspapers reported that one of the foreign eclipse expeditions had chosen to view the eclipse from the village of Nimkathana in Rajasthan. (Nimkathana was probably chosen because it is on the main rail line between Jaipur and Delhi.) Apparently this lent credence to the idea that it was not going to be as dangerous to view the eclipse from Nimkathana. I was told, on a number of occasions by various Indians, that there would be bad air during the eclipse. In some cases it was reported there would be poisonous air, but the air would not be bad at Nimkathana. A few weeks before the eclipse bus companies were scheduling special buses to Nimkathana for prospective viewers. The government provided money for extra facilities at Kurukshetra during the eclipse to accommodate the expected two million pilgrims. One newspaper article described the enhanced facilities as making the place "more attractive to pilgrims." Apparently the reporter had not considered that salvation from the cycle of birth and death would be plenty of incentive for most people.
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My wife and I observed the 1995 eclipse from the Roop Niwas Palace in the small village of Nawalgarh, in the Shekhawati district of Rajasthan. The palace was filled with foreigners who had traveled half way around the world for the less than one minute totality of the solar eclipse.
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| Roop Niwas Palace, Nawalgarh, Rajasthan, India. |
The manager of the palace was the son of the Maharaja. At breakfast the morning of the eclipse the manager of the palace brought my wife and me a few strands of a grass which he called "dob" or "dawb". He told us that if we placed it in contact with our skin it would protect us during the eclipse. We tied the long strands around our wrists.
One of the daughters of the manager had been told by the family astrologer that the cautionary period would be particularly important for her and thus the entire family would have to pay particular attention that nothing went wrong. She was not especially happy about the situation because she was eager to see the eclipse, the center of enormous activity at the palace, but she was told she had to stay indoors. However the manager had a number of duties with several hundred foreigners camped in tents around the palace grounds. It was rumored that a high administrative official in the Oberoi Corporation would be visiting the palace to view the eclipse. Just before the eclipse a helicopter landed with important people on board, and the manager was seen observing the eclipse with these dignitaries.
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The total solar eclipse which crossed India in 1995 was less disruptive than the 1980 eclipse. The eclipse occurred the morning after Dewali, the Hindu new year festival. The Dewali celebrations of fireworks and the viewing of lighted candles in and around homes and businesses was cut short because the twelve hour precautionary period for the eclipse began at 7:30 p.m. on the night of Dewali. The normally crowded streets of cities and villages were virtually abandoned for several hours on the morning of October 24, but the trains did not stop running. Most of the people in the village of Nawalgarh stayed indoors, but some young men did come to the palace gates to be with the foreigners during the eclipse. They were quite eager to view the eclipse and did not seem bothered by the possible danger; they also seemed quite eager to view the foreigners viewing the eclipse, a novelty in itself. Some of the foreigners, mostly Americans and Europeans, went out to a small encampment of local people near the palace and viewed the eclipse there. The campers had come to Nawalgarh to make purchases and celebrate Dewali.
Live pictures of the eclipse were broadcast nationwide on Indian television from several locations along the path of the eclipse. They were accompanied by expert commentary and conjecture. The directors were somewhat confused and each time a commentator started say something the picture would switch from the view of the eclipse to a talking-head view of the commentator. The first spectacular pictures of the onset of totality were not shown on TV but instead one saw the commentators shouting to the directors of the program to put the eclipse pictures back on. Fortunately there was a second TV crew stationed farther down the eclipse path and when the eclipse occurred there those pictures were broadcast with considerable shouting and directing from the expert commentators.
The eclipse was spectacular and enjoyed by the viewers at the Roop Niwas palace. Just as totality began my wife and I stationed ourselves outside that palace gates. We heard shouts coming from the local people camped a few hundred meters away. Apparently they were attempting to chase away the demon who was causing the eclipse. (Rahu and Ketu are the demons responsible for eclipse.)
As totality approached a number of young men from the village gathered around and I passed out about a dozen pairs of eclipse viewing glasses. Within a few minutes there were more young men and no glasses in sight. I passed out the last few pairs of glasses but they soon disappeared. These young men seemed quite excited about the viewing and put up a shout of approval when I pointed out that we could see a few stars in the sky during the total phase of the eclipse.
It is quite amazing to see the midday sky turn dull grey and the horizon take on the orange and pink hews of a sunset. My mind seemed to instinctively know that the darkening was not due to clouds as there were none in the sky. The corona of the Sun could be see surrounding the dark black circle which was the back side of the Moon. Sunlight had been visible a few moments earlier and now it was gone. Since I and most of the people around me had never seen this before it seemed very, very unnatural. When the Sun finally peaked out from behind the dark black circle of the Moon there was a sense of relief and an audible gasp from those gathered in front of the Roop Niwas Palace in Nawalgarh. It was over and we were safe.
After the eclipse the young men, those who were still gathered around, thanked us for showing them the eclipse. Everyone was smiling. The dawb which my wife and I wore around our wrists had protected us and the world had returned to near normal.
A total eclipse of the Sun is an awesome sight. The India 1995 eclipse was the first for my wife and me. Many of the foreigners staying at the palace had seen several total solar eclipses; many of these people had become addicted to eclipse viewing. One gentleman was viewing his thirteenth. Immediately after the eclipse, before the Moon had completely passed from in front of the Sun, people were planning their next eclipse trip. The next total eclipse of the Sun after 1995 was in Siberia in the winter, so few were planning to be there. There will be a total eclipse of the Sun on February 26, 1998 in the Caribbean, an ideal location for eclipse addicts to feed their habit. I am not sure I can get the time off from my job in March but I will be at the eclipse in Turkey in August of 1999. See you there!
More information about upcoming eclipses can be found at the excellent Fred Expenak's NASA Eclipse Home Page. For example there are maps showing the path of the August 11, 1999 eclipse in Europe and western Asia (including Turkey.) If you would like to see photographs of the October 24, 1995 solar eclipse taken by Fred Espenak from the small village of Dundlod, about 20 km from Nawalgarh, they are in Fred Espenak's report on the 1995 eclipse. He also has links to other eclipse reports.
This page prepared by C.Hartley, Director of the Ernest B. Wright Observatory at the Department of Physics at Hartwick College in the City of Oneonta, NY. More things from C. Hartley at his home.
All text, drawings and photographs by C. Hartley, unless otherwise noted, copyright © 2001
