Indians pray in eclipse
NZPA-Reuter New Delhi c A total eclipse of the sun'i. spread a 130 km wide belt Of darkness across India on Saturday and millions of.de* vout Hindus prayed for sab ’ vation. Astrologers said the ipse portended ■ ominous i developments for world ; peace and internal troubles | for India. As the giant shad*, ow moved eastwards, Hindus’" bathed in sacred rivers and lakes, Ash-smeared sadhus (holy men) blew conches and prayed for the sun’s i deliverance. Partial darkness over ai 1 wide area lasted for a maximum of 135 minutes.
Assuming that most people would not go to work, the Government had declared a public holiday and warned people not to look directly at the sun for fear of permanent eye damage. Hospitals opened special eclipse clinics as a precaution.
However, while schools, banks, and offices closed, thousands of Indian and foreign scientists manned observation posts along . the path of the eclipse. Most of the studies concentrated on the corona, the envelope of rarefied gas surrounding the sun which can be examined in greatest detail during an eclipse. Scientists hoped to solve the mystery of why the gradual decrease in temperature from the sun’s inner core to the outer layers was suddenly reversed by super-hot flares in the corona. The Indian Government also published rejections of the astrologers’ predictions. One official advertisement in newspapers, said: There is no established evidence of earthquakes: being- associated with/a solar, eclipse, i \
Indians pray in eclipse
Press, 18 February 1980, Page 8
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