The World War 2 link that decided August 15 as India's independence date — and the astrologer who tried to stop it
Britain had set June 1948 as its exit date. Mountbatten pulled it forward to a day that marked a wartime triumph, even as an astrologer warned of a curse.
The decision to mark India's independence on August 15, 1947, was influenced by a link to World War 2. The viceroy of India, Lord Louis Mountbatten, chose this date somewhat impulsively during a press conference, noting that it was the second anniversary of Japan's surrender in the Second World War. Mountbatten, who was also the first Supreme Allied Commander of the South East Asia Command, wanted to tie the memory of that victory to the creation of two new nations.
However, the date was met with resistance from Indian astrologers who considered it inauspicious according to the Hindu calendar. Some political leaders and astrologers warned that the day's events could be blamed on a nation born under a curse if misfortune followed. Despite this opposition, the Constituent Assembly convened just before midnight on August 14, 1947, and Jawaharlal Nehru delivered his famous "Tryst with Destiny" speech at the stroke of midnight on August 14-15, 1947.
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