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

Kāveri

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Kāveri literally means ‘daughter of the king Kavera’.

Religion has always considered rivers and mountains as sacred spots since they are conducive to the practice of spiritual disciplines. Kāverī[1] is one of the seven most sacred rivers of India included in the mantra invoking the seven rivers at the time of ritualistic worship.

Kāverī originates from the Brahmagiri hills of the district of Koḍagu (or Coorg) in Karnataka. It flows in the south-easterly direction through the Mysore and the Tanjavur (Tanjore) districts of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu states. It ultimately merges in the Bay of Bengal near the small town Kaveripattinam. Its total length is 760 km (475 miles).

The place where it emerges out of the womb of earth is called Talakāverī. It is 39 km (24 miles) from the central town of Madikeri and 8 km (5 miles) from the little town of Bhāgamaṇḍala. The place of its emergence named Kuṇḍige is just a little pool of 0.6 meter square (2 feet square). Its north is a small maṇṭapa (temple-like structure) about 1.2 meters (4 ft) in height. The water of the Kuṇḍige gets accumulated in a small tank and then flows out under the ground.

Every year, during Tulāsaṅkramaṇa[2] at a particular moment of the day, there is a sudden bursting forth of water in the small pond Kuṇḍige. On this day, thousands of people gather there to offer worship to the goddess Kāverī and bath in the tank. They also carry little holy water home.

Tales of Kāverī[edit]

There are several stories in the epics and the purāṇas regarding the river and the river-goddess Kāverī. She was the foster-daughter[3] brought up by the king Kavera. Hence she was called as ‘Kāverī’. She was also known as ‘Lopāmudrā’. She was given in the marriage to the sage Agastya.

Once when Agastya was travelling to the south of the country beyond the Vindhya mountains, he was carrying her in the form of water in his kamaṇḍalu[4] which was upset by a powerful wind near the Sahyādri mountain from where she started flowing as a river. Other stories are similar but add that she was originally a river flowing in Kailāsa, the abode of Śiva.

Tirujñāna Sambandhar is a well- known Śaiva saint. He was born on the bank of Kāverī. Kamban, the famous poet, is said to have composed his Rāmāyana in Tamil on the bank of this river.

Pilgrimage Islands and Temples on Bank of Kāverī[edit]

A large number of small rivers and rivulets join it at various places. Well known centers of pilgrimage situated on its banks are:

  • Srīraṅgam in Tamil Nadu
  • Srīraṅgapaṭṭaṇa near Mysore in Karnataka
  • Madhyaraṅga temple near Shivana samudra in Karnataka state

At all these three places, which are small islands in the river, there are temples of Raṅganātha, an aspect of Viṣṇu in the reclining posture.

The famous Śaiva temples on its banks are at Cidambaram and Tañjāvur (Bṛhadīśvara Mahādeva). The Jambukeśvara temple near Srīraṅgam also very famous.

References[edit]

  1. ↑ Kāverī was often called ‘Dakṣīṇagaṅgā’.
  2. ↑ The sun enters the Libra, generally during October.
  3. ↑ She was earlier known as Viṣṇumāyā.
  4. ↑ Kamaṇḍalu is the water pot of mendicants.
  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

Contributors to this article

Deval Sancheti, Apurva Mahendra Bhangdia

Explore Other Articles

Retrieved from "https://hindupedia.com/index.php?title=Kāveri&oldid=134856"