In the 1989 Malayalam film Jaathakam (Horoscope), a woman dies because of one man’s blind faith in horoscopes. (Spoiler alert) A father, shocked by his son’s sudden marriage to a woman he loves, is horrified to learn that their horoscopes don’t match. Within a year of the marriage, the woman dies and the son, who didn’t believe in horoscopes, turns into a blind believer. It is much later, after a second marriage with a woman who believes in science, that he realises his first wife was killed by the superstitious father, who thought she would bring danger.
More than three decades later, the film remains relevant because people in Kerala still religiously get their horoscopes out when it is time for a wedding. In one of the recent dowry deaths of young women in the state, Suchithra, the youngest of them all, was married off at the age of 19 because her horoscope advised it. Her father Sunil later told the media that that’s why they arranged her marriage soon after her Class 12. Within months of her wedding, Suchithra died, allegedly due to dowry harassment at her marital home.
“The reason people still follow horoscopes so blindly in Kerala, despite the high literacy rate, is lack of scientific awareness. It’s not enough that you study science, you need to apply it in your life,” says Lilly Kartha, state vice president of the Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishad (KSSP), a science movement in Kerala that has been functioning since 1962.
A young woman in Lilly’s neighbourhood in Palakkad was married off as soon as she could be legally married (18 years for women). Her mother, a domestic worker, was her only relative. “They looked at horoscopes, found a match, and wasted no time in getting the young woman married. Within days, the abuse began. It turned out her husband would drink and physically assault her. She’s had two abortions in six years of marriage because of this. So much for the horoscope match!” Lilly says.
In connection with horoscopes, very often you hear the term ‘chovva dosham’ – meaning problem with the position of Mars – which is considered bad luck for marriages. So a person with chovva dosham is advised by astrologers to wait for another person with the same dosham to avoid bad luck.
Manasa*, an English graduate in Thiruvananthapuram who had chovva dosham, had to wait as many proposals came and went before her family could find a match. When it finally happened, it was not exactly a desirable proposal for her or the family. But trusting the horoscopes, the wedding was performed in all glory. It turned out to be such an unhappy marriage that Manasa died by suicide 30 years later. Her father too had died by suicide two years before her, pained to see her so miserable.
The story is shared by Manasa’s friend, who also talks about her sister Maya’s* folly when it came to horoscopes. “Maya’s was a love marriage which ended in divorce. She blamed it on not matching horoscopes. When it was her son’s turn to get married, she followed all the rules and found a perfect match but within a few years that too ended in a divorce!” says the friend.
Chovva dosham is a big 'problem' in horoscopes, concedes academic Praveena Kodoth who has researched extensively on dowry. She has written about how dowry payments increase because of 'exceptional circumstances', for a woman who is 'over age' or who has a difficult horoscope.
"Horoscope compatibility was considered mandatory. Older communists rejected the belief in horoscopes but had conceded to their children’s wishes to have them matched. Generally, parents were wary when there was a problem in horoscopes, particularly chovva dosham, an astrological feature that made it difficult to find partners. In such cases, they were more willing to make concessions," she writes.
It also says that when horoscope readings (such as chovva dosham) already caused delays, alliances were fixed without consulting them further. In the field work Praveena did for the study, horoscope problems figured in three poor households with "over age" women.
It is ridiculous to think that stars can influence a child at their birth, Lilly points out. “There is no science in the claim that the rays of stars from so many light years away can influence a child at the hour of its birth. People interacting closely with the child have far more chances of having any influence on its life than a star thousands of light years away. But young women are so deeply fed these ideas that they are reluctant to return home, whatever be the difficulties they face at the marital home. They think more about what society will say or about losing face. This can only change with proper education,” Lilly adds.
The ‘grahanila’ that is now followed by astrologers during weddings is not even an Indian science as it is claimed, says retired professor of Physics K Pappootty, who has written books on astrology science like Jyothisasthrathile Oru ithihasam and Jyothishavum Jyothisasthravum.
K Pappootty / Credit- Navaneeth Krishnan S / Wiki Commons
“Two thousand years ago, it didn’t even exist in India. It was brought to our country by the Greeks, with the invasion by King Alexander. It was later that early texts of astrology, using constellations of stars, were found, attributed to the sage Garga. Then came the Parashara Hora, a comprehensive text on Vedic astrology. Later, in the 6th century AD, the Varaha Hora was written and that is what the Kerala school of astrology follows to this day,” Pappootty says.
There are 27 stars in Kerala astrology. A child is said to be born under a particular star depending on the position of the moon and the star it is closest to at the time of birth. “Such a system of checking constellations and the moon’s position was originally followed to determine time, in the days when there were no calendars. Nothing was going to happen to the child born at a time the moon was in an undesirable position! Those were all superstitions created by later astrologers. The shani dasha and shukra dasha were all created like that, exploiting the blind faith of believers. Man’s future is not decided by planets but by society, politics, science and education,” Pappootty adds.
Another interesting incident concerning horoscopes is narrated by retired engineer Sivan. Sometime in the 1970s, two astrologers in his village in Alappuzha got their children married to each other. The marriage, despite the grand matching of horoscopes, ended in a divorce.
“Horoscopes are still part and parcel of all arranged marriages. Parents are compelled to find alliances for their young daughters if their horoscope says that they have to be married before they are 23 or they can’t for the next 10 years. Most parents find that a horrible option, to delay the wedding until their daughter is in her 30s. It’s a part of culture, but time and above that we break out of these practices,” says feminist advocate J Sandhya.
She has come across cases where divorces happen despite the big show of horoscope matches. She has also heard people complain later that horoscopes were wrongly written or “adjusted” by astrologers at the time of the wedding. On the other hand, there are many happy couples who never had their horoscopes prepared, let alone matched them, she adds. “The fact that every religion does not follow it so strictly and still there are happy marriages is proof that it does not matter, isn’t it?” Sandhya asks.
Academic Praveena agrees. "Even if a family does not believe in horoscopes or use it, another family from whom they get a proposal may demand it. The arranged marriage system is essentially a market with supply and demand and both sides may need to agree on certain matters," Praveena tells TNM.
Even if it is a love marriage, the families may accept it only once the horoscopes match, she adds. "Families also have ways of making sure 'jathakams' of alliances they do not like will not match. If a person finds their own partner, many families may accept the relationship only if the latter falls in their same social class. I know a couple of different castes who had checked their horoscopes before approaching their families to get them married. The man's mother did not like the alliance and she asked to check the horoscopes again and got the astrologer to say it does not match," Praveena says.
She attributes this over-dependance on horoscopes to Kerala's society being very conservative. "Kerala's urbanisation is not like a metropolitan's. The state is not evenly urbanised."
When Suresh Unnithan made his directorial debut with Jaathakam in 1989, it was not that he thought horoscopes were wrong. “My film was against the superstitions that people fell for because of blind faith. There have been many such cases around my village in Pandalam. My friend Maneesh Shornur wrote the story and the late Lohithadas scripted it. I thought it a very relevant subject,” says Suresh.
Thirty-two years later, however, people’s belief in horoscopes has not changed a jot. As it is, people are easily hooked to horoscopes and astrology, and it’s at a time like this that there’s a plan to introduce astrology as a subject in universities, laments Lilly. The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) recently launched a postgraduate programme in astrology, which invited sharp criticism from scientists in the country.
“When will people understand that it is the match of the minds that matters the most,” Lilly asks.
Writer and astrologer Praveen P Gopinath actually agrees with her, even as he sticks by the science of astrology. “In my 21 years of working as an astrologer, I’ve had many clients ask me to convince their daughter or son that the person they choose astrologically as a life partner is the right person. I immediately tell them I will do no such thing. I do match analysis for arranged marriages. But I maintain that there is no science, no astrology and no spirituality that is greater than love,” Praveen says.
*Name changed