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http://www.csico p.o rg/si/sho w/an_indian_test_o f_indian_astro lo gy

An Indian Test of Indian Astrology

Jayant V. Narlikar
Indian ast rologers claim t hey can t ell a persons int elligence f rom his or her horoscope. But t went yseven ast rologers f ailed t o perf orm bet t er t han chance when given f ort y horoscopes of int ellect ually bright subject s and ment ally handicapped subject s. In t he world of ast rology, India has many claims t o f ame. It has an ast rology f undament ally dif f erent f rom bot h Chinese and West ern ast rology,1 possibly more part - and f ull-t ime ast rologers t han in t he rest of t he world put t oget her, and t he worlds longest -running English ast rological mont hly (The Astrological Magazine 18952007). It s main government f unding agency, t he Universit y Grant s Commission, provides support f or BSc and MSc courses in ast rology in Indian universit ies. And as f or t he general public, one f inds almost universal belief in it . Indian ast ronomer and ast rology crit ic Balachandra Rao (2000, 149) not es: T he belief in ast rology among our masses is so deep t hat f or every t rivial decision in t heir personal liveslike whet her t o apply f or a job or not t hey readily rush t o t he ast rologers wit h t heir horoscopes. Likewise, many will consult an ast rologer t o ensure t heir marriage dat e will be auspicious. In 1963, t he ast rologers advice, f or example, led t o a post ponement of t he wedding of t he Crown Prince of Sikkim by a year. A day seen as generally auspicious can t hus lead t o a large number of weddings t aking place, put t ing severe pressure on f acilit ies like wedding halls, cat erers, et c.

Prediction of Events
West ern ast rologers are generally t aught t hat ast rology is nonf at alist ic and t heref ore not a good bet f or predict ing event s. Indian ast rologers hold t he opposit e view, and every ast rologer wort hy of t he name must be able t o make such f orecast s. Unf ort unat ely, t hese predict ions do not carry any cont rols. For example, B.V. Raman (19121998), publisher-edit or of The Astrological Magazine , wrot e t hat when Sat urn was in Aries in 1939 England had t o declare war against Germany (not e t he f at alism) in a work int ended t o present a case f or ast rology (Raman 1992, 119). However, t his reasoning f ails t o not ice t hat Sat urn was also in Aries in 1909 and 1968 when not hing much happened ot her t han overseas st at e visit s by Edward VII and Elizabet h II, respect ively. Indian ast rologers of t en make ext reme claims about Indian ast ronomy, as when The Astrological Magazine f or March 1984 claimed Uranus, Nept une, and Plut o had been discovered around 500 BC (Rao 2000, 36). But t heir claims about Indian ast rology t end t o be even more ext reme, as in t he August 25, 2003, Indian Express wherein Raj Baldev, who claimed t o be an aut horit y on t he subject of Ast ronomy, Ast rology, Cosmo-Mat hemat ics and Met aphysics said t hat ancient Hindu ast rology is a complet e science where even one million billiont h of a second makes a lot of dif f erence. Skept ics might wonder at t his, since it implies t hat t he shadows cast on ancient sundials were rout inely posit ioned t o bet t er accuracy t han a hundred milliont h of t he diamet er of an at om. Even at night . Can we believe it ?

Complexity without End

Indian ast rology is more complex t han West ern ast rology, wit h count less aut horit at ive aphorisms t o

cover every possible sit uat ion. Indeed, t he f ew West ern aut hors who have described it f or West ern use have t ypically required decades of st udy bef ore proceeding. But as one of t hem has not ed: T his is of course nat ural f or a societ y over 6,000 years old whose elders have not only employed ast rology but embraced it (Braha 1986, x).2 And t here is no West ern equivalent t o t he ways in which t hose aut horit at ive aphorisms can be modif ied via suit ably chosen amulet s, mant ras, colors, gemst ones (yellow or blue sapphire is said t o st rengt hen Jupit er or Sat urn, respect ively), and by perf orming yajnas (a spirit ual ceremony involving of f erings t o f ire perf ormed by a Hindu priest ). Ironically t hese modif icat ions specif ied by t he ast rologer are essent ially f at alist ic ways of achieving non-f at alist ic out comes.

Indian horoscopes are a dif f erent shape f rom West ern horoscopes, and t heir signs, houses, and aspect s are calculat ed dif f erent ly. T hey also dif f er in how t hey are int erpret ed. A West ern-st yle int erpret at ion f ocusing on t he owners personalit y and mot ivat ions would be reject ed in India, where client s expect f ort une-t elling.

Miraculous Nadis
Indian Nadi ast rology has many variat ions, but if any of t hem worked it would be a miracle. Nadi ast rologers, when approached by a client , are f ound t o have a huge collect ion of horoscopes on ancient palm leaves, one of which t urns out t o be t he client s. But a lit t le t hinking shows t hat it is not as miraculous as it may seem. Consider t he f ollowing scenario. Af t er providing birt h det ails during t he f irst visit , t he client is asked t o ret urn a f ew days lat er on t he pret ext t hat it will t ake t ime t o f ind his horoscope among t he t housands held by t he ast rologer. While t he client is away, t he ast rologer, based on t he inf ormat ion supplied by t he client , writ es his or her horoscope on a f resh palm leaf and soaks it in a slurry of coconut kernels and mango bark, bot h of which are rich in t annin. T his gives t he palm leaf an ancient look (Premanand et al. 1993, 331). During t he second visit t he client is appropriat ely impressed t hat his/her horoscope t urned up af t er so many cent uries.

Electronic Destinies
In 1984, t he f irst companies t o of f er comput erized horoscopes appeared in India, sevent een years af t er t hey had st art ed business in Europe. In t went y minut es (t oday, in just a f ew seconds) t hey could do t he calculat ions t hat previously t ook t hree mont hs. A comput er horoscope may cost t went y-f ive rupees

(about f if t y cent s) f or an ordinary one and f if t y rupees (about $1) f or a longer one, more in big cit ies or air-condit ioned cent ers. Predict ions cost up t o 500 rupees depending on t he number of years ahead (Rao 2000, 147).3 Many websit es of f er f ree horoscopes; see, f or example, www.best indiansit es.com/ast rology. As in t he West , Indian ast rologers immediat ely complained t hat t he comput er was devoid of int uit ion and experience, and did not meet t heir client s need t o t alk and vent t heir f eelings. Indeed, about t wo decades ago an educat ed young man commit t ed suicide af t er a comput er horoscope predict ed t ot al f ailure in everyt hing he did (Premanand et al. 1993, 307). Nevert heless, as in t he West , comput er horoscopes seem here t o st ay. In 1989, I was showing a visit or around my newly est ablished ast ronomy cent er in Pune. At t hat t ime we had just set up our new comput er and I explained it s capabilit ies t o t he visit or. At t he end, I wait ed f or any quest ions she may have had. Yes, she did have a quest ion: Does t his comput er cast horoscopes?

The Ultimate Accolade

T he lobby f or Indian ast rology had it s crowning glory when, in February 2001, t he Universit y Grant s Commission (UGC) decided t o provide f unds f or BSc and MSc courses in ast rology at Indian universit ies. It s circular st at ed: T here is urgent need t o rejuvenat e t he science of Vedic Ast rology in India . . . and t o provide opport unit ies t o get t his import ant science export ed t o t he world. Act ually, t he phrase Vedic Astrology is an oxymoron since t he pref ix Vedic has not hing t o do wit h t he Vedas, t he ancient and sacred lit erat ure of t he Hindus, which do not ment ion ast rology. In f act , scholars agree t hat t he usual planet ary ast rology came t o India wit h t he Greeks who had visit ed India since Alexanders campaign in t he t hird cent ury BC. Wit hin nine mont hs of t he UGCs announcement , f ort y-f ive of Indias 200 universit ies had applied f or t he UGC grant s of 1.5 million rupees (about $30,000) t o est ablish depart ment s of ast rology. Of t hese, t went y were accept ed (Siddhant a 2001, 2). To t hose Indians who believe t hat ast rological considerat ions inf luence t he course of t heir business and f amily livesand t his cat egory involves leaders of major polit ical part iest he UGCs decision might seem sensible if overdue. But t he decision provoked out rage among Indias academics, especially t hose in t he science f acult ies. More t han 100 scient ist s and 300 social scient ist s wrot e in prot est t o t he government . Of t he t hirt y let t ers-t o-t he-edit or t hat appeared in t he Indian science journal Current Science, most of t hem f rom scient ist s in universit y depart ment s or research inst it ut es, about half dismissed ast rology as a pseudoscience, and a quart er f elt t hat decisive t est s were needed. Against t his, t he rest f elt t here was not hing wrong wit h f unding somet hing t hat most Indian people believe in. But t he prot est s were wit hout ef f ect because, in Indian law, Vedic ast rology is seen as a scient if ic discipline. Nevert heless, in 2004, several scient ist s asked t he Andhra Pradesh High Court t o st op t he UGC f rom f unding courses in Vedic ast rology because it was a pseudoscience, it would impose Hindu belief s on t he educat ion syst em,4 and it would reduce t he f unds available f or genuine scient if ic research. However, t he court dismissed t heir case on t he grounds t hat it was not correct f or a court t o int erf ere wit h a UGC decision t hat did not violat e Indian law. In 2011, an appeal under t he act t hat bans f alse advert ising was made t o t he Mumbai High Court . It was dismissed by t he court arguing t hat t he act does not cover ast rology and relat ed sciences. Ast rology is a t rust ed science and is being pract iced f or over 4000 years. . . . (as report ed in The Times of India

February 3, 2011).

Failed Predictions
To just if y calling it a science, ast rology must f ulf ill t he basic requirement of a scient if ic t heoryit must make t est able and correct predict ions. Here t he perf ormance of ast rology in predict ing t he result s of event s has been very poor. T he nearest we have are f ollow-ups t o predict ions of public event s such as elect ions, where f ailure is t he norm. For example, t he elect ions in 1971 were a showdown bet ween Indira Gandhi and her polit ical opponent s. The Astrological Magazine was f illed wit h predict ions by amat eurs and prof essionals, most of whom predict ed t hat Gandhi would lose. In f act , she won wit h an overwhelming majorit y. T he 1980 elect ions at t ract ed anot her f renzy of predict ions, most of which saw Gandhi losing. For example B.V. Raman (whom I discussed earlier), in a rare depart ure f rom his usual vagueness, predict ed t hat Gandhis ef f ort s t o regain of f ice may misf ire. Her abilit y t o inf luence t he Government will be disconcert ingly limit ed in ef f ect iveness and t he out come may not see a st able Government . An Indian horary ast rologer (one who answers quest ions) predict ed t hat Gandhi can never become t he Prime Minist er. However, she won wit h a huge majorit y, was prime minist er, and f ormed a very st able government . Also in 1980, at a large int ernat ional conf erence organized by t he Indian Ast rologers Federat ion, bot h t he president and secret ary of t he Federat ion predict ed a war wit h Pakist an in 1982, which India would win, and a world war bet ween 1982 and 1984. All wrong! T hese examples and many more are given by Rao (2000, 113122), who not es t hat no ast rologer predict ed Gandhis assassinat ion in 1984, and t hat t he golden rule seems t o be predict only t hose t hings which please t he list eners ego.5

Lack of Criticism
In t he West , books crit ical of ast rology are not hard t o f ind, but in India t he reverse is t rue. Some excellent books exist , such as Premanand et al. (1993) and Rao (2000), but all are hampered by a lack of Indian t est s wit h which t o count er t rue believers. Even Current Science had t o wait unt il Manoj Komat hs (2009) review, which drew heavily on West ern sources such as t he crit ical but user-f riendly www.ast rology-and-science.com. Unf ort unat ely, given t he low level of income and high level of illit eracy of t he masses, web sources may not be very ef f ect ive in general. UGCs f unding of ast rology might have been just if iable had Indian ast rology ever been a source of new knowledge (it hadnt ; see Siddhant a 2001, 13), or if it s modus operandi had been verif ied by cont rolled t est s. But unlike ast rology in t he West , where several hundred cont rolled t est s have f ound no support commensurat e wit h it s claims (Dean 2007), ast rology in India had hit hert o been wit hout cont rolled t est s, even t hough it s f ocus on predict ing yes/no event s would make t est ing easy.6 I will now describe a cont rolled t est t hat my colleagues and I conduct ed recent ly.

Our Experiment
Our experiment was perf ormed in t he universit y cit y of Pune (f ormerly Poona) about 160 km (100 miles) sout heast of Mumbai (f ormerly Bombay) in t he st at e of Maharasht ra, which is t he second-largest in populat ion and t hird-largest in area of Indias t went y-f ive st at es. Pune it self has a populat ion of about 3.5 million.

For t he experiment I was assist ed by Prof essor Sudhakar Kunt e f rom t he Depart ment of St at ist ics at Pune Universit y, Narendra Dabholkar f rom t he Commit t ee f or t he Eradicat ion of Superst it ions, and Prakash Ghat pande a f ormer prof essional ast rologer who has subsequent ly t urned int o a crit ic of ast rology. Indian ast rologers claim t hat t hey are able t o t ell int elligence f rom a persons horoscope. So volunt eers f rom t he Commit t ee f or t he Eradicat ion of Superst it ions went t o dif f erent schools and collect ed t he names of t eenage school children rat ed by t heir t eachers as ment ally bright . T hey also collect ed names f rom special schools f or t he ment ally handicapped. T he dest inies of t hese cases could hardly be more dif f erent , so t hey were ideal f or t est ing t he above claim. From t he collect ed dat a we select ed 100 bright and 100 ment ally handicapped cases whose age dist ribut ion is shown on t he next page. Birt h det ails were obt ained f rom t heir parent s because birt h cert if icat es are rare in India. Prof essional Indian ast rologers rout inely assume t hat birt h det ails provided by parent s are correct , so our procedure f ollowed t he norm. Each horoscope (birt h chart ) was calculat ed by one of us (PG) using commercial ast rological sof t ware. All horoscopes were coded and st ored in saf e cust ody by Prof essor Kunt e at Pune Universit y, so t hat neit her t he experiment ers (our group of f our) nor t he ast rologers could know t he ident it ies of t he individuals.

Publicity
We announced our experiment at a press conf erence in Pune May 12, 2008, and invit ed pract icing ast rologers t o t ake part . We explained t hat each part icipant would be given f ort y horoscopes drawn at random f rom our set of 200 and would have t o judge whet her t heir owners were ment ally bright or handicapped. We also invit ed est ablished ast rological organizat ions t o t ake part , f or which t hey would be given all 200 horoscopes, a respect ably large sample size. T he press conf erence, which was report ed in almost all local and regional newspapers, proved t o be an ef f icient way t o reach ast rologers. Wit hin a f ew days we received about 150 t elephone calls f rom ast rologers all over Maharasht ra expressing int erest . We asked t hem t o send us t heir names, experience, and met hod of predict ion used, t oget her wit h a st amped self -addressed envelope f or mailing t he f ort y horoscopes. T hey were t hen allowed one mont h f or making t heir judgment s. In due course, f if t y-one ast rologers asked f or horoscopes, of which t went y-seven f rom all over Maharasht ra sent back t heir judgment s. T he rest did not t ell us why t hey chose not t o part icipat e.

Objections
Ast rologers f rom t he Pune and Maharasht ra ast rological societ ies expressed concern t hat , because t he dat a had been collect ed by skept ics, t he experiment would be biased. We assured t hem t hat t he skept icism of dat a collect ors had no act ive role in running t he experiment , and t hat t he experiment was of t he double-blind kind t o make sure it was ent irely f air. But t hey were not convinced, and t ried (unsuccessf ully) t o dissuade ot her ast rologers f rom part icipat ing. A mont h lat er, at a Pune ast rological seminar, we explained t hat t est s, indeed many t est s, are necessary if ast rology is t o est ablish it self as a science. T he organizer t hen said he could provide a set of t en rules t hat would t ell whet her a horoscopes owner was ment ally bright or handicapped, and urged t he ast rologers present t o part icipat e in our experiment . In India, leading ast rologers have t heir own ast rological organizat ions, and so we wrot e t o t hose on our

list (about a dozen) invit ing t hem t o judge all 200 horoscopes. Two responded wit h expressions of int erest , of which one sent in it s judgment . T he ot her remained silent .

An Interesting Sub-Test
Alt hough t he Maharasht ra Ast rological Societ y had urged ast rologers t o boycot t our experiment , it s president kept meet ing wit h us. Among ot her t hings he gave us a rule f or predict ing sex and anot her rule f or predict ing int elligence, bot h of which he claimed were correct in 60 percent of cases. But when applied t o our set of 200 horoscopes, t he predict ions were respect ively 47 and 50 percent correct , which of f ers no advant age over pure guessing or t ossing a coin.

Results of Our Main Test

Breakdown by age of our 100 + 100 t est cases. About half of t he ment ally handicapped cases are older t han our bright t eenagers, which could have provided cues but evident ly didnt . Of t he t went y-seven ast rologers who part icipat ed, not all provided personal det ails, but f if t een were hobbyist s, eight were prof essionals, nine had up t o t en years of experience, and sevent een had more t han t en years of experience. So t hey clearly f ormed a compet ent group. T heir average experience was f ourt een years. If t he ast rologers could t ell int elligence f rom a persons horoscope, t hey would score close t o f ort y hit s out of f ort y. In f act t he highest score was of t went y-f our hit s by a single ast rologer f ollowed by t went y-t wo hit s (by t wo ast rologers). T he remaining t went y-f our ast rologers all scored t went y hit s or less, including one prof essional ast rologer who f ound t hirt y-seven int elligent and t hree undecided (so none were ment ally handicapped!), of which sevent een were correct . T he average f or all t went y-seven ast rologers was 17.25 hit s, less t han t he t went y expect ed by chance (e.g., coin t ossing) and well wit hin t he dif f erence of 3.16 needed t o be st at ist ically signif icant at p=0.05. So much f or t he benef it s of t heir average f ourt een years of experience! Cert ainly no scient if ic t heory would survive such a poor success rat e! T he inst it ut ion whose t eam of ast rologers had judged all 200 horoscopes got 102 hit s, of which f if t y-one were bright and f if t y-one were ment ally handicapped, so t heir judgment s were, again, no bet t er t han t ossing a coin. Tragically, our st at ist ician, Sudhakar Kunt e, died in an accident in 2011, and t he securit y he imposed on dat a st orage has so f ar made it dif f icult f or us t o perf orm f urt her t est s, such as whet her t he ast rologers agreed on t heir judgment s, whet her t hey could pick high IQ bet t er t han low, and whet her t he t hree ast rological met hods used (Nirayan, Sayan, Krishnamurt y) dif f ered in success rat e. We hope t hat t he access t o t his dat a will event ually be possible. Only t wo t est s of West ern ast rologers have involved t he judgment of int elligence. In Clark (1961) t went y ast rologers averaged 72 percent hit s f or t en cases of high IQ paired wit h cerebral palsy, but t his f amous result could not be replicat ed by Joseph (1975), where t went y-t hree ast rologers averaged only 53

percent hit s f or t en cases of high IQ when paired wit h t he severely ment ally handicapped. In any case t he sampling error associat ed wit h N=10 is more t han enough t o explain bot h result s, which is consist ent wit h t he dozens of ot her t est s t hat have been made of West ern ast rology (Dean 2007). It is also consist ent wit h t he f ew t est s of West ern ast rologers who pract ice Vedic ast rology, f or example Dudley (1995).

Conclusion
Our experiment wit h t went y-seven Indian ast rologers judging f ort y horoscopes each, and a t eam of ast rologers judging 200 horoscopes, showed t hat none were able t o t ell bright children f rom ment ally handicapped children bet t er t han chance. Our result s cont radict t he claims of Indian ast rologers and are consist ent wit h t he many t est s of West ern ast rologers. In summary, our result s are f irmly against Indian ast rology being considered as a science.7

Acknowledgments
T he Depart ment of St at ist ics, Pune Universit y, and t he Int er-Universit y Cent re f or Ast ronomy and Ast rophysics, Pune, provided inf rast ruct ural support while t his experiment was being conduct ed. A brief account appeared in Current Science 96(5), 641643, 2009. My special t hanks t o Geof f rey Dean of Pert h, West ern Aust ralia, f or providing inf ormat ion on t est s of West ern ast rology as well as giving me a general background of ast rology in t he West versus t he East .

Notes
1. Babylonian omen ideas arrived in India around 450 BC during t he Persian occupat ion, f ollowed, around 200 AD, by Greek ast rological ideas based on planet s. To t hese were added new ideas t o suit Indian cult ure. T he end result was largely t he Indian ast rology st ill in use t oday, which exist s in numerous schools disagreeing over det ails (most schools of ast rology, Indian or West ern, disagree over det ails). T he main dif f erences f rom West ern ast rology are a preoccupat ion wit h reincarnat ion and karma, use of t he sidereal zodiac inst ead of t he t ropical zodiac (t hey now dif f er by nearly one sign due t o precession), exclusion of t he non-classical planet s Uranus, Nept une, and Plut o in f avor of t he t wo lunar nodes Rahu and Ket u, use of t went y-seven lunar mansions or nakshat ras, and progressively smaller and smaller subdivisions of t he signs (St ein 1995 and Rao 2000). 2. Braha (1986, xiii) warns t hat t he complexit y can be dealt wit h only by int uit ion and experience, so Indian ast rology cannot be properly learnt f rom books. But t est s of West ern ast rologers have f ound t hat neit her self -rat ed use of int uit ion nor experience raise t heir success rat e above chance (Dean and Kelly 2003). So why should Indian ast rologers be any dif f erent ? 3. At one t ime Rao ran a comput er horoscope service but wit hout predict ions. It was only t o prove t o omniscient ast rologers t hat a conf irmed ant i-ast rologer can also do what ast rologers do, and wit h great er ef f iciency and knowledge. His charge f or f ooling you was t hirt y rupees. 4. According t o ancient Hindu t ext s, each believer has 8,400,000 rebirt hs f rom which t hey are released only by at t aining enlight enment . At say, f if t y years per birt h, and no change over t ime, t he allocat ed rebirt hs span more t han 400 million years, roughly t he age of t he earliest hominids.

5. More examples can be f ound in Premanand et al. (1993) and also via Int ernet search engine, albeit wit h a need t o persevere in your searching. For st art ers, t ry searching f or astrology michael prabhu. 6. But some come close. For example Rakesh Anand (2010) used ast rology t o make several import ant decisions in his lif e, but t he result s were disast rous. So he prepared horoscopes f or t went y-f our celebrit ies and nine personal f riends, changed t heir names, and was able t o get 101 ast rologers f rom everywhere in f ar nort hern India t o predict t heir lif e and event s. But none succeeded. For example, t hey predict ed no polit ical career f rom t he horoscope of George Bush and no big money f rom t he horoscope of Bill Gat es. He concluded, ast rology is a misleading and useless superst it ion (6). He also of f ered a prize of one million rupees (about $20,000) t o any Indian ast rologer who could demonst rat e t hat ast rology works, so f ar wit h no t akers. For det ails, visit www.godvslif e.com. 7. Over t he years I have made many public st at ement s against t he pseudoscience of ast rology, which earned me a chapt er t it led T he Narlikar Episode in a 348-page, 1998 book Astrology and the Hoax of Scientific Temper by t he ast rologer Gayat ri Devi Vasudev, t hen edit or of The Astrological Magazine . Her book t ries t o show t hat scient if ic inquiry or scient if ic t emper is prejudiced against ast rology, and t hat crit ics are quit e ignorant of bot h science and ast rology. T he above chapt er accused me of vent uring int o areas I had not invest igat ed and was t heref ore ignorant of . For example, I had made t he supposedly inexcusable mist ake of declaring t hat ast rology was not a science. I hope t he present invest igat ion can set t he record st raight .

Ref erences
Anand, R. 2010. Astrology Tested Fake. Jammu: God vs Lif e Publicat ions. Braha, J.T. 1986. Ancient Hindu Astrology for the Modern Western Astrologer. Miami: Hermet ician Press. Clark, V. 1961. Experiment al ast rology. In Search 3(1): 102109. Dean, G. 2007. T he case f or and against ast rology. In B. Farha (ed.), Paranormal Claims: A Critical Analysis. Lanham, MD: Universit y Press of America, pp. 115129. Dean, G., and I.W. Kelly. 2003. Is ast rology relevant t o consciousness and psi? Journal of Consciousness Studies 10(67): 175198. Dean, G., A. Mat her, and I.W. Kelly. 1995. Ast rology. In G. St ein, edit or, Encyclopedia of the Paranormal, Promet heus Books. Dudley, J. 1995. An at t empt t o predict accident al deat h wit h Vedic ast rology. Correlation 14(2): 711. (Twent y road deat hs vs cont rols gave 11 hit s vs 10 expect ed by chance.) Joseph, R.A. 1975. A Vernon Clark-model experiment dist inguishing except ionally gif t ed high perf ormance f rom prof oundly ret arded low perf ormance children. Journal of Geocosmic Research 1(3): 5572. Komat h, M. 2009. Test ing ast rology. Current Science 96(12): 15681572. Premanand, B., M. Bhat t y, and M.S. Risbud (eds). 1993. Astrology: Science or Ego-Trip? Published by Indian

Skept ics. (T he best single survey of bot h Indian and West ern ast rology, impressively t horough, many anecdot es, but very f ew t est s, none of t hem Indian.) Raman, B.V. 1992. Planetary Influences on Human Affairs . New Delhi: UBSD. Rao, S.B. 2000. Astrology Believe It or Not? Bangalore: Navakarnat aka Publicat ions. Siddhant a, K. 2001. Some quest ions concerning t he UGC course in ast rology. Breakthrough 9(2): 136. St ein, G. 1995. Encyclopedia of the Paranormal. Amherst : Promet heus Books. Ent ry on ast rology.

Jayant V. Narlikar
Jayant V. Narlikar, well known as an ast rophysicist and science communicat or in India, is int ernat ionally known f or his work in cosmology. He is emerit us prof essor at t he Int er-Universit y Cent re f or Ast ronomy and Ast rophysics in Pune, India.