1/n #SadarPranam to Ishvara within you @Ram_Guha ji.

Should we begin with August 14-15, 1947?

Pandit Nehru gave his famous speech "Tryst with Destiny" in the midnight because of Astrological and Faith related considerations.

I'm sure that yu are aware of it. https://twitter.com/Ram_Guha/status/1245936247933034497

2/n Lord Mountbatten had personally decided the date of Aug 15 as he thought that date to be “very lucky” for his career. During World War II, it was on Aug 15, 1945, that the Japanese Army had surrendered before him.

3/n When the date of independence was decided and announced, an outrage came among the astrologers across the Nation because 15-08-1947 was an “unfortunate ” date according to astrology.

4/n Alternative dates were proposed but Mountbatten wasn't in the mood to deviate from Aug 15 . Finally the astrologers suggested the midnight hour: Aug 14 -15 with the simple reasoning that "a day according to West starts at 12 AM", but in Hindu calendar, it starts with Sunrise.

5/n The astrologers now suggested that the "speech of acknowledgement of transfer of power" be done within the 48 minutes window ( “Abhijeet Muhurta”) which lasted between 24 minutes before and after 12:15 AM i.e between 11:51PM & 12:39 AM.

6/n Nehru had to & he did deliver a speech within that timeframe and the speech was supposed to as it did end by 12 AM so that the "Shanka" be blown to herald the Freedom at the stroke of the midnight hour.

7/n @Ram_Guha now that yu might yell for source to above, I'll suggest some homework for you as you are a historian. Search the essays of Sir Woodrow Wyatt. One of them contains these details.

Let us a historian in you.

8/n But @Ram_Guha , I won't say that Pandit Nehru was wrong in listening to astrologers and letting Mantras being chanted, Shankha being echoed, for that is what we are.

We are from the land where Ramanujan acknowledges that al his mathematical formulas are told by "Devi."