GO TO SOURCE PARIS, FRANCE, October 23, 2001: The most important religious event for Bengali Hindus, Durga Puja, is underway here with traditional fervor and gaiety. The Puja is being hosted at the Maison de l’Inde in southern Paris. The four-day event has been organized by a leading Bengali organization, Sammilani, and starts every morning with regular prayers. The festival,…
GO TO SOURCE NEW DELHI, October 26, 2001: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief, K. S. Sudarshan, asked Muslims and Christians to “snatch the initiative from the fundamentalists in their communities,” “re-interpret” their scriptures in keeping with the modern world by paying attention to those verses which preached tolerance and goodwill. He also defended the government’s moves to change school textbooks.…
GO TO SOURCE LONDON, ENGLAND, October 27, 2001: When Shri K Pattabhi Jois, the foremost exponent of Ashtanga yoga, visited London this month hundreds of people flocked to his classes. His technique, which is the most vigorous form of yoga, has become increasingly popular throughout the Western world. Jois, who still teaches daily at his research institute in Mysore, India,…
GO TO SOURCE KATHMANDU, NEPAL, October 27, 2001: Twenty-nine year old Prince Paras was named Nepal’s new crown prince yesterday. The Prince is widely disliked in Nepal for alleged criminal acts, and his father, the king, has obviously waited so long in light of this reputation to name his son crown prince. Prince Paras was somewhat redeemed in the public…
Source: Associated Press CALCUTTA, INDIA, October 25, 2001: Giant, illuminated images of the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York are drawing huge crowds at an annual Hindu festival in eastern India dedicated to ridding the world of evil. This year many of the displays show the World Trade Center, being rammed by a plane and reduced to rubble. “It…
GO TO SOURCE BENGAL, October 26, 2001: Today about 300 Durga idols will converge on the banks of the Yamuna for immersion, to the accompaniment of fervent cries of “Durga Mai Ki Jai.” Days of excitement and devotional fervor culminate in a grand finale in the twilight hour. The congregation always turns out to be a vast one and to…
GO TO SOURCE GAUHATI, INDIA, October 26, 2001: A powerful bomb exploded during a Hindu festival in India’s northeast, killing four people, including one child, and seriously wounding 24 others, officials said Friday. The bomb exploded late Thursday beneath a stage erected for the worship of Durga — a Hindu goddess lionized for Her valor — in Gauripur town, local…
Source: The Hindu DHAKA, BANGLADESH, October 24, 2001: Several Hindu organizations in Bangladesh observed hunger-strikes across the country during the Durga Puja celebrations to protest against repression of religious minorities, demanding equal rights for religious minorities and strong government action to halt attacks on them. Puja festivities were subdued in capital Dhaka and other parts of the country amid reports…
GO TO SOURCE KOREA, October 25, 2001: Many North Koreans have become Christians as refugees in China, because of a number of missionaries and Christian groups operating near the border. According to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), the government in North Korea suppresses all independent religious activity. People who engage in public religious expression continue to be…
Source: Hinduism Today, Paras Ramoutar CARAPICHAIMA, TRINIDAD, October 26, 2001: The ground-breaking ceremony for one of this country’s biggest religious projects got under way yesterday at the Dattatreya Yoga Center (DYC), Datta Drive, Orange Field Road, Carapichaima. The project, when completed in June, 2002, is a 78-foot Hanuman statue costing at a cost of close of US$167,000. At yesterday’s religious…