The Legacy of Muslim Rule in India c5.s5.5

c5.s5.5

But there were charlatans also. They duped and exploited the poor and the credulous. Besides some people then as now had no faith in astrology. The French doctor Bernier was such an one. Describing the bazar held in Delhi near the Red Fort, Francois Bernier (seventeenth century) says that Hither, likewise, the astrologers resort, both Mahometan and Gentile. These wise doctors remain seated in the sun, on a dusty piece of carpet, handling some old mathematical instruments, and having open before them a large book which represents the sign of the Zodiac. In this way they attract the attention of the passenger by whom they are considered as so many infallible oracles. They tell a poor person his fortune for a *payssa* Silly women, wrapping themselves in a white cloth from head to foot, flock to the astrologers, whisper to them all the transaction of their lives, and disclose every secret with no more reserve than is practised by a penitent in the presence of her confessor. The ignorant and infatuated people really believe that the stars have an influence (on their lives) which the astrologers can control.⁵⁷