In my tender days, I used to hear some crap stories about the reason behind the occurrance of solar eclipse. This is the story of the churning of the milk-ocean and the descent of Lord Visnu as the Kurma avatara, the divine tortoise. It goes this way :
When the nectar that was churned from this ocean was being served to the gods, a demon, disguised as a god, sat between the Sun and the Moon in an attempt to procure the nectar. When he was detected by the Sun and the Moon, Lord Vishnu immediately severed his head from his body. Unfortunately, it was not fast enough, for the demon had already tasted a small quantity of the nectar and had become immortal. Ever since, this demon is said to wreak vengeance on the Sun and Moon whenever they come near. The head of this great demon is known as Rahu and his tail is known as Ketu. So every time of the year, they try to wreak havoc to seek their revenge on Sun and moon. So they gobble the sun and moon causing eclipse. And due to their inability to digest(may be huh!) they bring them out(in a decent term). This perhaps sounds like a childish story is a powerful metaphor for what actually happens when an eclipse takes place. Upon further search through the net, I learnt that Rahu and Ketu are the astronomical points in the sky respectively called the north and south lunar nodes.  To the observer on earth, the paths of the sun and the moon appear to be two great circles projected on the celestial sphere (see the diagram). The sun’s path, the solar ecliptic, makes a complete revolution in one year. At the same time, the moon’s circular path is completed in about one month. Every month the moon will overtake the sun which moves more slowly. This is called new moon or in Sanskrit, amavasya. Usually the moon’s path passes above or below the sun’s path and no eclipse occurs. But, periodically the moon overtakes the sun at the place where their paths intersect. This causes the sun or the moon to be hidden from the earth’s view and is thus called a solar or lunar eclipse. These places of intersection are the north and south lunar nodes, or as they are referred to in Hindu mythology, Rahu and Ketu. Therefore, in literal terms of mythology, Rahu and Ketu are said to “swallow up” the Sun and the Moon. The ancient Hindu observers of the sky were aware of the cause of the solar and lunar eclipses and so described the process in the language of metaphor. But people were foolish enough to take it in the literal sense. Courtesy: Some text have been edited with the help of articles seen over the web. Labels: eclipse, solar eclipse |
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