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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.


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Sapiṇḍikaraṇa

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Sapiṇḍikaraṇa literally means ‘grouping together’.

Days of Sapiṇḍīkaraṇa Ritual[edit]

Sapiṇḍīkaraṇa or sapiṇḍana is the reception of the dead person’s soul into the community of the pitṛs or forefathers. The process is actually a śrāddha or obsequial rite. It can be done on any of the following days after death:

  1. 12th day
  2. 4th month
  3. 6th month
  4. 11th month
  5. After a year

The first seems to be more common.

Steps Involved in Sapiṇḍīkaraṇa[edit]

The important steps are:

  • Invitation to the brāhmaṇas the previous day
  • Agnau-karaṇa
  • Recital of Vedic texts when the brāhmaṇas are eating
  • Keeping four vessels of water with kuśa grass[1]
  • Mixing the water of the first with the water of the other three with appropriate mantras

This completes the process of merging the preta with the pitṛs of pitṛloka.


References[edit]

  1. ↑ One for the dead ancestor called preta and the other three for the pitṛs.
  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

Contributors to this article

Deval Sancheti

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