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.

Divyadeśa

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Divyadeśa literally means ‘divine place’.

Milk is obtained through the udder of a cow. Though theoretically speaking, it pervades the whole body of the cow. Similarly, the tantras declare that though the God is omnipresent, he is found more easily in certain places called as ‘divyadeśas’ or divine places. They are enumerated as sixteen in number. Some of them have been listed as follows:

  1. Vahni - fire
  2. Ambu - water
  3. Liṅga - Śivaliṅga
  4. Maṇḍala - specified geometrical diagrams
  5. Vigraha - icon or image
  6. Hṛdaya - the region of the heart

Dhāraṇā or meditation should be practiced on the iṣtadevatā or chosen deity in these places.


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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