There was one more very important reason for Astrology becoming one of the lesser fields of knowledge. It was the decline of India, the fountainhead of human civilization, and its loss of status as the repository of all the knowledge of the ancient world (see How India lost its Glory). The Islamic hordes, who attacked and looted India many a times and later ruled that country for hundred of years, had no respect for priceless works of art, the magnificent architecture and the other exalted areas of human endeavor. They destroyed most of the ancient temples, burnt down libraries like Nalanda and Takshshila and permanently took away innumerable books of infinite wisdom from the future generations of humanity. A great amount of recorded knowledge was lost, astrological books included. This loss proved to be irreparable, as the then Indian society became engaged in ensuring its survival and a constant struggle against the aggressors. The few people, who had some invaluable texts and scriptures with them, were hard put to preserve the remaining works of ancient sages. That is why, when one studies Astrology , he feels as if some vital links are missing. With the Hindu philosophy losing its ground it was natural that Astrology would lose its prominent place too. As the modern science developed and the scientific temperament gained ground, with the dearth of genuine astrologers, Astrology started fading into oblivion.

The criticism and The defense

Astrology is scoffed at by people for two main reasons. First, of course, is that the predictions made by astrologers often goes wrong. Secondly, if one takes his horoscope to different astrologers, they make different predictions. They even make different horoscopes given the same set of data regarding the birth of a person. These facts force people conclude that Astrology is not a science and that it is only a means to befool people for the astrologers' benefit.

One cannot deny that the reasons cited above are valid. Nonetheless, there is some element of prejudice against Astrology which also plays some part in the denigration of this science. Let us take an example to illustrate this point.

A man falls sick due to some disease. He goes to his neighborhood doctor. The doctor advises him to go for some tests. After seeing the results of those tests and considering the patient's symptoms, the doctor concludes that the man has contracted some particular disease say, Sickosis :-). He prescribes some medicines and the patient goes home in the hope of getting rid of the sickness as soon as possible. After taking the medicines for next two days, the patient finds that the medicines are not working the way they were supposed to work. He goes back to the doctor and the doctor changes the medicines and the person starts responding to the second set of medication immediately. Within a few days, the person is back to his old healthy self.

What would have happened if the person had not responded to that second set of medicines? Most probably he would have gone to another doctor. That doctor would have advised him to go for more tests, diagnosed his problem as per his own knowledge and experience and treated him accordingly. Again, there would have been the same probability of the patient getting rid of his disease.

So, in the end it boils down to problem of correct diagnosis. As soon as the disease is identified correctly, it can be treated successfully. The doctor's problem is to identify the disease correctly, given the symptoms and the results of the tests conducted. In fact, he guesses the disease based on the symptoms the patient displays and to confirm his suspicions the doctor asks the patient to undergo a particular set of tests. If the doctor's first guess is proved wrong, he suggests another set of tests to the patient aimed at confirming his second best guess of the disease.

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