Thousands gather across India to watch eclipse

TAREGNA, India – The longest solar eclipse of the 21st century created near darkness soon after dawn in a swath of India stretching from the west coast to the northern plains where millions gathered in the open to watch. But millions more shuttered themselves in, gripped by fearful myths in a country that abounds in Hindu mythology-based superstitions and fables, one of which says an eclipse is caused when a dragon-demon swallows the sun. A thick cloud cover over India that had obscured the sun when the eclipse began at dawn parted in several cities, minutes before the total eclipse — caused when the moon covers the sun completely to cast a shadow on earth — at 6.24 a.m. (0054 GMT). Read more .............