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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.

Agrahāra

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Agrahāra literally means ‘grant given to brāhmaṇas’.

Since the most ancient times brāhmaṇas, men of learning, austerity and character, have commanded the respect of the society. Kings used to vie with one another in granting land, cows and wealth to them for their personal use. Villages or lands (parts of villages) given to them for their maintenance have been known as ‘agrahāra.’ People living in such agrahāras were called ‘mahājanas.’ They were exempted by the kings from the payment of taxes and also punishment for lapses in behavior unless they were of a serious nature like treason, murder etc. The mahājanas themselves regulated the conduct of the inhabitants of the agrahāra.

Agrahāras were intended to be centers of learning and the mahājanas were expected to be models of conduct.


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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