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In Sri Lanka a prominent astrologer was sent to prison for predicting President Rajapaksa’s ouster. We have a similar tale with a more grisly twist: a king goes into depression after his astrologer predicts that his royal patron has only six months to live. This is more than your average weekly horoscopes. The entire kingdom goes into a tizzy: evil portents abound; everybody just mops and weeps. Things go so much out of hand that the prime minister calls the astrologer for a re-check.

The soothsayer consults his almanacs and still predicts an untimely demise (akala-mrityu). The prime minister then asks the astrologer to calculate his own lifespan. “Thanks to the stars in my horoscope, I’m going to enjoy a long life,” the astrologer replies.

“Not anymore,” retorts the minister flashing his scimitar which instantly beheads the astrologer. “How can you trust the prediction of a man who couldn’t foresee his own end?” the minister asks the king who is saved from an ignoble fate.

To be fair, neither the Sri Lankan police nor the astrologer, Chandrasiri Bandara, has gone as far as their Indian counterparts in the apocryphal story. Bandara allegedly told an opposition meeting that the Sri Lankan prime minister would take over as president on September 9, and the opposition leader would become prime minister.