CHENNAI, INDIA, April 13, 2022 (WION News): Three Hindu Deity statues worth millions have been seized in India’s Puducherry. Estimated to be over 600 years old (from the transition period of Chola and Vijayanagara dynasty), the statues are suspected to have been stolen from Hindu temples, before 1980. The statues depicting Nataraja, Veendhara Siva and Vishnu are said to have…
SOUTH AFRICA, April 12, 2022 (The South African): The local community in Chatsworth is mourning the outright destruction of its Hindu Temple, as a result of the harrowing KwaZulu Natal floods. The destructive power of nature is not relenting on the east coast. On Tuesday, the KZN floods continued to wreak havoc across the province – with suburbs of Durban…
MALAYSIA, April 12, 2022 (The Star): A book paying tribute to William Kellie-Smith of “Kellie’s Castle” in Batu Gajah, Perak, will be published in four languages. Sri Maha Mariamman Devotees Association president P. Velmurugan, 38, said the book Forgotten Tales and Existing Facts was expected to be launched by Deputy of Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Dr Santhara…
CAMBODIA, April 7, 2022 (National Geographic): Appearing like a fever dream amid a thick, humid jungle is Angkor Wat—a soaring, sumptuous city of stone with elegant spires and elevated towers, covered galleries and airy courtyards, ornate walkways and intricate bas-relief carvings. Situated on the shores of Tonle Sap, a lake in northwest Cambodia, this temple complex is a nearly 900-year-old…
JAMMU/KASHMIR, April 10, 2022 (Hindustan Times): Policemen were deployed in strength at a temple in Sidhra area on the outskirts of the Jammu city on Saturday morning following vandalism at a temple. “Some unidentified elements vandalized statues of Hindu Gods and Goddesses, including those of local Deities, late on Friday. Some of the statues were broken into pieces. They also…
INDIA, April 7, 2022 (dmerharyana): Devotees may do online darshan of important pilgrimage sites or temples at their convenience and from any location. On Saturday, a novel service, Temple 360, was inaugurated by the Union culture ministry. On the website, visitors will see live video feeds directly from temples the inner sanctums all around India. The Minister for State for…
BHUBANESWAR, INDIA, April 5, 2022 (Hindustan Times): The Central government has told the Odisha government that its ordinance to bring the 11th-century Lingaraj temple in Bhubaneswar and its associated temples under a special law is outside the “legislative competence” of the state legislature and could lead to conflict with the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958 (AMASR…
FLUSHING, NEW YORK, April 4, 2022 (YouTube): View below the dedication of a section of Bowne Street in Flushing New York adjacent to the Hindu Temple Society of North America’s large Ganesha temple as “Ganesha Street.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_hjNgu7ERI
INDIA, April 5, 2022 (Star of Mysore): Thousands of devotees from Mysuru, Chamarajanagar, Mandya and other districts took a holy dip at Triveni Sangama (confluence of three rivers — Cauvery, Kapila and Sphatika) in T. Narasipur taluk of Mysuru district as part of the Ugadi Festival Jatra on Saturday, the first day of the Hindu New Year. The Ugadi Jatra…
SRI LANKA, March 28, 2022 (BBC): The Veddas were traditionally forest dwellers, who foraged, hunted and lived in close-knit groups in caves in the dense jungles of Sri Lanka, relocating from one cave to another when someone from the group died. Gunabandilaaththo belongs to the Vedda community, the earliest known aboriginal people of Sri Lanka. Today, the Vedda live scattered…