TAMIL NADU, INDIA, September 18, 2022 (Organiser): The high court on August 29th issued a notice to the Tamil Nadu Government, refusing to stay the latter’s decision to appoint or dismiss archakas (priests) in Hindu temples in the state not created according to the Agamic scriptures. It heard a petition moved by former Rajya Sabha MP Dr. Subramanian Swamy, seeking…
NEW DELHI, INDIA, September 18, 2022 (News Deal): Sindur Khela is a Bengali Hindu ritual in which women smear sindur (a vermillion colored powder) on each other on Vijayadashami, the last day of the Durga Puja. On the day of Vijaya Dashami, following the traditional ceremony, married Bengali Hindu women apply sindur to the Goddess’s forehead and feet and present…
INDIA, September 14, 2022 (Financial Express): Preparations are in full swing for the upcoming Durga Puja festival. In different parts of India, sculptors are busy making beautiful statues of Goddess Durga and other Gods. An annual Hindu festival, Durga Puja is celebrated because of Durga’s victory over Mahishasur (demon). The festival is observed in the Indian calendar month of Ashwin…
RAJASTHAN, INDIA, February 18, 2022 (PiPa News): The Idana Mata Temple of Rajasthan has an interesting story. Here the glory of the miraculous court of the Mother draws people from far and wide. The temple is located 37 miles from Udaipur city. It is situated amidst the hills of Aravalli. This Mother’s court is situated in a completely open square.…
KERALA, INDIA, September 14, 2022 (The Jewish Star): The Jewish community of Kerala, India, better known as Cochin Jews, has been shrinking — only 15 remain — ever since most of its members emigrated to Israel. Those who remain claim to be “the oldest diaspora community outside the Middle East.” An estimated 6,000 to 8,000 moved to Israel or elsewhere.…
NEW DELHI, INDIA, September 5, 2022 (INDIAN EXPRESS): The recent spell of heavy rains and floods that ravaged large parts of Pakistan’s Sindh province has also taken a heavy toll on the archaeological site of Mohenjo-daro. In fact, the calamity has pushed the archeological site – situated on the bank of the Indus river – to the “brink of extinction.”…
CHENNAI, INDIA, September 7, 2022 (IFP): The French Institute of Pondicherry in collaboration with the Idol Wing CID of the Tamil Nadu Police managed to trace back several murthis stolen from Tamil Nadu temples and smuggled to the US thanks to IFP’s rich and decades-old photo collection. Here’s just a sample of reports from the month of August: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/trichy/3-idols-stolen-from-mannargudi-temple-traced-to-la-museum/articleshow/93565649.cms?fbclid=IwAR2CULSgDy3RqmWYyxrlRU7oDQQDiB1JCRp5OFORsghLxsXVCRe_AAXadR8 https://kizhakkutoday.in/india75-14/https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/tamil-nadu/2022/aug/16/kallakurichi-12th-centurystatues-of-chola-kings-go-missing-2487932.html?fbclid=IwAR2_4gY0LW2S1le9Pb5-MwtuP_ZuHLG2gOaRrBq2HN756fo4niAKXpxzp0ohttps://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/stolen-from-tamil-nadu-idol-traced-to-christies-auction-house/articleshow/93684573.cms?fbclid=IwAR0OY0vJrnTj6O_FWbNKBzWSkq5OzhtSXaxPQTsXpUvlsB0277QtvNfVsZEhttps://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/efforts-are-on-to-retrieve-six-antique-idols-stolen-from-tn-temple-tn-idol-wing-cid/articleshow/93756404.cms?from=mdrhttps://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/two-out-of-12-idols-stolen-from-nagapattinam-temple-50-years-ago-traced-to-us/article65825521.ece?homepage=true&fbclid=IwAR2534-Mtwj9yViaG9Qc-NIEMzeB-Vygkphn2mudxBMHjbFrhJzPygcQpvk
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA, September 3, 2022 (San Francisco Chronicle): Musicians, performers, props and a table of food are all crammed into Indian theater company Naatak’s modest rehearsal space in Santa Clara. It’s small enough that performers sometimes trip on water bottles, and actors frequently run out of space on the makeshift stage. On a recent Sunday, the 27-year-old company made…
MUMBAI, INDIA, August 30, 2022 ( Manilla Bulletin): Workers caked in plaster are putting the finishing touches to storeys-high statues of the elephant God Ganesha in time for one of India’s biggest religious festivals, now jumbo-sized again after Covid. The 11-day Ganesh Chaturthi festival, which draws tens of thousands of Hindu devotees onto streets across the seaside megacity of Mumbai,…
INDIA, May 17, 2018 (BBC): In the first millennium, roughly 1,500 years ago, a pair of jackals began traveling around the world. They were known in India as Karataka and Damanaka, one wily and cunning, one noble and upright. They were the stars of one of the fabulous animal stories in a vast collection known as the Panchatantra. The tales…
