Kundali at Court: What is 'Manglik', the Hindu superstition cited in Allahabad rape case?

In Hindu tradition, a perfect horoscope matching for marriage plays a vital role in a couple’s relationship. According to popular belief, the “kundali,” or horoscope, governs all facets of human existence, including marriage. But recently, the Allahabad High Court panel had to decide if a girl was a “manglik” and whether her fiance had the right to reject her marriage. The Supreme Court took notice of the issue and stayed an unusual judgement from the Allahabad High Court that asked the director of the astrology department at Lucknow University to determine whether or not a woman, who is an alleged rape victim, is a “manglik.” The woman alleged that the accused had raped her while promising to marry her and then turned her down because she was manglik. The Head of the Department (Astrology), Lucknow University, had been issued instructions by the HC to confirm the manglik claim during the man’s bail hearing on 23 May. A bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Pankaj Mithal urged the HC to consider the case on its own merits after the SC, which met in a special session on Saturday, took suo motu notice of the situation. What is Manglik? Each person is born with her/his own birth chart. They differ from other people in terms of their personality and luck in addition to their birth chart, according to The Print. A person born under the influence of the planet Mars (mangal) is said to have “mangal dosha” (affliction) and is referred to as a “Manglik” in Hindu astrology. Some people also refer to mangal dosha as Angarak Dosha, Kuja Dosha, and Bhumi Dosha. Mars’ placement in the second, fourth, seventh, eighth, and twelfth houses of a person’s Kundali is known as the Manglik Dosha. Many superstitious Hindus think it’s bad luck and potentially disastrous for a Manglik to marry someone who isn’t a Manglik. For example, before Aishwarya Rai Bachchan married Abhishek, there were rumours that she was a “manglik” who had been married off to a tulsi plant as a means of protecting herself from evil. Naturally, the family refuted this. Also read: Prevention of child marriage: Breaking inter-generational gender exclusion How is it determined? A person is classified as a Manglik based on the placement of the planet Mars in their kundali, or horoscope, according to Professor Vinod Kumar Sharma of the astrology department at Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri National Sanskrit University in New Delhi. He told the Indian Express that a horoscope is a chart that displays the positions of the sun, moon, and different planets at the moment of a person’s birth in astrology. These are thought to have an impact on a person’s personality and course in life. Professor Sharma explained that Mars, which is also known as Mangal, is the planet of bravery and ardour, thus, having a strong Mars is not always a bad thing. The alignment of other planets, each with its own conflicting influences and traits, determines the total effect. Twelve households make up a kundali. Mars has a strong influence when it is in the first, fourth, seventh, eighth, or twelfth house, and it is also the planet of violence. Therefore a person with its dominant effect may experience conflict and discord in their lives in addition to other negative outcomes. According to him, the consequences can occasionally be so harmful as to result in the spouse’s passing. Since Mangliks are believed to bring bad luck to their spouse, astrologers frequently counsel them to marry other Mangliks or perform a “mock marriage” to a tree or other inanimate object in order to ensure that any future “misfortune” is inflicted on that “spouse.” This was carried out for both genders, according to Professor Sharma. Men marry trees considered female, like Ber or Basuti, while women marry a clay pot, or trees considered male, like Peepal, he says. Also read: 'I Do': Will India become the next country to approve of same-sex marriages? What did the SC say? According to PTI, in the apex Court, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, said the HC order was “disturbing” and urged the court to stay it. “But this was totally out of context. What’s this got to do with the subject matter,” the bench observed, adding, “apart from it, it involves so many other features… right to privacy has been disturbed, and we don’t want to spell out, there are so many other aspects.” Mehta told the bench, “Astrology is a science. Whether a person should decide based on manglik or not in marriage, nobody is questioning. The only question is while entertaining an application by a judicial forum, can this be a consideration?” An advocate, appearing for the complainant, told the bench the high court passed the order with the consent of the parties, adding that the court ordered for expert evidence under Section 45 of the Evidence Act." Justice Dhulia, however, said, “We do not want to join issues with you on this fact as to what is the relevance of these aspects, what astronomy has to do, what astrology has to do, nothing. We have nothing on that. We respect your feelings as far as that aspect is concerned. We are only concerned with this subject matter linking to that issue”. The high court has listed the case for a resumed hearing on 26 June. With inputs from PTI Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.