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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.

Tiruppāvai

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Tiruppāvai literally means ‘holy vow’.

This is a very famous poetical treatise in Tamil composed by Āṇḍāl or Godādevī. There are thirty pāśuras or verses. Aṇḍāl imagines that she is one of the gopīs performing the special Kātyāyanī-vrata to get Kṛṣṇa as their husband. In her imagination, Srīvilliputtur[1] becomes Nandagokula and the temple of Vaṭapatraśāyin (Viṣṇu) becomes Nanda’s palace. She goes about the streets of the town in the early morning, waking up her girl-friends, to go to the Yamunā river for bath and worship.

This highly poetical treatise is centered round Kṛṣṇa-bhakti, love of Kṛṣṇa as one’s lover and husband. This work has been commented upon by innumerable scholars. All the verses have been set to music and are very popular. Singing with discourses on them during Dhanurmāsa or Mārgaśira, usually in December- January, has become a tradition among the Śrivaiṣṇavas.


References[edit]

  1. ↑ It is her little town.
  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

Contributors to this article

Krishna Maheshwari, Deval Sancheti

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