History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c82.299

v6.c82.299

Those interested in astrology in general and Greek astrology in particular and those who desire to know how astrology is regarded by many modern scientific minds may read 'L' Astrologie Grecque' by A. Bouchè-Leclercq' (1899, a masterly work in French on Greek Astrology) pp. 570-593 (for arguments against astrology), 'The Royal Art of Astrology' by Robert Eisler (London, 1946), which contains a reasoned and sustained refutation, and Mr. J. C. Gregory's Article on 'Ancient Astrology' in Nature, vol 153 pp. 512-515 (a brief, but instructive and detached survey of astrology from Chaldean times to this day). The number of books in favour of astrology or expounding it is large and I do not propose to mention them. One book arrested my attention, viz. Louis de Wohl's 'Secret service of the sky'. On p 31 he propounds a doctrine very similar to what Varāha-mihira laid down as the scope of *horāśāstra* viz. that Astrology has nothing whatsoever to do with mere predictions, that it only indicates tendencies and that human will is free He began well, but he did not observe his own precepts. On p. 235 he predicts 'I do not believe that Mahatma Gandhi will survive the first half of 1939 ' This prediction turned out to be untrue and it is well-known that Mahatma Gandhi was killed on the 30th of January 1948.