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.

Āmnāya

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Āmnāya literally means ‘that which is committed to memory’.

The Vedas, the basic scriptures, are known by several other names :

  • Śruti - They are called ‘śruti’ since they are ‘heard’ (śru = to hear) by the disciples from the mouth of the teacher.
  • Āmnāya - They are known as ‘āmnāya’ since they are learnt by rote, committed to memory (mnā = to commit to memory, to repeat) and are handed down traditionally from the teacher to the disciple.
  • Trayī - They are ‘trayi,’ ‘a group of three’ since Rgveda, Yajurveda and Sāmaveda, the three earlier compilations were always considered together.

The word is sometimes used in the sense of kula or lineage and sariipradāya or tradition as also ācāra or custom.

References[edit]

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

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