The longest solar eclipse of the 21st century plunged millions across Asia into temporary darkness, triggering scenes of religious fervour, fear and excitement in India and China.
Ancient superstition and modern commerce came together in what was likely to end up being the most watched eclipse in history, due to its path over earth's most densely inhabited areas.
A woman was killed in a stampede in the holy city of Varanasi where tens of thousands of devout Hindus had crowded the river Ganges at dawn.
Police said the 80-year-old fainted in the crush to enter a temple near the banks of the river and suffocated, triggering panic. More than 20 people were injured.
With Hindu priests conducting special prayers, the crowds in Varanasi cheered and then raised their arms in salutation as the sun re-emerged from behind the moon, before they took a spiritually purifying dip in the river's holy waters.
A total solar eclipse usually occurs every 18 months or so, but yesterday's spectacle was special for its maximum period of "totality" - when the sun is wholly covered by the moon - of six minutes and 39 seconds.
Such a lengthy duration will not be matched until the year 2132.
State-run China Central Television provided minute-by-minute coverage of what it dubbed "The Great Yangtze River Solar Eclipse" as the phenomenon cut a path along the river's drainage basin.
Millions of people in areas of southwestern China enjoyed a clear line of sight, according to images broadcast on CCTV, but the view was obstructed along much of its path by cloudy weather.
Shanghai viewers braved rain and overcast skies to witness the spectacle as darkness shrouded China's commercial hub at 9:36 am (0136 GMT).
"It's like magic, the day turns into night in such a short period of time... I have no idea where I am right now. It feels like a different world," said Chen Hong, a biotech company chief executive officer.
Despite the weather, hotels along Shanghai's famed waterfront Bund packed in the customers with eclipse breakfast specials.
Those who could afford it grabbed expensive seats on planes chartered by specialist travel agencies that promised extended views of the eclipse as they chased the shadow eastwards.
The cone-shaped shadow, or umbra, created by the total eclipse first made landfall on the western Indian state of Gujarat shortly before 6:30 am (0100 GMT).
It then raced across India and squeezed between Bangladesh and Nepal before engulfing most of Bhutan, traversing the Chinese mainland and slipping back out to sea off Shanghai.
From there it moved across the islands of southern Japan and veered into the western Pacific.
In Mumbai, hundreds of people who trekked up to the Nehru planetarium clutching eclipse sunglasses found themselves reaching for umbrellas and rain jackets instead as heavy overnight rain turned torrential.
Many did stay at home, fearful of the effects of the lunar shadow which some believe can lead to birth defects in pregnant women.
"I was advised not to leave the house as the eclipse brings bad luck to you and your family," said Deepa Shrestha, a 25-year-old housemaid in Kathmandu.
Superstition has always haunted the moment when Earth, moon and sun are perfectly aligned. The daytime extinction of the sun, the source of all life, is associated with war, famine, flood and the death or birth of rulers.
The ancient Chinese blamed a sun-eating dragon. In Hindu mythology, the two demons Rahu and Ketu are said to "swallow" the sun during eclipses, snuffing out its light and causing food to become inedible and water undrinkable.
Some Indian astrologers had issued predictions laden with gloom and foreboding, and a gynaecologist at a Delhi hospital said many expectant mothers scheduled for yesterday's caesarian deliveries insisted on changing the date.
The last total solar eclipse was on August 1 last year and also crossed China.
The next will be on July 11, 2010, but will occur almost entirely over the South Pacific.
Factbox
• A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon moves between the sun and the earth, blocking out the sun from the areas in the moon's shadow. Without the sun's light, the sky darkens enough for stars to be seen and the sun's corona makes a spectacular halo around the moon.
• The first datable record of a solar eclipse was in 753 BC, in Assyria, but earlier notations, among them Chinese diviners' queries on oracle bones from 1,300-1,100 BC, clearly refer to eclipses.
• From 720-480 BC, astronomers in the state of Lu, now China's Shandong Province, recorded eclipses that can be reliably dated. By the first millennium AD, Chinese imperial astronomers could predict eclipses with an accuracy of within 15 minutes.
• Ancient Chinese eclipse records can be used to calculate the slowing of the earth's rotation, due to the braking action of the moon.
• A solar eclipse in 1919 helped confirm Einstein's theory of general relativity.
• Eclipses are also scientifically interesting because they allow a rare glimpse of the cooler corona, glowing gases near the sun's surface and solar flares, which are normally not visible due to the brightness of the sun.
• The next annular eclipse, in which the moon crosses the centre of the sun but does not fully cover it, will be visible in central Africa, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar and China on January 15.
The next total eclipse, on July 11, next year, will cross the South Pacific, making landfall only on the Cook Islands and Easter Island. CAPTIONS: - Solar moons.