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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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Śapatha

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Śapatha literally means ‘special oath’.

In the ancient days, when a king could not decide whether a person brought before him as guilty was really guilty or not, due to lack of direct or circumstantial evidence, he could take to two methods:

  1. Divya - divine proof through ordeals
  2. Śapatha - oath

A śapatha is actually an oath taken by the accused to prove his innocence. Instances of śapathas are found in the Ṛgveda,[1] the epics[2] and the smṛtis. For example, Vasiṣṭha when accused, declares in the Rgveda[3]

‘If I am a yātudhāna,[4] may I die this very day!’

This is a śapatha. The king in such cases of śapathas had to wait for a week or the stipulated period, whichever is less, to know the results.


References[edit]

  1. ↑ Ṛgveda 7.104.15, 16
  2. ↑ Mahābhārata, Anuśāsanaparva 95.13-35
  3. ↑ Rgveda 7.104.15, 16
  4. ↑ Yātudhāna means sorcerer.
  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

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