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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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Mañgalasutra

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Mañgalasutra literally means ‘the auspicious thread’.

Vivāha or marriage is considered as an important sanskāra or sacrament in the life of every person. One of the primary steps in this sacrament is the tying of the mañgalasutra by the bridegroom round the neck of the bride, which she is expected to wear as long as her husband is alive. This rite comes after the saptapadī. The sutra generally consists of a string with golden and other beads including a coin-shaped amulet.

Though this is considered as one of the most important aspects of the marriage ritual now, it has not been mentioned in the earlier dharmaśāstra works. The Śaunakasmṛti is the earliest treatise to mention it. The practice must have come into vogue around A. D. 1000. In some works, the tying of kaṅkaṇa[1] by the couple to each other’s hands is mentioned as ‘kaṅkaṇabandhana’. This cord is called maṅgalasutra.


References[edit]

  1. ↑ Kaṅkaṇa means the protective cord.
  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

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