Colonial Discourse and the Suffering of Indian American Children Book Cover.webp

Colonial Discourse and the Suffering of Indian American Children is now published after academic peer-review and available through open access.

In this book, we analyze the psycho-social consequences that Indian American children face after they are exposed to the school textbook discourse on Hinduism and ancient India. We show that there is an intimate connection―an almost exact correspondence―between James Mill’s ( a prominent politician in Britain and head of the British East India Company) colonial-racist discourse and the current school-textbook discourse. Consequently, this archaic and racist discourse, camouflaged under the cover of political correctness, produces in the Indian American children the same psychological impact as racism is known to produce: shame, inferiority, embarrassment, identity confusion, assimilation, and a phenomenon similar to racelessness where the children dissociate from the tradition and culture of their ancestors

This book is an outcome of 4 years of rigorous research as a part of our ongoing commitment at Hindupedia to challenge the representation of Hindu Dharma within Academia.

Sākṣī

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Sākṣī literally means ‘witness’.

Qualities of a Sākṣī[edit]

A sāksin or sākṣī is the one who witnesses the happenings around him in a detached way and can give an unbiased account. In the religious judicial system a sāksi or a witness is accepted as reliable if:

  • He should comes from a respectable family.
  • He should be deeply religious by temperament.
  • He should be devoted to truth.
  • He should be straightforward.

Qualities of Undependable Sākṣī[edit]

A few of the interesting descriptions of an unreliable witness are:

  • Shifting the position constantly
  • Licking the corner of his own lips
  • Sweat on the forehead
  • Change of color of the face
  • Faltering speech
  • Contradictory statements

Śākṣī as per Vedānta[edit]

In Vedānta, the jīvātman[1] is called sākṣī or sākṣī-caitanya since he is a witness to all the three states of consciousness, viz:

  1. Jāgrat - waking
  2. Svapna - dreaming
  3. Suṣupti - deep sleep

Sākṣī as per the Upaniṣads[edit]

Atman or Brahman also is called sākṣī in the Upaniṣads[2] and the Bhagavadgītā[3] since he is witnessing everything, but is unaffected by the changes of the empirical world.


References[edit]

  1. ↑ Jīvātman means the individual Self.
  2. ↑ Svetāśvatara Upanisad 6.11
  3. ↑ Bhagavadgītā 9.18
  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

Contributors to this article

Deval Sancheti

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