GO TO SOURCE DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA, November 18, 2001: Percussion maestro and South Africa’s doyen of Carnatic music Gopalan Govender passed away here on November 17. He was 77 years of age. During the 1900s in the apartheid years, he started a renaissance among generations of indentured laborers, instilling in them a sense of pride in their rich cultural heritage…
Source: Hinduistan Times NEW DELHI, INDIA, November 15, 2001: The highly publicized campaign to limit firecrackers proved unsuccessful in Delhi this year with Divali being more polluted and noisy than in the recent past. The Delhi government put the blame on an atmospheric condition called inversion. This condition sets in due to low night temperatures with little wind movement. It…
Source: Rediff on the Net DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA, November 15, 2001: The desecration of statues of Hindu deities at one of South Africa’s oldest temples on the eve of Divali has shocked devotees here. “The century old statues, originally imported from India, have always stood in shrines outside the Narainsamy Temple,” said a spokesman for the temple, Tiny Moodley. This…
GO TO SOURCE PORTLAND, OREGON, USA, November 16, 2001: Many members of Oregon’s Indian community of doctors, business owners, high-tech employees and blue collar workers come together this week to mark Divali, the Festival of Lights celebrated by Hindus. As Indians gather in lantern-decorated temples and homes all over Oregon to pray, share meals and enjoy fireworks, the increasing number…
GO TO SOURCE KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA, November 14, 2001: The Prime Minister, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, has urged Malaysians to sustain efforts to consolidate the prevailing racial tolerance and help the nation preserve the prosperity it has been blessed with. He said it was the stability and harmony arising from the spirit of coexistence of all its citizens that steered Malaysia…
Source: Hinduism Today OXFORD, ENGLAND, November 17, 2001: “In my opinion,” writes A. Khaitan of Oxford University, “The ‘Theft of Sita’ play is nothing more than an attempt to disparage what the Hindu epic, Ramayana, is about. I saw the play tonight (in Oxford) and was utterly disgusted. Far from sticking to the true Ramayana, the play made references to…
GO TO SOURCE KAUAI, HAWAII, November 17, 2001: HPI readers are kindly requested to forward to us at “source” above any reports they find upon the Maha Samadhi of Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami. We are particularly trying to get a video tape of the CNN report aired a few days ago. This may be mailed to Hinduism Today, 107 Kaholalele Road,…
Source: Hinduism Today RUSSIA, November 16, 2001: A letter arriving from the Hawaii ashram home of Hinduism Today containing sacred ash, vibhuti, from the temple ceremonies, to a devotee here attracted considerable interest from the local postal authorities. They summoned the recipient to the post office, where 15 officials waited, concerned that they had just discovered an anthrax-laden letter. The…
GO TO SOURCE BHUBANESWAR, INDIA, November 14, 2001: The icon of Lord Madan Mohan, made of astadhatu, an alloy of eight metals including gold and silver, and weighing 18 kilograms, was found in a well inside the 12th century Jagannath Temple complex in Puri, about 56 km from here. Icons of Lord Madan Mohan and Lord Narayan, both avatars of…
GO TO SOURCE LONDON, U.K., November 10, 2001: A joint Australian-Indonesian venture The Ramayana written and directed by Nigel Jamieson and brought to the U.K. by the London International Festival of Theatre received rave reviews from theater critics. The story from the Hindu epic and dealing with the abduction of Sita by Ravana took on a different perspective as it…