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

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.

Āditya-darśana

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Āditya-darśana literally means ‘seeing the sun’.

A person has to undergo certain sanskāras or sacraments - religious rites conducive to inner evolution at various stages of his life. The dharmaśāstras list them as sixteen; hence the name ‘sodaśa- sanskāras’ (ṣodaśa = 16).

One such ṣanskāra is called as ‘niṣkramana’ (‘going out’). It consists of taking the baby outside the lying-in chamber for the first time, to see the sun. This is called as ‘āditya-darśana.’

References[edit]

  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore