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

Talk:Budha

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Budha

For thousands of years, people all over the world have believed in the influence of the planets on human life and history. Logically speaking, the creation of the grahas or planets precedes that of the living beings. Hence, some sort of cause and effect relation must subsist between these two. This seems to be the basis for this belief.

The Navagrahas are regarded to be of the greatest astrological significance by the people. They are believed to influence the life of the individual and the course of history. As per the traditional list, the nine planets are:

  1. Ravi or Surya (Sun)
  2. Soma or Candra (moon)
  3. Maṅgala or Kuja or Aṅgāraka (Mars)
  4. Budha (Mercury)
  5. Bṛhaspati or Guru (Jupiter)
  6. Śukra (Venus)
  7. Śani (Saturn)
  8. Rāhu
  9. Ketu

The seven days of the week have derived their names from the first seven planets. Rāhu and Ketu are not planets. They are the ascending and descending nodes of the moon. Budha or Mercury is the fourth in this group of nine planets. According to mythology, he is the son of Candra and Tārā. His consort is Ilā. He was once transformed into a woman when he entered the forbidden forest of the Kumāravana.

Hence he is also considered as a strīgraha, a feminine planet. He is saumya[1] and śubha[2] In the images he is shown either as dark or yellow in complexion. He wears a garland of yellow flowers, with four arms. Each hand carries the following:

  1. Sword
  2. Shield
  3. Mace
  4. Varadamudrā.[3]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ Saumya means pacific in nature.
  2. ↑ Śubha means auspicious.
  3. ↑ Varadamudrā means gesture of bestowal of boons.
  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore
Retrieved from "https://hindupedia.com/index.php?title=Talk:Budha&oldid=109981"