‘A Demon Nibbling At The Sun’ Hindus See India’s First Eclipse In 15 Years As Sacred Event, A Chance At Nirvana

Searching for salvation, about 500,000 devout Hindus entered sacred lakes and rivers, bowed their heads and prayed toward the sun Tuesday during India’s first total eclipse in 15 years.

As the skies darkened over Kurukshetra, a Hindu holy town in Haryana state, longhaired and bearded Hindu ascetics - some naked, others wearing a strip of cloth around their waists - led pilgrims through the ritual.

“A wash in the lake during a solar eclipse washes sins away for generations,” said Baba Santosh Giri, a priest at a Kurukshetra temple, after he emerged from the water.

Many people in this mostly Hindu nation believe that such a wash in Kurukshetra can free them from reincarnation, the arduous cycle of death and rebirth, and allow them to enter the blissful state of nirvana. Kurukshetra is the site of an epic Hindu battle between good and evil.

Similar ceremonies took place in lakes and rivers across northern India, including the sacred Ganges.

“Salvation is verily his who bathes or gives alms at Kurukshetra at the time of a solar eclipse,” says the Hindu epic, “The Mahabharata.”

Hindu mythology says an eclipse is caused when the demon Rahu flies across the sun to obscure it. That explanation still holds sway among many of India’s 900 million people, even those who understand the scientific reasons for an eclipse.

“Even highly educated people can be subjected to a fear as they forget their school lessons on eclipses,” said Nirupama Raghavan, an astrophysicist at New Delhi’s Nehru Planetarium.

To dispel myths about the eclipse, the government handed out 100,000 strips of foil needed to watch it safely and bused thousands of children, teenagers and college students to planetariums.

But in Kurukshetra, even police constable Rakesh Kumar, who shed his uniform and joined the worshipers while on duty, said: “The eclipse looks like a demon nibbling at the sun.”

Elsewhere in India, many people stayed home to pray and perform rituals to ward off the evil of the eclipse, which occurred one day after Diwali, a major religious holiday celebrated by lighting candles and setting off fireworks.