It began with a lunar eclipse on July 7, the same day as Gurupurnima; another lunar eclipse follows on August 5, weeks after the total solar eclipse.

Legend has it that the last time such an event occurred was during the war of the Mahabharata, after the 13th day.

Dr Vijay Bhatkar, a scientist, says that it was the consecutive eclipses that helped modernists estimate the period of the war at around 3000 BC. “There was of course Bhishma, whose words from the battlefield had strong references to sun and moon eclipse during the period.” Even leaders like Lokmanya Tilak referred to these eclipses in their speeches during the struggle for independence, he says.

Dr Devdutt Pattanaik, a mythologist, confirms this was how the period of the Mahabharata was estimated. “They have used the reference to consecutive eclipses within a short period. It showed a stage where light (sun) and moon were gobbled up by a bodyless monster named Rahu,” he says.

Stargazers have set up camps across the path of the total solar eclipse on July 22 -Gujarat, Varanasi, Sikkim and Patna. These include many who want to watch the “sun being gobbled up by the monster” says Dr J J Rawal, president of the Indian Planetary Society.

“We are taking Mumbaikars to Surat, while many such camps are being set up all the way from here to China, with various programmes. It will be after three decades that one will get to see a total solar eclipse again,” he adds.

Astrologer Bejan Daruwala has bleak predictions: “According to my calculations, an impact might be felt by the stock market. Leaders and political heads of states and republics also need to be careful as history has shown that assassinations have taken place in such periods. The period looks upsetting till the end of September; the fallout of the consecutive eclipses will continue for some time.”

He suggests, “I feel that one should watch movies, chat up with long lost friends, and basically laugh at oneself, anything that will keep one happy in these depressing months.”