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Some cardinal principles

K. Narayanan

I was on slippery ground.

I should have realised that astrology's ardent advocates and adherents would take umbrage at my comments in what I wrote about The Hindu's coverage of the Sabarimala developments ("When hard news is a casualty — Online and Off Line", July 24, 2006). The comments on astrology were in the context of the paper — what I presented were its views — eschewing reports related to this topic.

Some readers strongly supported the statements made; welcome these were. What I wish to highlight is the criticism, which follows, and then my response.

"Astrology is part and parcel of Indian culture and it will tend to be an act of derision to call it a bad name," writes Dr. K. John Mammen of Thiruvananthapuram. He and some readers recalled that in the late 1990s and till a few years ago, The Hindu used to publish astrological forecasts.

Gayatri Vasudev, Editor, The Astrological Magazine, Bangalore, says it is a "sweeping generalisation that clubs astrology with mumbo-jumbo. Astrology or jyotisha is a body of systematised knowledge or science whose postulates and laws have been and continue to be validated ... Apart from its verifiable applicability to individual lives, astrology boasts of a high level of accuracy in forecasting national and international events ... Predictions and forecasts in the media qualify to be described as mass cheating if they are cooked up which is what some sections of the media do. But if forecasts are based on the laws of astrology they can indisputably provide valuable guidance ... as do columns on medical help, health, law ... such advice can only be of a generalised nature ... Blind rejection of a science is worse than blind belief."

There were some who challenged the assertion that The Hindu's core values are rationalism and secularism. According to S. Venugopalan, Chennai, "secular is a relative word now." Is the name The Hindu secular and should not this name be changed for secular reasons, he asks.

R. Sundaram (many readers do not provide their postal addresses, though we request this be done, as it helps us in many ways) finds "equivocation and half-hearted attempts to adhere to the core values of secularism" in the paper. He finds irksome the juxtaposition of the crossword by the side of the "daily drivel of religion" because of which he is "forced to look up" a column that has "strictures and prescriptions for life unsupported by any evidence of their having rational basis."

The first point I wish to emphasise is that there was no derision of, no attack on, astrology in my comments. The Editor-in-Chief's points were cited to explain why the paper did not provide space for certain types of reports. The word mumbo-jumbo was used in relation to "cross-cultural forms." And he still holds firmly, after seeing the responses to the column, that "astrology is irrational and irreconcilable with science and reason, a view shared by most scientists around the world."

That was why, soon after he took charge in 2003, the astrology columns in The Hindu-Sunday Magazine were discontinued — these had been introduced in the late 1990s in a break with the newspaper's tradition. (The columns had forecasts under the lunar and solar systems. These made me wonder why they differed in their predictions for the same group of persons, if astrology was a science with "validated postulates and laws.")

This is why the appellation "mass cheating" applies to the astrological forecasts in newspapers and magazines. Their publishers, as Dr. John Mammen points out, have an axe to grind, the impact on circulation, as reading forecasts can be habit-forming. Even when these are based on "astrological laws, they provide only generalised advice," as Ms. Vasudev concedes, unlike columns on medicine or law which offer answers to specific queries.

I recall an incident narrated by Khushwant Singh. When he was editor of The Illustrated Weekly of India, it had an astrology column by P.I.H. Naylor. Those were the days when there was total dependence on the post. When a postal strike in London halted the flow of Naylor's copy, Khushwant Singh said he took an old issue of The Weekly and reproduced what was published there. Nobody, he says, noticed the difference!

This was the type of astrology The Hindu kept out. Few readers now will recall that Sport & Pastime, the predecessor of Sportstar, had an astrology column — but it offered no forecasts and only answered specific questions from individual readers, based on their horoscopes. (On the house gate of the columnist was a board that proclaimed "Sport & Pastime astrologer.")

For Ms. Vasudev's assertions the answer is, as in the case of religion, it is a question of individual faith, belief. In both instances, there are vast numbers who order their life by these tenets and a very large number who debunk both. The Hindu's policy is not to promote either. As for astrological forecasts of national and international events, readers will recall the predictions on the recent elections.

That brings me to the question of the religion column in The Hindu. As there are crossword addicts, there are far more addicts to this column — which only reports discourses delivered by various persons. The "strictures and prescriptions" are part of these discourses — one finds much more of these in the homilies politicians deliver. And the column covers all religions — though there could be more of non-Hindu scriptures, as some readers have suggested.

Rationalism — the belief that all behaviour, opinion should be based on reason, not emotion or religious beliefs — has always been The Hindu's credo. However, its rationalism was not of the kind that rationalists and non-believers campaigned for.

And finally the reference to secularism: my understanding of secularism is, not allowing religion to influence or shape your outlook or activities in the public realm. It does not mean irreligion or non-religion. Hinduism stands for catholicity; it is all-embracing. It has no place for bigotry. And that according to me is what the 128-year-old name of the paper represents.

readerseditor@thehindu.co.in

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