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.

Viparyaya

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshanand

Viparyāya literally means ‘contrariety’.

This is a technical term used in the Yogasutras.[1] The cittavrttis or the modifications of the mind, though they appear to be infinite, can be classified into five broad groups:

  1. Pramāṇa - means of valid knowledge
  2. Viparyāya - contrariety
  3. Vikalpa - mere concept
  4. Nidrā - sleep
  5. Smṛti - memory

Viparyaya, the second, is defined as mithyājñāna or false knowledge. It is not based on reality. When we see a snake in twilight in a rope lying on the ground, it is viparyāya, seeing one thing for another. Avidyā is an another name for it.


References[edit]

  1. Yogasutras 1.6, 8
  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore