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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.

Brāhmaṇagitā

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Brāhmaṇagitā literally means ‘song of the brāhmaṇa’.

The Bhagavadgitā became a model for the later generation of writers of didactical literature. Out of several such gītās produced by them, the Brāhmanagitā is also the one. Actually it is an integral part of a bigger and more well-known work, the Anugītā. The Brāhmanagitā comprises the chapters 20 to 34 of the Āśvamedhikāparva, the fourteenth book of the epic Mahābhārata which has 15 chapters having 325 verses.

Overview of Brāhmaṇagitā[edit]

The wife of a brāhmaṇa approached her husband with an anxious query as to what would happen to her after death since she found him to have abandoned all the actions prescribed in the scriptures and since that would affect her future life also. The brāhmaṇa, who was actually an enlightened person and hence who had transcended all such actions, started teaching her spiritual wisdom in order to uplift her mind. The teaching is couched in a highly symbolical language and often needs explanations. They can be summarized as follows:

  • Superiority of mind and speech over the other organs
  • Importance of the five prāṇas or vital airs in the body
  • Supremacy of the Lord, who resides in all beings as the antaryāmin or the in-dweller
  • Stories of Paraśurāma and the king Ambarīṣa
  • Teaching about the kṣetrajña or the Self


References[edit]

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

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