HINDUS IN NEPAL ARE CURRENTLY IN A STATE OF PANIC.THEY ATTEND SPECIAL RELIGIOUS SERVICES PLEADING TO BE SPARED FROM WAR, FIRE, FAMINE, DISEASE, AVALANCHE AND FLOOD, WHICH, HINDU ASTROLOGERS CONFIDENTLY PREDICT, WILL STRIKE ON FEB 3.

THEY CLAIM THESE DISASTERS WILL DEVASTATE ONE THIRD OF THE WORLD - AND THEY BASE THEIR CLAIM ON THE FACT EIGHT PLANETS OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM WILL, ON THAT DAY, BE CONJUGATED TOGETHER IN SPACE.IN THE NEPALESE CAPITAL - KATMANDU - HINDUS CONTINUED TO POUR VALUABLE RICE AND BUTTER ON TO A SMOULDERING FIRE, JAN 21.THE SACRIFICIAL FIRE IS UNDER A TEMPORARY CANOPY.

AS THEY CHANT FROM THEIR SCRIPTURES, ROBED BRAHMINS ASSURE THEM THAT THEY WILL BE SPARED.THEY DO THIS BY PLACING A SPECIAL SEAL ON THEIR FOREHEADS.CEREMONIES LIKE THIS ARE TAKING PLACE IN OTHER PARTS OF THE COUNTRY...AND, INDEED, IN INDIA, CEYLON AND BURMA, WHERE HINDUS ARE EQUALLY CONCERNED ABOUT THE FEB 3 PLANET GROUPING.

ACCORDING TO ONE SOURCE, AN INSTANCE OF EIGHT PLANETS TOGETHER HAS NOT BEEN PARALLELED SINCE THE TIME OF THE DISASTROUS WAR RECORDED IN THE MAHABHARATA SOME 5,000 YEARS AGO.