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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.

Ārta

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Ārta literally means ‘afflicted with’.

It is a matter of common experience that a person turns towards God for succor when he is in trouble and discovers that he cannot expect relief from human efforts alone. Diseases, accidents or danger posed to life in critical situations make a man cry piteously to God to come to his rescue. Such a person is called an ‘ārta’ and his devotion to God is classified as ‘ārtabhakti,’ ‘devotion of the afflicted’.[1]

The Puraṇas describes many instances of ārtabhakti e.g.,

  • Gajendra, the elephant king, praying for release from the clutches of the crocodile
  • Draupadī, when molested by Duśśāsana, crying to Kṛṣṇa for help
  • Mārkaṇḍeya appealing to Śiva to protect him from Yama, the god of death.


References[edit]

  1. ↑ Bhagavadgītā 7.16
  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

Contributors to this article

Krishna Maheshwari, Deval Sancheti

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