Source: Religion News Service KATMANDU, NEPAL, JULY 11, 2001: Officials in Nepal have identified a 4-year-old girl from Katmandu as the new incarnation of a Goddess revered by both Hindus and Buddhists. Preeti Shakya was installed as the new Kumari (virgin goddess) on Tuesday, July 10. Preeti replaces the reigning Goddess who has reached puberty. Goddesses traditionally retire when they…
GO TO SOURCE KATMANDU, NEPAL, July 7, 2001: A string of attacks overnight killed 39 police officers and a civilian at security posts across Nepal on the eve of the King Gyanendra’s 55th birthday. It is the worst violence in the troubled Himalayan kingdom since last month’s massacre of virtually the entire royal family by the crown prince, who then…
GO TO SOURCE NEW DELHI, INDIA, July 10, 2001: It was a time of terrible fear among the Kashmiri Pandits, Hindus indigenous to the beautiful Himalayan valley. They and Hindu settlers were being killed, kidnapped and robbed by Islamic militant groups demanding independence from India or to unite with Muslim-majority Pakistan. Between October 1989 and August 1990, some 350,000 Kashmiri…
GO TO SOURCE NEW DELHI, INDIA, July 8, 2001: Longing to pilgrimage to the Sharda Temple in Kishanganga Valley in an area of Kashmir occupied by Pakistan, Kashmiri Pandits have appealed to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to openly discuss the issue in summit talks with Pakistan President Pervez Musharrat. Since 1990 when Pakistan took over the valley, the 350,000…
GO TO SOURCE GRANGER, IOWA, July 8, 2001: Hindu leaders say a $3 million temple and cultural center being built three miles north of Granger will be the first Hindu temple in the state. “This is good for the community,” said Rajesh Kumar, vice-president of the Indo-American Association of Iowa. “They want to worship and it will be good for…
GO TO SOURCE DETROIT, MICHIGAN, JULY 8, 2001: Pontiac, a suburb in Detroit, is now home to a newly constructed temple for the Goddess Parashakthi. The 6,000 sq. ft. temple houses icons of Devi Sri Karumari Amman, Vinayaka, Karthikeya, Lord Siva and Devi Sivakamasundari. The temple was designed by renowned temple architect Padmasri M. Muthiah Sthapathi. The origin of the…
GO TO SOURCE JAMMU, INDIA, July 8, 2001 : With the state government reluctant to open the fresh registration counters at Jammu for the pilrimage to Amarnath Cave, hundreds of stranded pilgrims again took out a procession from Geeta Bhavan to Ranbereshwar Temple and staged a demonstration there demanding their enrollment. The government is limiting the number of pilrgims, which…
GO TO SOURCE LONDON, ENGLAND, July 9, 2001: Hindu Human Rights group (HHR) is deeply concerned about the plight of Hindus in Afghanistan. Recently, the ruling Taliban Regime issued an order that all Hindus should wear yellow armbands so that they could be “easily identified” in public. It has been reported that this has been retracted to a decree that…
GO TO SOURCE LEICESTER, ENGLAND, July 9, 2001: A drug addict has been jailed for life for the murder of one of the UK’s most prominent Hindu priests. Harish Purohit, a high-profile member of Leicester’s Hindu community, bled to death after being stabbed 16 times in October last year. After a week-long trial, a jury took just three hours to…
GO TO SOURCE GANGES, MICHIGAN, JULY 7, 2001: One hundred and eight years after Swami Vivekananda came to Chicago and introduced Hinduism to the West, the monks of his order gathered in the small town of Ganges, Michigan, to usher in the new millennium. “Vedanta in the Third Millennium,” a three-day conference, attracted nearly 800 followers from around the U.S.…