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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.


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.

Bālakriḍā

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Smrtis are secondary scriptures which expound dharma in consonance with the Śruti or the Vedas. If the Śruti gives the general spiritual truths, the smṛtis give elaborate details pertaining to the code of conduct of an individual member of the society both at the personal and at the social level.

One of the earliest smṛtis that ranks on almost equal terms with the Manusmrti, is the Yājñavalkya Smrti. This work has two well-known commentaries :

  1. The Mitākśarā of Vijñāneśvara (12th cent. A.D.)
  2. The Bālakrīdā of Viśvarupa (9th cent. A. D.)

Being earlier than the Mitākśarā, the Bālakrīdā is a pioneering work. Its author, Viśvarupa shows a good grasp of the Purvamīmāmsā terms and logic, but seems to lean towards the advaita of Saṅkara (A. D. 788-820) where philosophical ideas are concerned.

Some scholars opine that Viśvarupa and Sureśvara, a disciple of Saṅkara, are identical. ‘Viśvarupa’ being his premonastic name.


References[edit]

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

Contributors to this article

Krishna Maheshwari, Deval Sancheti

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