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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.

Gopicandana

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

According to the āgamas and the purāṇas, every devotee is expected to wear a puṇdra or a religious mark, appropriate to his cult or sect, not only on the forehead but also on the specified parts of the body. This puṇḍra can be of two types:

  1. Ṅrdhva - upright: The nāma and the gopicandana of the Vaiṣṇavas belong to this category.
  2. Tiryak - crosswise: The vibhuti (holy ash) belongs to this category.

The gopicandana is yellowish clay available near the lake called Gopītālāb in Gujarat. It is situated in the vicinity of Dvārakā, the famous place of pilgrimage. It has to be mixed with water to prepare a thin paste and then applied on the forehead, arms, shoulders and the belly.

It is better to use that water with which a śālagrāma[1] has been bathed. The paste has to be sanctified further by the repetition of the Gāyatrīmantra, three times.

Clay collected from some sacred places is also used for this purpose. These places are:

  1. Srīraṅgam in Tamil Nadu
  2. Simhācala in Andhra Pradesh
  3. Prayāga in Uttar Pradesh
  4. Earth near the root of Tulasī plants

References[edit]

  1. ↑ Śālagrāma is a round stone and a symbol of Viṣṇu.
  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

Contributors to this article

Krishna Maheshwari, Deval Sancheti

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