The painting shows a scene from August 1765, when
the young Mughal emperor Shah Alam, exiled from Delhi and defeated by East
India Company troops, was forced into what we would now call an act of
involuntary privatisation. The scroll is an order to dismiss his own Mughal
revenue officials in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, and replace them with a set of
English traders appointed by Robert Clive – the new governor of Bengal. The
Guardian; http://linkis.com/www.theguardian.com/AlhTM
The Treaty of
Allahabad was signed on 16
August 1765, between the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II, son of the late
Emperor Alamgir II, and Robert, Lord Clive, of the East India Company, as a
result of the Battle of Buxar of 22 October 1764. The Treaty marks the
political and constitutional involvement and the beginning of British rule in
India.
It so happens
that on the very date the treaty was signed, there was a solar eclipse.
Eclipses mark the end of an old order and the beginning of a new one. This
eclipse [24le] was conjunct the stars Regulus,
alpha Leo in heart of the courageous but naïve Lion and
also Alphard, alpha Hydra in the conniving
and evil Snake’s heart. Here people often commit the error of believing that
their high-mindedness, willpower and grand overview will sweep aside all
barriers; heads in the clouds, hearts high some consider themselves too noble
to wheel and deal , to get into the nitty gritty of politics and the necessary
compromises of life and unless they temper
their enthusiasm with common sense, their high spirited idealism may be
shipwrecked on the shoals of harsh reality [1]. As the well written Guardian
article by William Dalrymple explains this is exactly what happened.
A few other
elements of the eclipse chart deserve mention. On the MC is Pluto with the TNP
Kronos. Kronos is linked to those in
authoritative positions as the Mughal Emperor in this case and the combination
Kronos-Pluto is leaders under substantial pressure. Meanwhile on the descendant is the TNP Hades which
is associated with decline or weakening so that the combination fits the picture of an Emperor who is weakened by the Treaty.
Finally what
is it that is activating this chart now so that The Guardian is writing about
it. Notice that the Treaty of Allahabad took place 250 years ago at the last
Uranus-Pluto waxing square like the one we are now going through. More
specifically the current Uranus-Pluto square forms a sharp aspect with
the horizon axis of the August 1775 eclipse chart. In fact a key phrase for
Uranus-Pluto is “the collapse of an old order and the beginning of a new one”
so that this transit is reminding us of what happened 250 years ago in India.
[1] Secrets
of the Ancient Skies; Diana K. Rosenberg (v.1, p.560-61)
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