Stargazers are celebrating India's Supreme Court approval for teaching astrology in state-run universities after dismissing a petition by a group of scientists.
The verdict has cleared the way for graduate, post-graduate and research courses in jyotir vigyan, Sanskrit for astrological science, in 35 of the country's 200 universities.
The government will fund five teaching posts, a library, a computer laboratory and horoscope bank in each university.
'We are overjoyed. The highest court has put its seal of approval on an ancient science most Indian believes in whether they admit it or not', said R. Gopal, of New Delhi's Astrology Study and Research Institute.
'Millions of Indians consult astrologers at every step. People read astrology columns in newspapers and magazines. So what is the harm in studying it properly in colleges and universities with modern tools like computers?'
Astrologer Amrit Lal, who does a roaring trade in Calcutta, said the courses would produce qualified professionals and drive out imposters.
The court's approval is a personal victory for Human Resource Minister Murli Manohar Joshi, a physics professor who embraced the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.
Describing astrology as an Indian science, Dr Joshi tried to introduce it in universities and branded his critics 'science fundamentalists'. He had declared that astrologers can predict earthquakes and natural disasters.
Rationalists countered that reading the stars should not be considered a science. According to astrophysicist Jayant Narlikar, one of the academics who fought the court case, 'Neither its [astrology's] basic assumptions nor its predictions conform to the rigorous discipline that science demands'.
Critics have accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of trying to impose astrology as part of an attempt to assert Hindu supremacy.
Chief Justice S. Rajendra Babu and Justice G. P. Mathur, who dismissed the petition this week, said they would give their reasons later.
