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

Harkisan, Guru

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Harkisan, Guru (A. D. 1656-1664)

The spiritual greatness does not depend upon the physical age of a person. It has been proved time and again from the lives of many saints, whether it is Suka of the paurāṇik age or Jñāndev (13th Century) of the historic age. Guru Harkiṣan, the eighth Sikh Guru, belongs to this category.

When the seventh Guru, Har Rai (A. D. 1630-1661), chose his second son Harkiṣan for the august seat of the Sikh Gurus, he was hardly five years old. However, Guru Harkiṣan excelled due to his precocious wisdom of explaining the Ādi Granth, basic scripture of Sikhs.

When Rām Rai, his elder brother who had been superseded in favor of his younger brother, complained to the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb (A. D. 1618-1707) and sought his assistance to redress the ‘injustice’ done to him, emperor called the Guru Harkiṣan to his court and tried to test him. The child-Guru acquitted himself admirably.

Smallpox which was raging Delhi at that time, took the life of the young Guru at the tender age of eight. Before passing away, he nominated Teg Bahādur, of the town Bakālā, as the next Guru.


References[edit]

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

Contributors to this article

Krishna Maheshwari, Deval Sancheti

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