Come Friday, we are to fast between nine in the morning to six in the evening. Then we wash ourselves to clean us of the contamination of solar eclipse.
More than a billion people will be in the shadow of the Moon on that day, and most of them will be observing some kind of ritual, I bet.
But I read that the first recorded episode of eclipse was made in the reign of some Chinese emperor called Zhong Kang, some two thousand years before Christ.
What that record tells us is this:
“ In the fifth year of Zhong Kang, in the autumn, in the ninth month, on the first day of the month, there was an eclipse of the Sun, when he ordered the Prince of Yin to lead the imperial forces to punish Hsi and Ho”.
What did the two jokers, Hsi and Ho, do to invite the wrath of the Mighty Emperor? Did they bring about the eclipse by some magic?
No. They were astrologers in the Imperial Court of China who failed to forewarn the emperor about the impending doom. And they had their heads severed by order of The Emperor.
Now, astrology has had some severe repercussions. But if you are an astrologer, or even otherwise, it is better to hedge your bets. They have learnt their lesson and have grown so successful in this, now we don’t expect their predictions to come true.
We call them Meteorologists, of course.
Interesting really. The king may have thought that the darkness has descended on the earth forever, at the moment of eclipse, and ordered thus. Kings generally don't reverse their orders as that would be acknowledging a mistake.
ReplyDeleteOf course.
ReplyDeleteBut this particular king had no way of going back.
A head that gets hacked, stays hacked.
Ha Ha!