Abstract:
In this communication we present the circumstances of the total
solar eclipse of Oct 17, 1762 that passed over India, specific
to Amritsar to recreate the ambience that may serve as a
definitive input to certain perceptions that the total eclipse
affected a fierce battle on the day between Ahmed Shah Abdali’s
forces and the Sikhs at Amritsar, forcing an early retreat by
the former. The eclipse took place in the afternoon. However,
at Amritsar it was partial, not total as is understood in the
astronomical sense and erroneously written about so in the
historical accounts. Here, the magnitude of the eclipse, the
fraction of the Sun’s disc as covered by the Moon, was 0.99 while
the path of totality missed the town by over 50 km. In comparison
to a total, the near miss however does not dilute its large impact
factor over the human psyche nor does it affect the inferences that
can be drawn about the battle circumstances. At Delhi, the eclipse
was total, with a magnitude 1.02. The year 1762 was one of the
sunspot maximum phase of the Solar Cycle 1 when the solar corona
presumably would have shown up as fairly symmetrical during the
brief moments of totality.
