Gandhi’s interest in Astronomy, although peripheral, yet was intense. During one of his imprisonments he had picked up a telescope to observe celestial objects and talks of the inspirational night sky observations offered him a spiritual direction, writes NANDIVADA RATHNASREE
The Gandhi 150 year celebrations have seen a convergence of many creative energies coming together, to celebrate the life of the iconic giant that Mahatma Gandhi was.
Arising from a peripheral interest of his, a section of the populace has become enthused to bring Gandhi’s keys to the Astronomical Universe, and open these celestial views to all who are interested.
Gandhi’s interest in Astronomy may have been peripheral, on account of his preoccupation with several other matters of imminence concerning India during that time. It is a self contradictory matter that he had an interest in Astronomy, that was at once peripheral, yet at the same time, intense.
For a short period of time, in 1932, while at the Yerawada Jail, Gandhi developed a keen interest in observing the night skies. He shared his very inspiring thoughts on this field, regularly, with the Ashram inmates through letters. He even used a telescope to observe celestial objects and talks of the inspirational night sky observations offered him a spiritual direction.
Here is a small segment of content (written in February, 1932) from all of Gandhi’s writings, urging children to look up at the sky, get to know the stars and constellations, and appreciate the science of the stars:
“If we look at the sky at 8 p.m. in the west, we shall see a grand figure. This figure will be in the west. I see it directly opposite me as I lie on my back with my head in the east. No one who sees the figure from this position will ever forget it afterwards. Since this is the bright half of the month, this and other constellations shine with a rather pale light, but even then this particular constellation is so bright that even a novice like me can spot it easily.
No figure of this cluster shows all the stars in it. Actually, there are many more stars than you will see in any such figure. Hence the best thing is for everybody to make his or her own drawing and show by dots as many stars as can be seen with the naked eye. If we follow this practice, we shall learn to recognize the different constellations much more quickly. Moreover, the drawings which we ourselves make will be much better for our purpose than those we find in books, for, when the stars are observed from different places there are bound to be differences in the drawings which represent them. It would be advisable for everybody to observe the stars from a fixed place and at a fixed time. This suggestion is meant for those who wish to make drawings or who are beginners. After we have become familiar with the different constellations, we shall be able to recognize these heavenly friends of ours, or these divinities, from wherever we observe them. The Hindu, a daily of Madras, publishes a weekly, as does The Times of Bombay. Both of them give maps of the sky showing the constellations visible during each month. The Hindu gives such a map in its issue of the first week and The Times gives it in its issue of the second week. If you can get either of these maps, you will learn much from it.
The constellation of which I drew a figure is known d, one would forget all Margashirsh— Magshar — from this. The months in our calendar got their names from the respective constellations. In the West, the Mriga is known as “Orion”. The constellation is imagined to be a hunter. To its east, there are two very bright stars in a straight line. They are imagined to be the hunter’s dogs. The star in the west is the bigger dog and the one to the north is the smaller dog. The cluster of stars which we see to its east and south, below the star which forms the fourth angle of the figure, is imagined to be a hare. The dogs are running towards it. The three stars in the middle are the jewels in the hunter’s waist-band. Those stars have also been shown as representing the following figures: The bigger of the two dogs is called Lubdhak among us, and those three stars represent the deer’s stomach. The stars to the south represent the arrow shot by Lubdhak. The three stars to the north outside the rectangle represent the deer’s head. These may be beautiful fancies. A great deal has been written about their origin, but personally I have read very little of all this. There is, of course, no such figure in the sky. Nor are the stars as near to us as they seem. They are not what they look, but are suns far bigger than our sun. Being millions and millions of miles away from us, they twinkle in the sky as mere points. Our knowledge about these suns is very little. But these dusters of stars serve the most illiterate as their friends. If one looks at them even for a second.”
The newspapers may not be giving skymaps anymore now, but, there are many resources now available, which will help you learn about the skies if you wish to do so and worship the stars as messengers of God and observe them as a peace giving excercise, as advised by Bapu.
NANDIVADA RATHNASREE is Director, Nehru Planetarium, New Delhi. She can be reached at rathnasree.nandivada@gmail.com
Opinions expressed in this article are of the author’s and do not represent the policy of The Edition. The writers are solely responsible for any claim arising out of the contents of their articles.
Tags: #MahatmaGandhi #Bapu #Astronomy #Constellation #Yerawada #Telescope #Orion
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