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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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Mahālakṣmi

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

The two aspects of Mahālakṣmi are:

  1. The first is the same as Lakṣmī, the consort of Viṣṇu.
  2. The second aspect, as depicted in the Devimāhātmya or Durgāsaptaśati, she is the same as Durgā or Pārvatī, who destroyed the demon Mahiṣāsura.

Mahālakṣmi is described as light red in complexion and seated on a lotus. She has eighteen arms holding various weapons and things like:

  • Battle-axe
  • Mace
  • Bow and arrow
  • Lance
  • Lotus
  • Rosary
  • Wine-cup
  • Conch
  • Bell

In the annexure to the same work known as Prādhānikarahasya, she is depicted as the first to appear before the other deities like Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Maheśvara and their consorts. He believes that everything including the deities have emanated out of her. The Mahālaksmī sect is essentially Śākta in orientation.

The most famous temple dedicated to her is at Kolhāpur (also known as Karavīraksetra) in Maharashtra.

References[edit]

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

Contributors to this article

Apurva Mahendra Bhangdia, Deval Sancheti

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