Colonial Discourse and the Suffering of Indian American Children is now freely available.
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In this book, we analyze the psycho-social consequences faced by Indian American children after exposure to the school textbook discourse on Hinduism and ancient India. We demonstrate that there is an intimate connection—an almost exact correspondence—between James Mill’s colonial-racist discourse (Mill was the head of the British East India Company) and the current school textbook discourse. This racist discourse, camouflaged under the cover of political correctness, produces the same psychological impacts on Indian American children that racism typically causes: shame, inferiority, embarrassment, identity confusion, assimilation, and a phenomenon akin to racelessness, where children dissociate from the traditions and culture of their ancestors.


This book is the result of four years of rigorous research and academic peer-review, reflecting our ongoing commitment at Hindupedia to challenge the representation of Hindu Dharma within academia.

Keśabandha

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Keśabandha literally means ‘hair-style.

Evolution of Hair Art[edit]

Dressing up the hair, especially by tying it into different shapes, was a well-developed art in ancient and medieval country. It was but natural that this got reflected in the images of gods and goddesses also.

Hair Styles[edit]

Various such styles have been noticed and mentioned in the works on iconography. Sometimes, the hair is shaped as a crown. It is called ‘jaṭāmukuṭa’. Other styles are:

  1. Kākapakṣa - side-locks shown in the images of juvenile gods like Bālakṛṣṇa
  2. Alaka - curled hair
  3. Ekaveṇī - single plait
  4. Dome-like or oval shaped bun as in the images of Rukminī or Godādevī
  5. Others

Hair Decoration[edit]

Generally hair or hair locks may be decorated with flowers. They are even bedecked with jewels. Fierce deities are shown with decorations of coiled serpents.[1]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ The decoration of coiled serpents is naga-bandha.
  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

Contributors to this article

Krishna Maheshwari, Deval Sancheti

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