Percival Lowell’s Mars canals and Indian newspaper reception

Record summary

Percival Lowell’s claims that linear canals on Mars indicated an intelligent civilization were widely reported internationally, including in colonial South Asian newspapers. The episode is a useful near-UFO comparison because astronomical observation, visual interpretation and public reporting combined to create a durable belief in intelligent nonhuman activity. Later planetary imaging showed that the canals were optical and observational artifacts. To make this a precise research lead, identify a particular Indian newspaper item or periodical notice rather than treating general circulation of Lowell’s ideas as a single encounter.