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.

Sapiṇḍa

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Sapiṇḍa literally means ‘of the same body’.

The dharmaśāstras have stipulated many conditions for the marriage of a boy with a girl, both of marriageable age. One important rule in this series is that they should not be sapiṇḍa. It literally means having the same body-particles. For instance, a father and a son or a daughter, are sapiṇḍa since the particles of the body of the father exist in the bodies of both.

This sapinḍa relationship extends up to seven generations in the lineage of the father and up to five generations in the lineage of the mother. Marriage within this sapiṇḍa relationship is prohibited.


References[edit]

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