Colonial Discourse and the Suffering of Indian American Children Book Cover.webp

Colonial Discourse and the Suffering of Indian American Children is now published after academic peer-review and available through open access.

In this book, we analyze the psycho-social consequences that Indian American children face after they are exposed to the school textbook discourse on Hinduism and ancient India. We show that there is an intimate connection―an almost exact correspondence―between James Mill’s ( a prominent politician in Britain and head of the British East India Company) colonial-racist discourse and the current school-textbook discourse. Consequently, this archaic and racist discourse, camouflaged under the cover of political correctness, produces in the Indian American children the same psychological impact as racism is known to produce: shame, inferiority, embarrassment, identity confusion, assimilation, and a phenomenon similar to racelessness where the children dissociate from the tradition and culture of their ancestors

This book is an outcome of 4 years of rigorous research as a part of our ongoing commitment at Hindupedia to challenge the representation of Hindu Dharma within Academia.

Dvārapālas or dvārapālakas

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Dvārapālas or dvārapālakas literally means ‘guardians of doors’.

Dvārapālas

All the temples built in the traditional style have dvārapālas or door guardians generally at the sides of the main doorway of the sanctum. Their iconographic details vary according to the sectarian affiliation of the temple:

  1. Śaiva
  2. Śākta
  3. Vaiṣṇava

Dvārapālas in Vaiṣṇava Temple[edit]

In Vaiṣṇava temples there are three pairs of dvārapālas:

  1. Caṇḍa and Pracaṇḍa at the sides of the temple
  2. Jaya and Vijaya at the sides of the sanctum in the ardhamaṇḍapa
  3. Purṇa and Puṣkara at the outside enclosure

Sometimes Nanda and Sunanda and Kumuda and Kumudākṣa are also mentioned as dvārapālas. There are some other deities also, who function as guardians. For instance with raised trunks or holding a lotus in adoration.

One of the well-known figures of the dvārapālas is in the stone relief of the Varāhamaṇḍapa at Māmallāpuram[1] near Chennai or Madras.

References[edit]

  1. ↑ Māmallāpuram is famous as Mahābalipuram.
  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

Contributors to this article

Apurva Mahendra Bhangdia, Deval Sancheti

Explore Other Articles

Retrieved from "https://hindupedia.com/index.php?title=Dvārapālas_or_dvārapālakas&oldid=134217"