The Tragedy of Kumbakonam
Kumbakonam, July 16: The fire of sustenance turned into a mass pyre for children between the ages of seven and nine with at least 86 getting charred to death, trapped in their blazing thatched-roof classrooms. Unofficial estimates put the number of dead at over 100 in the fire that started in a kitchen on the ground floor when the mid-day meal for children was being cooked, witnesses said. The resident medical officer at the government hospital here placed the toll late tonight at 86. He said 108 children with severe burn injuries had been brought to the hospital, but most were already dead. Many had died of asphyxiation. (Internet News, July 17, 2004)
This event must rate as one of the most tragic children's stories of the new century, and this brief article will explore the preceding Krishnamurti Cancer Ingress which occurred just hours before the event.
Users of the Fagan-Bradley ayanamsa are fond of pointing out that since the Moon moves so much faster than the Sun, it’s the lunar ingress charts that show the superiority of that ayanamsa. An overlooked fact is that the Moon changes its position by the same time increment in the solar ingress charts cast for different ayanamsas. The Moon is our main astrological timing mechanism. This is a recognized fact in India where lunar charts are commonly cast along with ascendant based charts. In the west we should probably be considering the Moon’s position in the solar ingress charts as important as the ascendant degree.
The fire tragedy of yesterday in India illustrates the importance of the solar ingress Moon. The timing of the fire is another example of the difference between the Krishnamurti and Fagan-Bradley ingress charts, similar to the timing of the Gay marriage flap in San Francisco in February. That Krishnamurti Aquarius ingress placed Saturn-Venus squarely on the angles, and the Moon/Ketu conjoined major fixed stars in the constellation of Libra. For that event the Krishnamurti ingress happened just before the news broke on the public scene, whereas the Fagan-Bradley ingress occurred after the event. Similarly, the Krishnamurti Cancer ingress happened just prior to yesterday’s tragic fire, while the F-B ingress didn’t occur until approximately 24 hours later.
Neighbors reported seeing smoke around 11:30 according to news reports, so I set the timing of the fire at 11:20. This is an approximate time until a more exact time hits the news. First, let’s look at the Krishnamurti ingress chart which occurred on July 16 at 5:59:48 a.m. This is a very critical chart for Kumbakonam. 29 Gemini 42 rises. Pluto is in the 6th at 26 Scorpio in quincunx aspect to the ascendant. The fixed star Pollux is at 29 Gemini 27 on the ascendant, the Sun of course being at 0 Cancer.
Click here to see the ingress and event charts.
Aside from being in the critical 29th degree, Pollux is of reddish hue, and Ptolemy assigned the nature of this star to Mars. The ascendant lord Mercury is at 24 Cancer conjunct Mars at 20 Cancer. Neptune opposes this duo from 22 Capricorn near the cusp of the 8th equal house cusp. Pluto and Mars-Mercury form a grand trine with the M.C. If an astrologer had checked this ingress chart in Kumbakonam, the red warning lights would have immediately started flashing.
The Moon at 14Gem00 is conjunct Saturn and forms a grand trine with Urauns at 12Aqu30 and Ketu at 13Lib27. Whereas single trines seem to be benefic, the grand trine more often than not seems to have a malefic influence. I have seen the grand trine in monthly ingress charts preceding major earthquakes. The Kumbakonam trine is a close one which equates to a conjunction in Aquarius in the navamsa chart, the 6th house sign in the event chart for the fire.
Moving ahead to the event, we see that the Moon has come to the M.C. which places the ingress Ketu-Uranus focus just on this angle. Saturn is on the other side of the M.C. with the Sun. Rahu in Mars-ruled Aries is on the 8th equal cusp. The ascendant at 17 Virgo is the focus of a yod (common in major quake charts) from Uranus in the 6th and Rahu in the 8th. The Neptune opposite Mars aspects the ascendant via the trine and sextile. Ascendant lord Mercury is with Mars. So the primary stress aspects in the ingress chart only hours before are configured with the angles in the event chart. The timing mechanism was the Moon reaching the M.C. of Kumbakonam.
This is exactly the type of event aspect maturity that has happened in all the Krishnamurti solar ingress earthquake charts I’ve looked at. This kind of aspect maturity is also evident in the 9-11 ingress and event charts, where the ingress angles repeated within a degree in the event chart. We have a wonderful predictive tool in the Krishnamurti solar ingress charts. I wish more astrologers would look at these charts. I didn’t start out to 'sell' the Krishnamurti ayanamsa, but accidentally noticed the correlation with ingress charts and events earlier this year.
Posted by Therese Hamilton
July 17, 2004
