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

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.

Dreṣkāṇa

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Dreṣkāṇa is also spelt as drekkāṇa.

Jyotiṣa or the ‘science of light’ is an ancient science that is the combined study of astronomy and astrology. The word ‘dreskāṇa’ (or drekkāṇa) is one of the several technical words used within this field.

When a zodiac sign is equally divided into three parts, each part is called ‘dreṣkāṇa’. The lord of the first dreṣkāṇa is the owner of this zodiac sign. The lord of the second dreṣkāṇa is the lord of the 5th sign in the series. The lord of the third dreṣkāṇa is the lord of the 9th sign.

For instance, let us consider the zodiac sign Meṣa or Aries. Divide it into three equal parts. Each part is called a dreṣkāṇa and has a presiding deity. The first is governed by the sign of Meṣa or Aries, viz., Kuja or Mars. The second is ruled by the lord of the 5th sign (Simha or Leo), viz., Ravi or Sun. The third is ruled by the lord of the 9th sign (Śani or Sagittarius), viz., Guru or Jupiter.

The eclipse of 360° is divided into 12 Rāśis or zodiacal signs like Meṣa (Aries), Vṛṣabha (Taurus) and so on. Each sign occupy 30° equally. This 30° is divided into 3 dreṣkāṇas, each dreṣkāṇa is of 10° extension.

Origin of the word[edit]

The word dreṣkāṇa is believed to be of Egyptian or Greek origin. The original word is ‘decanoi’ (deca = 10).

References[edit]

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

Contributors to this article

Krishna Maheshwari, Deval Sancheti

Explore Other Articles

Retrieved from "https://hindupedia.com/index.php?title=Dreṣkāṇa&oldid=134196"