GO TO SOURCE CHENNAI, INDIA, October 20, 2002: First inspired by the words of Adi Sankara, that once upon a time temples were the focal point of village life and that all social activities in a village revolved around the temple, B. Rajesh, his wife Rajani, their family and friends drove to a remote village where they stayed for a…
GO TO SOURCE USA, October 18, 2002: American Hindus Against Defamation issued a press release today which reads in part, “Kohler Company, one of the most prominent plumbing supply companies, is using Lord Nataraja (a form of Lord Siva) in the form of a scantly clad woman and taking a shower to hawk its new shower products. The image in…
GO TO SOURCE SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, October 19, 2002: Project Healthy Beginnings, a coalition of parents, health professionals, environmentalists, and animal advocates, are working to pass legislation in the state of California that would provide for plant-centered menu offerings for school lunches. They are seeking Hindus who would be willing to endorse their program and help with their goals of…
GO TO SOURCE NEW DELHI, INDIA, October 16, 2002: To reduce pollution caused by fly-ash generated by the city’s thermal power stations, the Delhi state government has asked the Central Public Works Division and Public Works Department to begin using the coal residue as construction material for building nonload bearing structures. The state government has also decided to formulate a…
GO TO SOURCE KOLKATA, INDIA October 14, 2002: The Purohit Paathshala on Haritaki Bagan Lane, near Amherst Street, is a unique priest-training school providing hope for the unemployed. During Durga Puja, 40-year-old Narayan Shashtri will be assisting the main purohit of Nayanchand Dutta Street, Sarbojonin Durgotsav. “I will earn $16 and will also bring back clothes, food grains, fruits and…
GO TO SOURCE CHENNAI,INDIA, October 18, 2002: People in Tamil Nadu are renovating temple tanks in their efforts to conserve water, a very serious problem in a region that is currently trying to procure a supply of water from neighboring Karnataka. The aim is to convert, or rather restore, the temple tanks into catchments for rainwater harvesting. The landscape of…
GO TO SOURCE USA, October 18, 2002: Veena Oldenburg’s book is a provocative view on the history of dowry in India that takes a fresh look at this controversial custom. The Hindu practice of dowry has long been blamed for the murder of wives and female infants in India. Oldenburg argues that these killings are neither about dowry nor reflective…
GO TO SOURCE KOLKATA, INDIA, October 11, 2002: For those who wish to do a sightseeing of the magnificent temporary temples set up along the city streets for Durga festival) at their own convenience without the crowds and traffic, several sites are available for viewing right on your desktop. Sashti onwards, pujo4u.com will showcase 100 pujas (as the temporary temples…
GO TO SOURCE AUSTIN, TEXAS, October 17, 2002: Ph.D. candidate, Karline McLain, at The University of Texas, Austin, is seeking readers of Amar Chitra Katha comic books for a survey. “I am interested in the ways in which these comics combine text and image to retell classical mythological stories, as well as narratives of more recent historical events,” McLain says.…
GO TO SOURCE MONTREAL, CANADA, October 12, 2002: Celebrating Sanskrit and it’s contribution to Indian civilization, Bharat Bhavan Hall was filled with a capacity crowd. Various scholars spoke on the contribution of Sanskrit to the culture and civilization of India (sanskriti) and the role Sanskrit historically played as the cultural lingua franca of India. The question and answer session provoked…