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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.

Patitasāvitrīka

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Patitasāvitrīka literally means ‘one who has fallen from the sacrament of being taught the Sāvitrī mantra’.

Patitasāvitrīka Definition[edit]

In the ancient days, for a dvija[1] class, viz., a brāhmaṇa, a kṣattriya and a vaiśya, to be initiated into the Sāvitrī or the Gāyatrī mantra was considered to be an absolute necessity. This initiation gave him the right to study the Vedas, perform Vedic sacrifices and attain some status in the society. Sometimes, due to some unknown or extraordinary reasons, a person might have missed this sacrament even after the proper or the permitted age is past.[2] Such persons came to be known as ‘patitasāvitrīkas’.

Expiations for Patitasāvitrīka[edit]

They were deprived of the right to Vedic studies and were treated almost as out-castes. In case such persons wanted the upanayāna sacrament along with the teaching of the performance of Sāvitrīmantra, they had to undergo some prāyaścittas or expiations. Different writers of dharmaśāstras prescribed different kinds of expiations such as:

In case the father or both the father and grandfather of the patitasāvitrīka were also patitasāvitrīka, the penances were harsher.


References[edit]

  1. ↑ Dvija means the ‘twice-born’.
  2. ↑ This age is 8 to 16 years in the case of brāhmaṇas, 11 to 22 years for kṣattriyas and 12 to 24 for vaiśyas.
  3. ↑ Uddālakavrata means subsisting on barley gruel for two months and so on.
  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

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