Colonial Discourse and the Suffering of Indian American Children Book Cover.webp

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.

Patnīśālā

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Patnīśālā literally means ‘a shed for the wife’.

Vedic sacrifices involved the construction of large and temporary sheds meant for various purposes. One such shed with the bamboo beams protruding towards the east was called ‘prācīnavarnśa’. In this shed a small part was set apart and screened off where the patnī or the wife of the yajamāna[1] was supposed to stay during the performance of the pravargya, a minor rite in a somayāga, which she was not supposed to see. Hence it is named accordingly.


References[edit]

  1. Yajamāna means the sacrificer.
  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore