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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.


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Āgnīdhra

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Āgnīdhra literally means ‘one who kindles the fire’.

Liturgical works on sacrifices enumerate four chief priests:

  1. Hotṛ
  2. Adhvaryu
  3. Udgātṛ
  4. Brahmā

Each of these priests are assisted by a maximum of three more. Āgnīdhra, also called āgnīdh, is an important priest who is the assistant of brahmā but has much to do with the adhvaryu also. As the very name indicates, he is the person who lights the sacrificial fire and tends it. It is also his responsibility to ensure its proper distribution among the various vedis (altars). Apart from this, his chief function is to respond to the āśravaṇa-call of the adhvaryu, with words such as ‘astu śrauṣaṭ.’ He is also given the duty of seeing that everything is in order before invoking the deities. As an insignia of this authority, he holds the wooden sword called sphya.

References[edit]

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

Contributors to this article

Krishna Maheshwari, Deval Sancheti

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