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.

Saṅghāta-śrāddha

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Saṅghāta-śrāddha literally means ‘śrāddha in a group’.

Śrāddha[1] is a compulsory religious rite performed for the benefit of the dead relatives. Sometimes it may so happen that more than one relative may die on the same day but at different times.

In such a case, the śrāddhas for all of them are performed on the same day individually one after the other. The order of the śrāddha is same as the order of their death. If a group of relatives die together as in the case of an accident then the order depends on the blood-relationship.

For instance, if a person’s wife, son, brother and paternal uncle dies at the same time, then the order of the śrāddhas would be for: the wife, son, brother and uncle one after the other. Such śrāddhas are called ‘saṅghāta-śrāddha’.


References[edit]

  1. Śrāddha means obsequial ceremony.
  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore