Eclipses

Without exception, eclipses are considered highly inauspicious and ritually
217
Eclipses
dangerous times. As in many other cultures, Indian astronomers were able to
figure out the motion of the moon, and
thus could predict both solar and lunar
eclipses fairly accurately. The traditional mythic explanation for eclipses
comes from the story of the Tortoise
avatar, in which the gods and demons
agree to join forces to churn the Ocean
of Milk into the nectar of immortality,
which they will then share. The gods
manage to trick the demons out of
their share, but as the gods divide it
among themselves, the demon Sainhikeya
slips into their midst in disguise. As
Sainhikeya begins to drink, the sun and
moon alert the god Vishnu to
Sainhikeya’s presence, and Vishnu
quickly uses his discus to cut off the
demon’s head. Yet since the demon
drank some of the nectar, both his head
and trunk become immortal, with the
head becoming Rahu and the trunk
becoming Ketu. Rahu has particular
enmity for the sun and moon, the
deities responsible for his demise, and
tries to swallow them whenever he
meets them in the heavens. He always
succeeds, but since he no longer has a
body to digest them, they escape
unharmed through Rahu’s severed neck.
This association with Rahu makes
eclipses inauspicious and ritually dangerous times, and in popular culture
eclipses are believed to emit malevolent rays that have a physical quality.
Many people respond to this danger by
remaining indoors for the duration of
an eclipse. During an eclipse, people
will often perform rites of protection,
including giving donations (dana) as a
way to give away potential bad luck.
Pregnant women must take particular
care, lest the inauspiciousness of the
time affect the growing child. Some
believe that pregnant women should
lie completely motionless during an
eclipse, fearing that the child will be
born missing the body part corresponding to the one that the woman
moved. After the eclipse, people bathe
(snana) and perform other rites of
purification to remove any possible
lingering taint of impurity (ashaucha)
or bad luck.