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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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Vrtrāsura

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Vṛtrāsura, as per Ṛgveda[edit]

The story of Vṛtra or Vṛtrāsura is as old as the Ṛgveda.[1] There, Vṛtra is pictured as the demon of drought preventing rain-bearing clouds from giving rain. Indra ‘kills’ him with his vajra or vajrāyudha[2] and releases the water.

Vṛtrāsura, as per Purāṇas[edit]

In the purāṇas, he is described as the son of Tvaṣtṛ, created out of sacrificial fire, to destroy Indra who had earlier killed Viśvarupa, the first son of Tvaṣṭṛ. A mistake in the chanting of the Vedic mantra during the pouring of oblations resulted in Vṛtrāsura becoming vulnerable to Indra’s weapon. Though Vṛtrāsura conquered Indra first, he was later killed by the Indra. Vṛtrāsura was a king named Citraketu in his previous birth. He was a great devotee of Viṣṇu.[3]


References[edit]

  1. ↑ Ṛgveda 1.32.5
  2. ↑ Vajrāyudha means thunderbolt.
  3. ↑ Bhāgavata 6.11
  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

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