Everyonein the West, from statesman to crossing-sweeper, is aware of the fame of NOSTRADAMUS, the French-Jewish seer who died more than 400 years ago. The reason for his extraordinay popularity is quite simple. Many predictions published by Nostradamus in 1555 have been completely vindicated by the passage of time. Writing more than 400 years ago, he not only foresaw the two World Wars of the 20th century, but also came close to mentioning Hitler by name ! Earlier on, the French Revolution reached an elimination in 1792, as predicted by him.

Incredile ? Well, it is almost unbelievable. But even the most strident critics have been silenced by the phenomenal accuracy of the French seer. Of the approximately 2,500 forecasts that he published in his poetic "Centuries", no less than 800 have been precisely fulfilled so far.The remainder cover the period upto the year 3797. The track-record of Nostradamus is so perfect that there can be no doubt that the others too will be realised. His "Centuries" are absolutely amazing.

For Hindus especially, Nostradamus ought to be a hero of immense cheer. The Frenchman never visited India. In point of time, his forecasts were published well before Akbar became the Moghul ruler in Delhi.But, despite the great distance of time and space, Nostradamus clearly foresaw the rise of a mighty all conquering Hindu nation. Its birth is close at hand. The seer predicts that a resurgent India will burst forth upon its former oppressors and destroy them completely. The beginning of this terrible revenge will be in the seventh month of 1999.

Meanwhile, he predicts, after seven years of furious warfare, the Moslems will be totally wiped out. There will be no trace left of either Mecca or Medina. Somanath will be avenged a billion times over. The creed of Muhammad will vanish forever.

The European countries who despoiled India will not be let off either. Flames will engulf Rome as Hindu soldiers advance on Paris overcomming the barrier of the Alps. The Pope will fly from his lair. Much of Europe will repudiate the false tenets of Christianity. The ancient sway of Hinduism will be restored. Vedic chants will again fill the air.

Does this all sound like a fairy-tale ? To convince the skeptics it is best to quote the prophetic quatrains of the "Centuries". It must always be borne in mind that they were first published in 1555. Two copies of that edition are still preserved in the French National Library in Paris. Their genuineness cannot be disputed.

Moslem murderers and thier Western patrons will find the following forecast particularly hard to stomach Quatrain 75, Century X Long awaited, he will not take birth in Europe, India will produce the immortal ruler,Seeing wisdom and power of unlimited scope, Asia will bow before this conquering scholar.As if this were not a sufficient warning to fanatics, Nostradamus makes his meaning still more explicit in the following Quatrain 96, Century X The religion of the name of the seas triumphs,Against the fanatics of the Khalif's adalat,The murderous creed of the false alefs,Between the Hindus and Christians will be caught.This prophecy need a little explication. In geography, one finds the Hindu Maha Sagar (the Indian Ocean in English). Hinduism is the only religion with a sea (an ocean, rather) named after it. The Moslem fanatics believe that the Shariat or Koranic law with its sexual licence is God-given or Khalif's adalat. The Koran itself opens with the letter alef (A) in Arabic. Both Hindus and Christians have suffered at the hands of Moslems and seek revenge. Lebanon is a foretaste of things to come. The Nostradamian quatrain spells the doom of the murder-creed.If this interpretation should sound far-fetched, consider yet another prophetic quatrain Quatrain 50, Century L From the peninsula where three seas meet, Comes the ruler to whom Thursday is holy, His wisdom and might all nations will greet, To oppose him in Asia will be folly.

South India is the only peninsula in the entire globe where three seas meet a point and stretch away. The great Hindu leader who will wipe out our enemies will hence be a south Indian who offers worship on Thursdays. It is easy to see why Nostradamus specifically mentions Thursday as the holy day. It is only Hindus who consider Thursday sacred. Moslems pray on Friday; Jews bow before God on Saturday; Christians bawl hymns on Sunday at church. Nostradamus is making it clear here that the conqueror will be a Hindu from South India. He will bind Asia together under his rule.The Hindu leader, however, will not be a tyrant. He will be ruthless with the Moslem fanatics. But he will win over the communists by persuading them of the timeless varieties of Hinduism. Russia will become India's ally

Quatrain 95, Century III
The creed of the Moor will perish,
Followed be another more popular still,
The Dnieper will be the first to relish,
The wisdom which imposes its will.

The Moslems are often called Moors by Europeans owing to the nearness of Morocco with its Moslem faith. Incidentally, the Dutch who landed in Ceylon also called the Lankan Moslems as Moors. Even today, the Lankan Moslems are officially designated as Moors.

The Dnieper is a great river in southern Russia. The seer's forecast seems to suggest that Russia will be the first among Communist countries to abandon Marxism in favour of Hinduism. The Red comrades in our midst will doubtless throw up their hands in horror at the mere idea. But Riencourt, the French writer, quotes a prophecy made by Ramakrishna Parmahamsa shortly before his death which strongly supports the French seer's prediction. Shri Ramakrishna declared that his next birth would be to the north-west of India. In other words, he will be reborn in Russia as a Hindu holy man !. Communism is certainly a more popular creed than Islam. But both will be alike vanquished by resurgent Hinduism.

Russia will be greatly benefited by its alliance with the Hindu Rashtra. Nostradamus describes Russia's good fortune

Quatrain 26, Century V
The Salvic folk will be on the winning side,
And rise to the highest point,
They cast off their paltry ideological guide,
The mountain-army crosess the sea in an expidition joint.

As the Hindu troops sweep through the Middle East avenging former wrongs, the Russian army in the Caucasus mountains will link up with them. The paltry ideological guide who will be abandoned is Karl Marx. The sea to be crossed is either the Mediterranean or the Black Sea.

Inevitably, the question crops up Are such things possible? Here is a convincing reply to prove the seer's clairvoyance

Quatrain 77, Century III
In October seventeen twenty-seven,
The Afghans and Turkey will score,
Areas lost by Iran, Christians beseech heaven,
Against Moslems shedding innocent gore.

This event took place exactly 172 years after the publication of the forecast by Nostradamus in 1555. An agreement was made by Afghanistan and Turkey in October 1727, dividing up Iran. Christian communities which came under Turkish misrule were brutally treated in Georgia and Armenia (both now in U.S.S.R). Nostradamus had never been out of France expect for a brief visit to next-door Italy. Yet he foresaw what the Afghans and the Turks would do in Iran in October 1727! This is truly an amazing prediction by any reckoning. None of the parties concerned had ever heard of Nostradamus.

Let us now return to the Hindu holy-war.

Quatrain 59, Century III
The empire of Islam by Hindus overthrown,
The majority of Moslems will succumb,
To radio-active fall-out by India blown,
Making Muhammad forever silent and numb.

Interestingly, in his prose-introduction to the "Centuries", the seer dwells at some length on the destruction of Islam and Mecca. The city will be smashed up in such a way that all those who enter it will sicken and die. The only interpretation of this forecast is that there will be radioactive fall-out in the area. Nostradamus declares that the Hindus will be engaged in the task of revenge for seven years from the seventh month of 1999. Intrestingly, even Islamic texts predict doom in the 15th century of their religion.

After the destruction (annihilation would be the exact word) of Islamic power, the Hindu leader will march on the Europe. Both Egypt and Israel will rally to his standard.

The Hindu leader with Hebrew leaning,
Marches on Rome and its allies,
His ships sail from Libyan mooring,
The Bible-chanting clergy dies.

This tremendous onslaught will be bloody. In yet another forecast Nostradamus remarks that the Hindu army will lose 2,50,000 men. But victory will be attained. It will be decisive.

Pressage 40

Rome of seven hills hit by calamities quick,
Storm, deluge, epidemic and consuming fire,
The Hindus give Europe a colossal kick,
And conquer it with revengeful ire.

The atrocities and fraudulent conversions by Christian missionaries will thus be avenged in the total destruction of Rome. The Pope and his canting clergy will seek refuge in Paris. They will be assisted by a Scottish leader who is called Hadrian in the "Centuries". This is a reference to Hadrian's Wall to isolate Scotland built by the Roman emperor Hadrian, 1,800 years ago.

Hitherto there has been no mention of America in this narrative. Nostradamus mentions it by name only once. It is time to consider the implications of his incredible forecast

Quatrain 66, Century X

The British leader by America sent,
Will ruin Scotland by a clever plan,
Boss Reb's foes will be sorely rem,
And damn him as unchristian man.

It has been already noted that the Scottish leader nick-named Hadrian will join hands with the Pope against the Hindus. Amazingly, the United States will side with India in the war ! The Americans will nominate a leader in London who is intriguingly called Boss Reb. He will be a veritable fox in cunning. He will defeat to Scots thoroughly and bring down the Christian alliance around the Pope.

Judging by the "Centuries", the climateric war of 1999 will find India, Russia and America ranged on one side as allies. Is this at all likely? For answer, let us turn to the famous American seeress Jeane Dixon, whose forecasts have been collated in a best-selling book. Its title is "The Gift of Prophecy", authored by Ruth Montgomery.

Jeane Dixon corectly foresaw the Partition of India in 1947, and the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi shortly afterwards. She was frequently consulted by American presidents. She told President Roosevelt in 1944 that America and Russia would be in alliance in 1999 against China. At that time (1944) Communists had not yet seized power in Peking. But in 1949 they were victorious. Incidentally, Jeane Dixon forecast Sanjay Gandhi's death in 1980.

At present, America and Russia seem set on a collision course. Can they ever make up their differences? Recent history proves that such about-turns are not impossible. Only 15 years ago, China and America were enemies. Today, they are allies. It would be utterly unwise to pooh pooh even bizarre possibilities. Truth is often stronger than fiction.

While the America take over the government of Britain through their nominee Boss Reb, the Hindu leader will advance upon Paris, where the Pope is holed up.

Quatrain 29, Century II
The Hindu hero will march from his base,
Crossing the Apennines to enter France,
Conquering the clouds and seas ice,
All enemies will fall before his lance.

Paris will be taken after a fierce siege. Hadrian will be killed in a vain defence. At this juncture, Nostradamus makes a curious abservation. He predicts that a tree in the centre of Parish will crash down. What tree? Could it be the Eiffel Tower, built more than 300 years after his death? From a distance the Eiffel Tower rather resembles a giant oak-tree.

What of the date of the beginning of the titanic fight which will send India on a holy war? Nostradamus provides a precise answer

Quatrain 72, Century X
Bearing upon him the Mongol-sign,
The great king of terror jumps from heaven,
In July nineteen ninenty-nine,
Mars to a just war will be driven.

The classical name for the Chinese emperor was "Son of Heaven". A Chinese leader will therefore, launch a terrible war in July (Nostradamus says seventh month) of 1999 in imitation of Genghis Khan, the great Mongol conqueror. Mars is the seer's nick-name for a French statesman who will resist China in 1999. He will be exiled from Paris till the Hindu army rescues him and restores him.

What is one to make of the predictions of Nostradamus? Will they come true? The seer himself admits that the "Centuries" were written in a mystical trance. The conscious mind did not produce them.

When it is remembered that more than 800 of the forecasts have already been fulfilled in the last 400 years, skepticism seems unwarranted and inept. In quatrain 42, Century X, the seer predicted that the British empire would collapse in 1942. In that year, the Quit India movement gave the death-blow to British imperialism. What makes the forecast truly breathtaking is the fact that there was no Britain and no empire when Nostradamus published his predictions in 1555. England joined up with Scotland to form Britain only in 1603. The battle of Plassey was fought in 1757, heralding British rule in India. Nostradamus saw far beyond both these events to forecast the end of British hegemony in 1942. This alone should make clear that the French-Jewish seer possessed divine provision.

When Nostradamus published the "Centuries" in 1555, the title referred only to the arrangement of quatrains in groups of 100 years. It was not an allusion to the hundreds of years that the predictions actually span. There are 10 centuries in all, making a total of about 1000 quatrains. But Century (7) is incomplete with only 44 verses. The short-fall is adequately made up by additional quatrains include later. Ever since their first(1555) appearance, the Centuries have been a perennial best-seller.

The first English translation of Nostradamus's great work was made in 1672 by The odore Garencieres. The second translation came in 1715 from the pen of a priest who called himself only by the initials D.D. The next translation was in 1891 when Charles Ward made a scholarly attempt to interpret the often-obscure quatrains. Ward's translation was reissued in America in 1940 by the Modern Library. At that time, the Second World War had been started by Hitler.

Hitler and his Nazi Germany made a clever attempt to misuse Nostradamus for propaganda purposes. A New edition of Centuries was printed in Germany giving a totally false interpretation of his prophecies. But Nostradamus himself had not the slightest doubt about Hitler's ulimate fate. He predicted that the Nazis would be annihilated (Quatrain 77, Century VIII) after murdering countless Jews.

In 1982, President Mitterand of France let it be known that he was an avid reader of the Centuries. In 1983, the well-known actor Orson Welles produced an immensely popular American television show on the forecasts of Nostradamus. There have ben so many English translations of the Centuires in the recent past, that the British journalist Taya Zinkin wryly remarked that Nostradamus would top any popularity poll. Mrs. Zinkin is no stranger to India. She spent many years in Delhi as a correspondent.

Nostradamus predicts a glorious future for India. Yet he is hardly known to our people.