History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c81.1002

v6.c81.1002

Certain astrological results were deemed to follow from eclipses. One or two are cited here for illustration. The Viṣṇudharmottara⁶⁴⁹ states that if in one and the same month there is first an eclipse of the moon and then of the sun, that occurrence would tend to create disputes between brāhmaṇas and kṣatriyas, but if the opposite was the case, then there would be prosperity. The same purāṇa says that persons born on the nakṣatra on which there is an eclipse of the sun or moon suffer troubles unless they perform śānti rites (to avert the evil results). Hemādri (on Kāla pp 392-93) quotes several verses from Garga about the prognostications derived from eclipses of the sun and moon when they are in certain nakṣatras. Atri provides:⁶⁵⁰ 'When the moon and the sun are eclipsed in the nakṣatra of a man's birth, that forebodes disease, long journeys, death and great danger from the king (of the country)'.