JAWAHARLAL NEHRU AND ASTROLOGY

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http://www.journalofastrology.com/article.php?article_id=216

 

 

 

 

 

 

JAWAHARLAL NEHRU AND ASTROLOGY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

KN RAO

4 June 2009, 8:26 PM

 

It has suited those who have taken shelter behind the massive frame of dead Jawaharlal Nehru to cite him as an instance of an anti-astrology and "progressive" symbol, rather a 'modern' man. The definition of "progressive" has had its vagaries from the Communists' blind acceptance of whatever communist Russia approved till perestroika of 1989 destroyed USSR, to those who thought that the "liberty of the womb" is a modern and progressive step."Modern" for astrophysicist like Jayant Narlikar can mean blind acceptance of everything that is called science and technology in the west. For some the less famous and talented Indian, it means accepting everything western, the central core of which is science, technology and permissiveness.Into that narrow definition they must jam pack the frame and reputation of Jawaharlal Nehru to seek a guilt stricken approval for their own fond beliefs which themselves are superstitous or may be so.. Nehru was a Kashmiri pandit, His uncle Bansidhar Nehru was a Sanskrit scholar and an astrologer. His father Motilal Nehru depended on the court astrologer of the state of Khetri for the horoscopes of his family. (see my book, the Nehru Dynasty) Those horoscopes were used for all those important occasions when Hindus take astrological approval for their decisions, mainly marriage. It was on this ground, astrological basis, that Kamla Nehru, the non-English knowing Kashmiri beauty from Sitaram Bazar. Delhi, was chosen for the European Jawaharlal Nehru who never went to an Indian school in India and had no Indian classmates. May be, if Pupul Jayakar had not been threatened, she might have revealed much more than what she did in her biography of Indira Gandhi.The myth of Jawaharlal Nehru being anti-astrology would have persisted if in a major paper on astrology, the following had not appeared. It was the year 1983 and an astrological conference at Bangalore where in a major paper of mine containing tabulated predictions,

given in advance, the prefatory remarks were Letter No.74 From

Jawaharlal Nehru Ahmadnagar Fort To Krishna Hutheesing-20 Carmichael

Road, Bombay 29.8.1944 :" In

my letter to Indu I suggested to her to ask you to get a proper

horoscope made by competent person. Such permanent record of the date

and the time of birth are desirable. As for the time, I suppose the

proper solar time should be mentioned and not the artificial time which

is being used outside now. War time is at least an hour ahead of the

normal time" (Nehru's letters to his sister-edited with an introduction by Krishna Hutheesing-Faber and Faber,24 Russel Square, London).I then added the following comment."Surprisingly this portion has been omitted by the editor of the letters of Pandit Nehru published by the Publications Divisionof

Government of India, perhaps in his overanxiety to preserve the

"secular" image of Pandit Nehru. The editor exercised his selective judgment in a way as will distort some facets of the personality of Nehru"The

battle had begun between the "progressive and secular" writers of

Indian history and astrologers with this paper of mine. The salutary

effect of this was that when Volume 13 of Nehru's letters were

published, the following letter to Indira Gandhi contained the

following additional information."Betty no doubt will take

necessary steps to have a 'Janmapatri" ( Hindi) made. This should be

done for that is our traditional way to record the exact date and time

of birth, the date according to Samvat Calendar, as far as I can make

it out is Bhadrapad 2-Samvat 2001, or put it differently second day of

the bright half of the Moon in the month of Bhadra Samvat 2001. Betty

writes time of birth was 8.11 a.m. But what time? The time observed now

is war time which is at least one hour ahead of normal time, possibly

more. It is thus the artificial time and not the real time, according

to which Moon should be when Sun is highest in the heaven......

Letter No.77S.Gopal, the editor of Nehru's letters got a clear

warning that if he suppressed relevant and authentic material from

Nehru papers which showed that Kashmiri Brahmin's belief in astrology,

he would be dragged to court besides being exposed. So he came with

another letter this time which Nehru wrote to his daughter Indira

Gandhi after the birth of her first son, Rajiv Gandhi.It was thus, from

December 1983 that the myth of Nehru's anti astrology image of exploded.Some

of us in Lucknow had read in the Pioneer (of Lucknow) in the fifties an

explosive attack by Sampurnand, a former chief minister of U.P. and

later, governor of Rajasthan, on Nehru and astrology. He said that

Nehru had written to Malviyas in Varanasi to get the horoscope of his

grand son Rajiv Gandhi prepared. Since there was some delay, Nehru had

become impatient and irritable in the tone of letter he had written. If

Nehru did not believe in astrology why did he insist on having a

horoscope prepared for his grandson was the question Sampurnananda

raised and it never was answered.Someone should have delved

into available family records to find out how many astrologers

Jawaharlal Nehru and his family members had contacted or written to. If

the purpose of getting prepared horoscope for proper birth record was

the sole aim, it could be done in a simpler way. Note down the time of

birth, day, month, year and the place in one register as the pandas of

pilgrimages in India do in their own way. The correct time of birth is

not necessary for this purpose. More important , if the purpose was

merely to keep a record of birth why was Nehru so anxious that war

time should be adjusted properly it being 8.11 am (wartime) and 7.11

a.m. (corrected wartime) which only astrologers need for casting the

correct horoscope?.Those who know astrology should know that

the difference of one hour in noting the birthtime of Rajiv Gandhi

would have made a difference to his lagna, between Kanya on the bass of

8.11. and Simha if 7.11. is taken. and would have changed entire

astrological reading about him.Then why write to so many

astrologers to have the horoscope prepared of the same grandson ? One

would have been sufficient. That is obviously not for keeping "proper

birth records" but much more. It was for a reading of the horoscope

with its promises. Consultations from different astrologers would havehelped in seeing points of unanimity in their readings, Nehru must have been aware, as Indira revealed to Pupul Jayakar thus.'I

don't really know, but we have to try and preserve it. However

carefully we try to separate what is really worthwhile and eternal in

our values from the many superstitions which have gathered around them,

we cannot always succeed. Most people see religion not as a basic

philosophy or the essence of life but as the mantras that they may have

learnt to utter at a given time. That is why my father spoke up so

strongly about the scientific temper and against astrology. People must

go back to the very roots, to the source of faith. Our philosophy says

that the divine is in each one; there is light and strength in each one

of us. We have to find a way of discovering the energy that is within

us.'Anyone who has studied astrology or has taken astrological

consultations knows that while astrology is a brilliant guide as a

foretelling science, astrologers can fall into mental traps of their

own imperfect understanding of some of the astrological laws and commit

errors. Nehru may have been aware of the imperfections and charlantary

of astrologers. Nehru's desire to consult so many astrologers was to

avoid all this. Nehru believed in astrology is the inevitable

conclusion but not in every astrological prediction, which Indira

Gandhi clearly hinted at with her conversation with Pupul Jaykar.In

1978-80 period, the late Gulzarilal Nanda who used to meet our group of

astrologers in Delhi he often told us of the predictions he used to get

for Nehru from Arun Samhita with Haveli Ram. This fact is mentioned in

India from Curzon to Nehru of Durgadas.(A retired director

general ( 1990)from the Indian Audit and Accounts Service, K.N.Rao the

founder advisor of the Institute of Astrology, Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan,

New Delhi is the author of twenty six books on astrology and edits the

quarterly Journal of Astrology) This article appeared in the Pioneer,

Delhi sometime in 2003.