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.

Āgneya-kṛechra

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Āgneya-kṛechra literally means ‘kṛechra connected with Agni’. Kṛechra literally means 'that which causes suffering’.

Sins of omission and commission are inevitable in the life of a man however careful he may be. The law of karma being inexorable he is obliged to suffer their consequences. With the full understanding of human nature and with a view to giving repent-full people a chance for redemption, the dharma-śāstras have devised elaborate prāyaścittas or expiations for sins.

Kṛechra is a general word used for several penances out of which āgneya-kṛcchra is a variety. The main part of the discipline in this expiation is that the person performing it should subsist only on sesame (til) for twelve days. Agni will be pleased by it and all the difficulties of the performer will be removed.

References[edit]

  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore