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

Colonial Discourse and the Suffering of Indian American Children is now published after academic peer-review and available through open access.

In this book, we analyze the psycho-social consequences that Indian American children face after they are exposed to the school textbook discourse on Hinduism and ancient India. We show that there is an intimate connection―an almost exact correspondence―between James Mill’s ( a prominent politician in Britain and head of the British East India Company) colonial-racist discourse and the current school-textbook discourse. Consequently, this archaic and racist discourse, camouflaged under the cover of political correctness, produces in the Indian American children the same psychological impact as racism is known to produce: shame, inferiority, embarrassment, identity confusion, assimilation, and a phenomenon similar to racelessness where the children dissociate from the tradition and culture of their ancestors

This book is an outcome of 4 years of rigorous research as a part of our ongoing commitment at Hindupedia to challenge the representation of Hindu Dharma within Academia.

Pitṛmedha

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Pitṛmedha literally means ‘forefather-sacrifice’.

The word actually means consigning the dead-body of a forefather to the fire of cremation which is similar to medha or sacrifice. This ancient custom comprised four stages:

  1. Cremation
  2. Collecting the charred bones
  3. Depositing them underground in an urn
  4. Expiatory rites and erection of a monument[1]

Depositing the urn at the root of a tree or casting the contents in the Gaṅgā river were also practiced. If the deceased person was an ācārya[2] or a śrotriya,[3] the rite was called brahmamedha. The special mantras known as caturhotā[4][5][6][7][8][9][10] were chanted on this occasion.


References[edit]

  1. ↑ This monument is generally a pole or a staff.
  2. ↑ Ācārya is the spiritual or Vedic preceptor.
  3. ↑ Śrotriya means a learned in the Vedas.
  4. ↑ Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa 2.3.11.4
  5. ↑ Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa 1.3.1.1
  6. ↑ Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa 3.12.5.1
  7. ↑ Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa 2.2.3.5
  8. ↑ Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa 2.3.1.3
  9. ↑ Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa 2.3.1.1
  10. ↑ Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa 2.2.8.2
  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

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