Colonial Discourse and the Suffering of Indian American Children is now freely available.
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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.

Aṣṭādaśa-vidyās

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Aṣṭādaśa-vidyās literally means ‘the eighteen sciences’.

The tradition, over the centuries, has recognized eighteen ‘vidyāsthānas’ or ‘vidyās,’ sources of knowledge or sciences. They comprise both the primary and the secondary sources from which we can know ‘dharma,’ righteousness, and the duties and responsibilities. These Aṣṭādaśa-vidyās comprise of four Vedas, six Vedāṅgas, four Upavedas and other scriptures. They are specified as as follows :

  1. Rgveda
  2. Yajurveda
  3. Sāmaveda
  4. Atharvaveda
  5. Śikṣā
  6. Vyākaraṇa
  7. Chandas
  8. Nirukta
  9. Jyotiṣa
  10. Kalpa
  11. Purāṇas
  12. Mīmāiiisā
  13. Nyāya
  14. Dharmaśāstras
  15. Ayurveda
  16. Dhanurveda
  17. Gāndharvaveda
  18. Arthaśāstra

In some reckonings, Sthāpatyaveda and Silpaśāstra (architecture and sculpture) considered as one science, replace Arthaśāstra.


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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