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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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Khādira Gṛhyasutras

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

The gṛhyasutras and the dharmasutras form a part of the kalpasutras, the last of the six Vedāṅgas. They are the forerunners of the dharmaśāstra literature. The Khādira Gṛhyasutras belong to the tradition of the Rāṇāyanīya school of the Sāmaveda. It seems to be an abridgement and improvement of the earlier work Gobhila Gṛhyasutras. It has 580 sutras distributed over 19 khaṇḍas or sections. These sections have been accommodated in 4 paṭalas or chapters.

First Paṭala[edit]

The first paṭala deals with the following topics in details:

Second Paṭala[edit]

The second patala describes the following ceremonies:

  • Darśa sacrifice
  • Purṇamāsa sacrifice
  • Purhsavana ceremony
  • Sīmantonnayana ceremonie for a pregnant woman
  • Nāmakaraṇa or the naming ceremony of the child
  • Caula or tonsure of the hair in the third year
  • Upanayana sacrament
  • Godāna or the first shaving of the beard
  • Godānavrata
  • Ādityavrata
  • Upaniṣadvrata

Third Paṭala[edit]

The third paṭala deals with the ceremonies like:

  • Ceremony for the student who has completed his studies
  • Ceremony for a student on becoming a snātaka
  • Āgrayaṇa rite
  • Anvaṣṭakya rite
  • Piṇḍapitṛyajña rite

Fourth Paṭala[edit]

It is the last paṭala which gives instructions regarding:

  • Various kāmya (desire-motivated) rites to be performed by those desiring brahmavarcas (lustre of Brahman), cattle, wealth and property
  • Averting untimely or accidental death
  • Getting rid of misfortune
  • Instructions regarding building one’s house
  • Attaining long life
  • Undisturbed means of livelihood
  • Cure from the bites of poisonous animals
  • Honoring respectable persons like one’s teacher with madhuparka

References[edit]

  1. ↑ Samāvartana is returning from the house of the guru after education.
  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

Contributors to this article

Deval Sancheti, Apurva Mahendra Bhangdia

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