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.

Jyotiṣṭoma

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Jyotiṣṭoma literally means ‘praise of light’.

Origin of Jyotiṣṭoma[edit]

Jyotiṣṭoma is one of the several types of Vedic sacrifices. It belongs to the Soma group. Its standard form is termed as agniṣṭoma.

Stoma means praise. It is a form of chanting the stotras[1] in which the verses are increased by repetition to a certain number. So a stoma is known by a number. For example: trivṛt-stoma which means three fold or nine fold.

Chantings in Jyotiṣṭoma Sacrifice[edit]

In the Jyotiṣṭoma sacrifice, the four stomas that are chanted are:

  1. Trivṛt
  2. Pañcadaśa
  3. Saptadaśa
  4. Ekaviṅśa

These are called four jyotis or lights. Hence it is named as Jyotiṣṭoma.

References[edit]

  1. Stotras means Ṛgvedic chants.
  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore