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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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Vārakaris

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Vārakaris literally means ‘those who keep fixed times’.

Classification of Pilgrims[edit]

Paṇḍharāpura or Paṇḍharpur is a well-known and extremely popular place of pilgrimage in the Maharashtra State. The main deity of this place is Viṭṭhala or Viṭhobā or Pāṇḍuraṅga. It is a form of Lord Kṛṣṇa. The pilgrims who visit this temple are of two types:

  1. The vārakarīs or vārkarīs - They visit the temple regularly.
  2. Others - They visit the temple occasionally.

Classification of Vārakarīs[edit]

The vārakarīs are of two categories:

  1. Those who attend every month and those who visit twice a year on Āṣāḍha-śukla-ekādaśī[1]
  2. Those who attend on Kārttika-śukla- ekādaśī[2]

Rules of Vārakarīs[edit]

The vārakarīs have to observe certain rules which are binding. They are:

  • Carrying a rosary of tulasī beads[3]
  • Giving up flesh-eating
  • Observing a fast on ekādaśī days
  • Carrying a flag of ochre-colored cloth
  • To speak the truth
  • Never cheat

These rules and the tradition of the sect have socially leveled the adherents to a great extent. Incidentally, it may be mentioned that a similar group of devotees of Rāma belonging to the sect of Samartha Rāmadās, came to be known as dhārakarīs.


References[edit]

  1. ↑ It is the eleventh day of the bright fortnight of the month of Āsādha, usually in July.
  2. ↑ It is the eleventh day of the bright fortnight of the month of Kārttika, generally in November.
  3. ↑ It means tulasīmālā.
  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

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Deval Sancheti

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