Astrology came with Alexander, says Jayant Narlikar

PUNE: Astrology is an imported concept and was not a part of the Vedic era, scientist Jayant Narlikar said on Wednesday while speaking at the two-day workshop on comet ISON at the College of Engineering, Pune, auditorium.
The lecture was dedicated to anti-superstition activist Narendra Dabholkar, who was murdered in the city in August.
Narlikar spoke about his association with Dabholkar and how they and two other researchers had compiled a study called 'A statistical test on astrology'.
Narlikar said, "In the Vedic era, there was never a seven-days-a-week concept. Similarly, astrologers were also not known at the time. They came later, when Alexander came to India and brought several of them along with him. Indians carried forward astrology."
He added that a closer examination comparing astrology with science reveals that the former is not science. Narlikar said the study he conducted with Dabholkar goes to explain why astrology is not a science through a simple experiment. They adopted an experiment conducted by Bernie Silverman, a graduate student of Michigan State University, USA. They collected horoscopes of 100 scholarly students and 100 students with learning difficulties.
After a random selection from these horoscopes, two sets of 40 horoscopes each were prepared. They then invited astrologers in the country to separate horoscopes of scholarly and disabled students and laid down some statistical guidelines for them. It was decided that of the 40 horoscopes, the astrologer needs to get at least 28 accurate results as a testimony of their successful predictions.
Around 53 astrologers asked for samples of the horoscopes and 27 replied with results. The best performer among the respondents had 24 correct results. Hence, none of the astrologers could pass the test. The average of all the respondents came to 17, way below the 28-mark, he said.
Narlikar said, "Our test asked a focused question and the astrologers could not point toward any ambiguity in interpretation. We told the astrologers that the real predictive success could be claimed only at the 70% level for their sample size. The test demonstrated the hollowness of the basic claim of astrology."
The study was published in the 'Current Science' journal in March 2009.
Narlikar said that Dabholkar and his team did a great job of collecting 200 horoscopes as they were so well connected to the common people.