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.

Uñchavṛtti

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Uñchavṛtti literally means ‘living by leftover grains’.

Some of the brāhmaṇas, in the olden days, who wanted to live a very austere life, adopted uñchavṛtti for a living. They approached for this method since it entailed no violence or harm to other living beings. It consisted in gathering grains from agricultural fields after the harvesting was over. Collecting the grains that have fallen on the ground in any shop that sells grains was also included under uñchavṛtti. Food cooked out of these grains was considered very pure. Vedānta Deśika[1] and Tyāgarāja[2] are said to have lived by this means.


References[edit]

  1. He lived in A. D. 1268-1370.
  2. He lived in A. D. 1767-1847.
  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore