Colonial Discourse and the Suffering of Indian American Children is now freely available.
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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.

Talk:Śaṅkara

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

File:Śaṅkara.jpg
Śaṅkara

Śaṅkara lived in A. D. 788-820.

Introduction[edit]

When dharma (righteousness) aban¬dons its followers because they have ignored it or distorted it, and, adharma (villainy) quickly fills its place, masquerading, perhaps, as a better substitute, God is obliged to intervene! (vide Bhagavadgītā 4.7, 8) He may do so either by directly descending to this earth as an avatāra (incarnation) or by infilling certain chosen persons to accomplish his task of restoring the balance in favor of the former.

During the period preceding the advent of Śaṅkara (also known as Śaṅkarācārya), the Sanātana-dharma (the Ancient and Eternal Religion, now commonly known as Hinduism) based on the Vedas, was facing stiff opposition from several quarters. Buddhism with its śunyavāda (nihil¬ism), Jainism with its śyādvāda or anekāntavāda (which states that a thing can be described in several ways, thus leading to greater confusion), Cārvāka schools (materialism that denied the existence of all non-temporal objects), the Kāpālika and the Vāmācāra cults which propagated unethical and abominable practices in the name of religion—everyone of these was trying to shake the foundation of the religion. It was at such a critical period of the Vedic religion, which badly needed a true and staunch follower to restore it to its former glory, that Śaṅkara was born.


References[edit]

  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore
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