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.

California standards on Hinduism and India for Grade 6

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

The California State Assembly last updated the history social science standards in 1998. In the 6th grade, they include the following for India & Hinduism:

  1. Grade 6 history social science content standards
    1. Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the early civilizations of India.
      1. Locate and describe the major river system and discuss the physical setting that sup-ported the rise of this civilization.
      2. Discuss the significance of the Aryan invasions.
      3. Explain the major beliefs and practices of Brahmanism in India and how they evolved into early Hinduism.
      4. Outline the social structure of the caste system.
      5. Know the life and moral teachings of Buddha and how Buddhism spread in India, Ceylon, and Central Asia.
      6. Describe the growth of the Maurya empire and the political and moral achievements of the emperor Asoka.
      7. Discuss important aesthetic and intellectual traditions (e.g., Sanskrit literature, including the Bhagavad Gita; medicine; metallurgy; and mathematics, including Hindu-Arabic numerals and the zero).

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