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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.

Pañcatapas

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Pañcatapas literally means ‘austerity involving five fires'.

Tapas or austerity is must before embarking any important venture or even for self-purification. One such tapas is pañcatapas or pañcāgnitapas. In this mode of austerity, the aspirant has to sit in the midst of four blazing agnis or fires in an open place, with the sun burning above his head as the fifth fire. He has to sit in their midst from dawn to dusk for a specified period after preparing himself ceremonially as per the prescribed rules. According to some, this is a substitute for the performance of Vedic sacrifices, while maintaining the duly consecrated Vedic fires. Śrī Śāradā Devi,[1] the consort of Rāmakṛṣṇa Paramahaṅsa[2] is known to have performed this tapas in A. D. 1893.


References[edit]

  1. ↑ She lived in A. D. 1853-1920.
  2. ↑ He lived in A.D. 1836-1886.
  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

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