Thunder during the Rohini nakshatra[395] is a bad omen: it foreshadows either a famine,[396] or a Boterun, i.e., complete cessation of rains for seventy-two days after the thunder-claps are heard.[391] According to another view, if the Rohini nakshatra lasts for a fortnight and if the sky is clear during the period and yet lightning and thunder occur, a Boterun will be the consequence; but if lightning and thunder were to accompany the clouds in the same nakshatra, heavy and plentiful rains may be confidently expected.[397] Lightning without clouds in the same nakshatra is believed to be the cause of what is popularly called Rohinī-dāzi, i.e., the burning heat of Rohini.[398]
Some persons expect a Boterun after kadakas or crashing thunder. Others apprehend a famine if they hear thunder on the second day of the bright half of Jyeshtha (the eighth month).[391]
Thunder or lightning in the Hasta[399] nakshatra foretells good harvests and a prosperous year.[400] Thunder in the same nakshatra is believed to muzzle the jaws of serpents and other noxious creatures, and to achieve this object, also, a sāmelu (or a log of wood) is struck against a mobhārā (or a hollow stone used for threshing corn).[401] If thunder is not heard during this nakshatra, mosquitoes and other insects and vermin are believed to be likely to multiply.[402]
If thunder is heard during the Ārdrā nakshatra, the rainfall will be delayed for a month.[403]
Lightning is commonly seen on the second and the fifth day of the bright half of Āshādh, and is considered a sign of good rainfall, while its absence indicates a probable scarcity of rain.[404] Its appearance on the fifth day of Āshādh is believed by some to foretell an early fall of rain.[400] Since the rainfall, and therefore the state of the crops during the ensuing year, are suggested by lightning on this day, corn-dealers settle a rise or fall in the price of corn according as lightning is or is not seen on that occasion.[405]
Thunder in the east predicts a speedy fall of rain.[400] If flashes of lightning are seen in the north-east or the north, rain will fall within three days.[400] Lightning in the south-east or the south foretells extreme heat.[406]
Long-continued thunder shows that the rainfall is distant. Similarly, continued flashes of lightning intimate danger to the lives and property of people.[406] Sudden thunder portends an immediate cessation of rain.[400] Thunder or lightning out of season threatens calamity to the country.[407]
Vijli or lightning is said to be fettered on the fifth day of the bright half of Āshādh—(or, as some say, on the second day of Shrāvan)[401]—after which date no apprehensions of its destructive powers need be entertained.[408] Till then, however, it is free and is likely to injure those persons[409] who have not cut or shaved their hair from their birth.[410]
The occurrence of lightning is believed to cause the delivery and sometimes even the death of pregnant women.[411]
Any period marked by the occurrence of lightning is considered inauspicious.[412]