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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.


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Ekadaṇḍin

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Ekadaṇḍin literally means ‘One who holds a single staff’.

Classification[edit]

A daṇḍa or a staff is an important insignia of a sanyāsin[1] Among such sanyāsins called ‘daṇḍis’, there are two types:

  1. Ekadaṇḍis - They carry one staff of bamboo to facilitate carrying.
  2. Tridaṇḍis - They carry three staffs tied together to facilitate carrying.

Significance[edit]

Daṇḍa stands for dama or self-control. Tridaṇḍa stands for control over body, speech and mind. Ekadaṇḍa stands for control over the mind, since it automatically leads to the control of the other two.

Paramahaṅsa Sanyāsi's Daṇḍa[edit]

The paramahaṅsa sanyāsis accept a daṇḍa at the time of taking sanyāsa. It breaks it and discards it in a river, since they are supposed to have attained the highest state wherein they do not need to carry such insignias.

References[edit]

  1. ↑ Sanyāsin means a monk.
  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

Contributors to this article

Deval Sancheti

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