Source: The Telegraph, Calcutta MAIDAN, INDIA, January 9, 2001: Compared to the expected annual 50,000 sadhus that pilgrimage to Maiden for Ganga Sagar Mela, a mere 5,000 are present. Small numbers are attributed to the Maha Kumbh Mela, a rare sacred event coinciding with Ganga Mela this year.Volunteer organizations are disappointed with the turnout at Maidan after preparation for a…
Source: Madhya Pradesh Chronicle AHMEDABAD, GUJARAT, January 8, 2001: Other major cities have reverted to their pre-colonial names, Bombay to Mumbai and Madras to Chennai. Now major Hindu organizations in Gujarat’s city of Ahmedabad are pushing for a name change from Ahmedabad to Karnavati. Karna Deva was the name of a Hindu sovereign that defeated a tribal ruler in the…
GO TO SOURCE NEW YORK, NEW YORK, January 2001: Wicca, also known as the Goddess movement, Goddess spirituality, or the Craft, appears to be the fastest-growing religion in America, according to this article in The Atlantic. It is estimated that there are now more than 200,000 adherents of Wicca and related “neopagan” faiths in the United States. Wiccans often call…
Source: Vishwa Hindu Parishad Press Release HOUSTON, TEXAS, January 15, 2001: More than 2,500 of Houston’s Hindu children women, and men, a record number, turned out for the annual Makara Sankranti Kite Flying Celebration sponsored by Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America’s Houston chapter members, Gujarati Samaj of Houston and Leuva Patidar Samaj. The event correspondents to Pongal in South India…
GO TO SOURCE NEW DELHI, INDIA, January, 16, 2001: Four Shankaracharyas are planning to announce their own sant sansad (meeting of saints) ahead of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s dharam sansad scheduled to start on January 19 at the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad. Reports suggest that VHP leaders have become frantic for if they were to take the Shankaracharyas head-on, their…
Source: Hinduism Today, Francois Gautier, Correspondent PONDICHERRY, INDIA, January 17, 2001: The Kumbha Mela, which is taking place at the moment in Allahabad, demonstrates once again to what extent Western journalism, when it is applied to India, harps on the anecdotal, the superfluous, the derogatory, deforms everything and transforms what is beautiful and noble into a show of freaks and…
Source: Indian Express NEW DELHI, INDIA, January 9, 2001: Students of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, will soon have the option of studying Sanskrit texts and the precise science of Sanskrit grammar. Following a directive from the Ministry for Human Resources and Development sent to over 40 institutes in the country, IIT Delhi was the first to draft a…
GO TO SOURCE NEW YORK, NEW YORK, January 7, 2001: In this recent article in the New York Times, Ilene Rosenzweig notes the rapid changes taking place in yoga classes. Once associated with hippies and granola, yoga classes are now packed with students and are held in state-of-the art yoga centers. A new yoga generation has come up over the…
GO TO SOURCE KAPAA, HAWAII, January 10, 2001: Hinduism Today felt HPI readers would be interested in the long letter on our article on Guyana/Suriname which appeared in the January/February, 2001, issue. Dear Editor, Articles on the Indian Diaspora are certainly welcome, especially those that document the continuation of our Indian Culture and the efforts to propagate it. That is…
GO TO SOURCE ALLAHABAD, INDIA: Periodical fairs or Melas are held by Hindus to honor of Gods or Goddesses. The most important of these is the Kumbha Mela which may have originated as a meeting place for the main religious heads who could lay down canons for the whole community as Hinduism has no supreme hierarchical head. A large number…