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.

Caturvihśati-tattva

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Caturvihśati-tattva literally means ‘24 cosmic principles’.

According to the Sāṅkhya system of philosophy, it is prakṛti or pradhāna which comprises of the three guṇas of:

  1. Sattva
  2. Rajas
  3. Tamas

It is the originator of this world. It evolves in stages into 23 fundamental principles, itself being the 24th, by the permutation and combination of which the whole world is created. These fundamentals are:

  1. Prakṛti - Mother Nature
  2. Mahat - ‘The great’, The intellect
  3. Ahaṅkāra - Egoism
  4. Manas - Mind
  5. Five Jñānendriyas - Organs of sense
  6. Five Karmendriyas - Organs of action
  7. Five Tanmātras - Subtle elements
  8. Five Bhutas - Gross elements


References[edit]

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