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.

Dvāra

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Dvāra literally means ‘that through which one goes out of the house’.

The science of building construction, architecture and town-planning was well-developed in ancient and medieval times. The below-mentioned works give detailed measurements and instructions for the construction of doors.

  1. Arthaśāstra of Kauṭilya (300 B. C.)
  2. Mānasāra (revised edition, 11th cent. A. D.)
  3. Mayamata
  4. Mānasollāsa of king Someśvara (A. D. 1126-1138)
  5. Agnipurāna
  6. Matsyapurāna

Location and construction of the dvāras (entrances and doors) of buildings was considered very important not only from the standpoint of safety and beauty, but also from the auspiciousness.

A village or a town must have dvāras in the four cardinal directions, four corners and in the between. Buildings also should have four main dvāras or doors on the four sides. Smaller doors can be constructed as per convenience. The main entrance door in a building should not be kept in the middle. It should be on the either side only. But, in the temples it should be in the middle only.

The most general rule for the dimension is that the height of the door should be twice the width (h = 2w). The doors are generally decorated with the carvings of leaves and creepers. The relief figures of Gaṇeśa, Sarasvatī and other deities should be there on both the sides of door. Though it is advisable to have two shutters, the door may have a single shutter also.


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=Dvāra&oldid=134215"