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.

Sodaśin

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Among the Vedic sacrifices, those that use the soma juice for offering as oblations are called Somayāgas. Out of the seven Somayāgas, the Soḍaśin is the fourth. It is performed to attain vigor. While extracting the soma juice from the cuttings of the plant, sixteen śastras[1] and sixteen stotras[2] are used. Hence it is named as Soḍaśin.[3]

This is done during the third extraction[4] in the evening. A quadrangular cup made of khadira wood[5] is used to keep the soma juice. Indra is the chief deity appeased through this sacrifice.


References[edit]

  1. Śastras means mantras which are to be chanted and not sung.
  2. Strotras means verses taken from the Ṛgveda and set to the musical tunes of Sāmaveda.
  3. Soḍaśin means comprising sixteen chants.
  4. Extraction means tṛtīyasavana.
  5. Khadira wood's scientific name is Acacia catechu.
  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore