UNITED STATES, July 9, 2024 (Religion News Service): Every day since March, 63-year-old Ranjani Saigal has posted a 90-second Instagram reel. “I’m not a social media person,” said Saigal, who goes by “The Hindu Grandma” on Instagram. “I didn’t know what a reel was, I didn’t know what TikTok was, any of that. Like many other grandparents, I was like, ‘Social media? I should stay away from that.’” But Saigal, who lives in Boston, was determined to reach the next generation of Hindu children, and she knew social media is where she’d find them. Through short educational videos answering questions such as “Why do Hindus wear a bindi?” or demonstrating a step-by-step everyday morning prayer ritual, Saigal has become a symbolic “dadi,” “ajji,” or “ammamma” to over 100,000 followers. “Somehow people seem to like to learn from grandma, and hence seem to listen in more,” she said. “People love their grandmas, at the same time they’re kind of missing in their lives. And I don’t know, it touches me a lot, so it makes me keep wanting to go with it.”

To Saigal, who is a trained purohita, or family priest, and a Bharatanatyam teacher, Hinduism is a “star-studded, gem-filled” tradition that has a real power to connect with youth. For her granddaughter’s first birthday, Saigal was able to gift her a copy of her own children’s book: “My First Om,” intended for the very youngest of Hindus. “The more Hindu a teacher you are, the more you should allow for questions,” she said. “It’s a religion of understanding and of knowledge, not of faith. And I think that kind of vibes with the modern generation.” American Hindu parents and grandparents like Saigal are reckoning with how to keep their children connected to Hinduism against a nationwide backdrop of decreased religiosity among young people. From Instagram reels to children’s books, summer camps to Sunday school, Hindu adults hope to spark genuine excitement about the Hindu faith among second-generation youth, while offering them a community to belong to.

More at source.
https://religionnews.com/2024/07/09/american-hindu-parents-are-finding-innovative-ways-to-pass-the-faith-on-to-their-kids/

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