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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.


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.

Mlecchas

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Mlecchas literally means ‘those who speak in an uncultured way’.

General Definition of Mlecchas[edit]

The word ‘mleccha’ has often been used in the epics and the purāṇas to describe the non-Āryan tribes who perhaps came from outside the country. People of countries beyond the Āryāvarta, where the varṇāśrama system did not exist, had been dubbed as mlecchas.

Mlecchas as per Mahābhārata[edit]

The Mahābhārata has some interesting details about the mlecchas:

  1. They were produced from the tail of the celestial cow Nandinī of Vasiṣṭha and drove away the army of Viśvāmitra.
  2. They were living in the coastal regions and their king was Aṅga.
  3. Aṅga was killed by Bhīma in the Kurukṣetra war.
  4. The wealth that was left over in the yāgaśālā[1] of Yudhiṣṭhira after the Aśvamedha sacrifice was taken away by the mlecchas.
  5. Kalki, the future incarnation of Visṇu will destroy the mlecchas who will be found everywhere in the world.

Other References of Mlecchas[edit]

  • The Śaṭapatha Brāhmana[2] declares that those who speak an incorrect and corrupt dialect are asuras and mlecchas.
  • The Gautama-dharmasutras[3] prohibits a person from speaking with mlecchas as also impure and irreligious persons.


References[edit]

  1. ↑ Yāgaśālā means sacrificial shed.
  2. ↑ Śaṭapatha Brāhmana 3.2.1.23 and 24
  3. ↑ Gautama-dharmasutras 9.17
  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

Contributors to this article

Deval Sancheti

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