Source: Hinduism Today, Anil Mahabir, Trinidad Correspondent TRINIDAD, January 17, 2002: The non-Christian community in Trinidad, including the nation’s Hindus and Muslims, have come out strongly against the appointment of a “Minister of Ecclesiastical Affairs” by the predominantly Afro-Christian government of new Prime Minister, Patrick Manning. But Manning, a publicly declared “born-again Christian,” who was hugged and rated highly by…
GO TO SOURCE SINGAPORE, Jan 16, 2002: Singapore Hindus of South Indian origin started celebrating the Pongal harvest festival on Monday, thanking the Sun god, Surya, for a good harvest. Celebrations here usually last for four days. On the first day, Pongal rice, a sweet dish of rice boiled with milk, ghee and raw cane sugar, is prepared. Letting it…
GO TO SOURCE UNITED KINGDOM, January 5, 2002: After 20 years of running a family Asian corner store in the U.K., Gurdip Sumal is selling the business. In the last ten years the number of corner shops has declined by 25%, greatly impacting a common and family-oriented way of making a living for Hindus here. Competition from 24-hour supermarkets, market…
Source: Sandhya Times (Hindi) BADRINATH, HIMALAYAS, INDIA, January 16, 2002: Badri Kedar Nath Temple’s chief priest, Vishnu Nambutri, has been suspended. This information has been provided by the president of the committees of these temples Sri Vinod Prasad Nautiyal. Sri Nautiyal said that Rawal [chief priest] Nambutri was doing his own will for the last many years and that he…
Source: Religion New Service WASHINGTON, D.C., January 16, 2002: A U.S. District Court judge has determined that two suits by chaplains alleging religious discrimination in the U.S. Navy should continue. Judge Ricardo M. Urbina has denied in part the Navy’s motion to dismiss the cases, which accuse the military service of discriminating against evangelical Christian groups. The chaplains allege second-class…
GO TO SOURCE NEW DELHI, INDIA, January 16, 2002: Indian scientists have made an archaeological find dating back to 7500 bce suggesting the world’s oldest cities came up about 4,000 years earlier than is currently believed, a top government official said on Wednesday. The scientists found pieces of wood, remains of pots, fossil bones and what appeared like construction material…
GO TO SOURCE PATNA, INDIA, January 16, 2002: Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama, who was taken ill on Tuesday due to gastro-enteritis and low blood pressure, is feeling better and his condition is stable, doctors attending on him said on Wednesday. The Dalai Lama is feeling much better on Wednesday and his condition improving fast, Patna civil surgeon Dr A…
Source: Times of India ALLAHABAD, INDIA, January 14, 2002: According to Professor Theo Damsteegt of Leiden University in the Netherlands, the dialect of Bhojpuri spoken by the country’s immigrants from Suriname should be considered a distinct language, “Sarnami.” The immigrants from Suriname originally came from the “Bhojpuri Belt” in Eastern Uttar Pradesh and Western Bihar in India. Bhojpuri is a…
GO TO SOURCE UGANDA, AFRICA, January 15, 2002: The music of India is one of the oldest unbroken musical traditions in the world with origins in the Vedas, the ancient scripts of the Hindus. Shekhar Chakravarty, General Manager Crane Microfinance, who plays the Indian instrument sitar, says that his major interest is to ensure that second and third Indian generations…
GO TO SOURCE SABARIMALA, KERALA, INDIA, January 14, 2002: The Travancore Devaswom Board, which administers the hill shrine of Ayyappa at Sabarimala, will offer food free of cost to all devotees arriving for darshan from the next Mandalam-Makaravilakku season onwards, board president N. Babu said here on Monday. He said an estimated 21,700,000 devotees, mostly from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and…