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.

Jaṅgama

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Jaṅgama literally means ‘that which moves’.

As per Philosophy[edit]

In the philosophical literature, Jaṅgama signifies living beings. The whole world comprises of two types of things:

  1. The Sthāvara - stationary or non-moving, lifeless, material objects
  2. The Jaṅgama - moving objects or living beings

As per Vīraśaivism[edit]

In the Vīraśaiva or Liṅgāyata sect of Śaivism, it represents a saint or a man of realization who is ‘dynamically knowledgeable’ or ‘personification of knowledge, who is moving, who is living’.

The ‘Jaṅgama’ is the third ‘āvaraṇa’[1] out of the eight specified in this sect. A viraśaiva[2] is ordained to honor a jaṅgama just as he honors his guru and the liṅga.[3]

References[edit]

  1. Āvaraṇa means shield of protection.
  2. Vīraśaiva are the followers of Vīraśaivism.
  3. Liṅga is the emblem of Śiva given to him at the time of his initiation.
  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore