Will The Rationalists Feast Again During Lunar Eclipse?

Bhubaneswar: As a total lunar eclipse will unfold before stargazers on November 8, activities of rationalists in Odisha are again a point of discussion at street corners.

A majority of Hindus observed fast during the solar eclipse on October 25. Contradicting it a group of people in Bhubaneswar, Berhampur and other places in Odisha organised community feasts during the eclipse to grab the headlines.

At some places, they savoured chicken biryani to build up awareness against ‘blind beliefs’ related to eclipses.

These community feasts during eclipse have faced the wrath of various religious outfits. So, both the media and general public have their cameras and eyes fixed on what these rationalists plan to do during the lunar eclipse.

Hindus worship the sun and the moon and some of them believe that eclipse occurs because demons like Rahu and Ketu swallow these celestial entities for short durations to cause eclipses. But as per science eclipses are nothing but a game of shadow of the moon and the earth.

What do They say?

In order to put across their point and prove the traditionalists wrong, rationalists organise community feasts of non-vegetarian foods. They try to counter the traditionalist belief that stomachs should be empty during eclipses. Religious outfits anticipate that rationalists will again resort to similar feats during lunar eclipse to defy Hindu tradition and rituals.

Following the recent solar eclipse, at least four FIRs against the feats of rationalists were filed in separate police stations in Puri and Cuttack by some religious outfits.

“I have not violated any law or acted against the Constitution. I stand by what I believe. Anything which is not scientific should not be practised. I have eaten during eclipse since childhood and will continue to do so,” said Pratap Rath, a rationalist and retired professor of Psychology at Utkal University. 

Shankaracharya of Puri, Swami Nischalananda Saswati had also slammed the rationalists and said, “They are ignorant. Their actions go against the basic tenets of Sanatan Dharma. The very food (chicken biryani) consumed by those people during the eclipse might be the bane of their lives.”

He said people who devise new theories, violating the basic principles, “do harm to their own lives and the society at large”.

But the rationalists appear unperturbed by the criticism. They have asserted that they repeat similar feasts during the lunar eclipse on November 8.

Total Lunar Eclipse

On November 6, the day of Kartik Purnima, lunar eclipse can be seen from most places of Odisha at the time of the moonrise. Its beginning phases will not be visible as it will happen before the onset of the night. However, the last phases of this total lunar eclipse will be visible in most eastern regions of the country including Odisha.

The eclipse will begin at 2.39 pm. The total eclipse will start at 3.46 pm. The ending time of total eclipse is 5.12 pm and the ending time of partial phases of the eclipse is 6.19 pm.