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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.

Periyapurāṇam

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Periyapurāṇam literally means ‘the great purāṇa, mythological work’.

The sixty-three Nāyanmārs or Nāyanārs are the Śaiva saints of Tamil Nadu who spread the sect of devotion to Lord Śiva,[1] brought about a social revolution that made all devotees of Lord Śiva feel equal to one another and also contributed to the disappearance of Jainism from the Tamil land. Their lives were found in a sketchy form loosely distributed among the various works. However, it was Sekkizhār[2] who brought together all the available information about these Nāyanmārs in one place and wrote the well-known classic the Periyapurāṇam. He based his work on Tiru Tondattokai of Sundaramurti[3] and the Tirutondar Tiruvandādi of Nambiandar Nambi.[4]

The Periyapurānam is a remarkable composite work of hagiology dealing with all the 63 lives. It is in 72 cantos and has 4286 verses. The biographies of the four most well-known saints are dealt with in great details. These four saints are:

  1. Sundarar
  2. Tirujñāna Sambandhar
  3. Appar
  4. Tirumular

This work is also a literary masterpiece. Good English translations of the works have been published in the recent past.


References[edit]

  1. ↑ He is as an aspect of Brahman, the Absolute.
  2. ↑ He lived in 11th cent. A. D.
  3. ↑ He lived in 8th cent. A. D.
  4. ↑ He lived in 10th cent. A. D.
  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

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