Colonial Discourse and the Suffering of Indian American Children Book Cover.webp

Colonial Discourse and the Suffering of Indian American Children is now published after academic peer-review and available through open access.

In this book, we analyze the psycho-social consequences that Indian American children face after they are exposed to the school textbook discourse on Hinduism and ancient India. We show that there is an intimate connection―an almost exact correspondence―between James Mill’s ( a prominent politician in Britain and head of the British East India Company) colonial-racist discourse and the current school-textbook discourse. Consequently, this archaic and racist discourse, camouflaged under the cover of political correctness, produces in the Indian American children the same psychological impact as racism is known to produce: shame, inferiority, embarrassment, identity confusion, assimilation, and a phenomenon similar to racelessness where the children dissociate from the tradition and culture of their ancestors

This book is an outcome of 4 years of rigorous research as a part of our ongoing commitment at Hindupedia to challenge the representation of Hindu Dharma within Academia.

Meykaṇḍār

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

The Śaivasiddhānta is an ancient school of Śaivism prevailing in the Tamil state. Out of the four major teachers of this school, Meykaṇḍār or Meykaṇdadeva was the greatest. He is said to have lived around A. D. 1235. He was a disciple of Parañjoti Muni. He originated and belonged to Tiruvenneyllur near the South Arcot district of the present day Tamil Nadu. An inscription of the Cola King Rājarāja III[1] refers to the gift of the land to Meykaṇḍār.

Śivajñānabodham is the cardinal work of Śaivasiddhānta attributed to him. This is a brief work of 12 kārikās or sutras in Tamil language. It is selected from the Rauravāgama. The kārikās seem to be translations of the original Sanskrit text culled from that āgama. The title Sivajñānabodham is interpreted as:

‘Śivam is One; jñānam is the knowledge of Its true nature; bodham is the realization of such knowledge.’


References[edit]

  1. He lived in A. D. 1216-1248.
  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore