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.

Devī Upaniṣad

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda


Devī Upaniṣad is a small Upaniṣad of only 32 mantras that has it's roots in the Atharvaveda. Its mantras are both in prose and in verse. The main theme is that the Devī is the Divine Mother. Verses included here seem to have been culled out from:

  1. The Devisukta of the Ṛgveda
  2. The Devī-māhātmya of the Mārkandeya Purāna
  3. The Durgāsukta of the Mahānārāyana Upaniṣad


This Upaniṣad gives the well-known Devīmantras that includes:

  • The pañcadaśākṣarī : ka e ī la hrim, ha sa ka ha la hrim, sa ka la hrim
  • The navākṣarī : aim hrīm klīm cāmuṇdāyai vicce


Devi Upaniṣad concludes with a long list of the fruits one gets by the repetition of this Upaniṣad and its mantras.

Elucidation of Devī in Upaniṣad[edit]

Once all the gods approached the Devī and asked her who she was.

She replied :

  • She was Brahman and the whole world is comprised of her and the world includes her belongings such as:
    1. Matter and souls
    2. The five elements
    3. The sacred and the secular sciences
    4. The unborn
    5. The born
  • She exists in the form of:
    1. The Rudras
    2. The Vasus
    3. The Viśvedevas[1]
  • She helps Viṣṇu, Brahmā and others to sustain themselves
  • Performers of the Vedic sacrifices are able to reap their benefits due to her power and grace


Hearing this, the gods praised her through a beautiful hymn:

Obeisance to the auspicious goddess, the origin of the universe and the brilliantly shining deity We take refuge in her, the goddess Durgā, Sarasvatī the mistress of speech, the consort of Śiva (as Dakṣa’s daughter) and the power of Viṣṇu (Vaiṣṇavī). We bow down to her.


References[edit]

  1. ↑ Viśvedevas is the various kinds of divine beings inhabiting the worlds.
  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

Contributors to this article

Krishna Maheshwari, Apurva Mahendra Bhangdia, Deval Sancheti

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