April/May/June 2003

BRITAIN/FRANCE

Ganesha's Glass Icon

British-based art dealers, Rajni Seth and Jyoti Thaker of Ranvir Ltd. and Narr International, recently commissioned exquisite limited edition crystal Ganeshas, made by France's finest crystal houses, Baccarat and Lalique. Baccarat's blurb, "Beauty without Reason," could become "Beauty Encompassing All Reason." India's 18th-century royalty once proudly displayed Baccarat's ostentatious occidental dining china. Proof again that Ganesha's presence makes dharma's path crystal clear.

USA

In Punjab,California

The Sikhs of Yuba city,California, form the oldest surviving Indian community in America and their November 3rd, 2002, 23rd annual parade drew 40,000 from all parts of western USA. It is the largest gathering of Punjabis outside of India.

Starting and ending at local gurudwaras, the main float carried their holy scriptures, the Guru Granth Sahib. The trail of decorated tractors and trucks revealed the farming roots of these land-savvy Punjabis who originally came to help build the transcontinental railroad. The Yuba City Sikhs are steadfast in their faith and practice, while Indians who once populated the California town dubbed "Delhi" are nowhere to be found, having been completely integrated into the Mexican Catholic culture many decades ago. Jai Guru Gobind Singh!

USA

Iranians Resist Name Change

In November, 2002, Hindus in Sunnyvale, California, withdrew their proposal to their city council to rename "Persian Drive," which runs in front of their temple and community center to "Mandir." Local Iranians objected to losing representation of their ancient Persian heritage and culture on this small two-lane road. But the Hindus are pursuing the matter. "We are 11 percent of the population of Sunnyvale, and this is one of the largest community centers in Northern California," said Naranji Patel, president of the temple that serves 5,300 families. "We thought we could get recognition from the city for this, and that might bring more people to the temple, and we could leave a legacy for our children."

ANCIENT INDIA

40M-Year-Old Indian Horses

The recent startling discovery of a cave painting in Banda, 800 kilometers southeast of New Delhi, strikes yet another blow against the idea that all things good in India must have arrived from beyond its borders, as per the Aryan invasion theory which is universally taught in today's textbooks. Etched on the walls of a white silica sandstone rock shelter we see new intimations that Indians domesticated horses 40,000 years ago. One cornerstone of academia's prevailing hypothesis is that horses were introduced to India via a migration from the northwest only 1,500 years ago. But recent digs have uncovered bones of horses from earlier civilizations. Still, the Aryan invasion theory is deeply rooted and accepted as fact in the Western academic world. Adherents assert, "Oh, it could be some other kind of horse, not the modern horse."

KOREA

Indian PrincessWent to Korea

Did you know that a 16-year-old princess from Ayuta (Ayodhya) went to Korea in 48 ce? A 13th-century Korean text recounts Princess Heo Hwang-ok explaining that her parents: "dreamt a God came who said, 'I have sent down Suro to be king of Kaya. Suro is a holy man and is not yet married. So send your daughter to be his Queen." She sailed from India, taking a stone pagoda (left) to what is now Kimhae city. South Korea's 72nd generation descendents of King Suro believe they are related to India's present day Raja Bimlendra Mohan Prasad Mishra, whose ancestors ruled Ayodhya. (Both families have two fishes as their insignia.) They sent delegations to India to built a monument in Ayodhya to commemorate the relationship. Though Mishra is unable to trace his ancestry back more than 300 years, he is happy to accept the Koreans' belief and their initiative to invest $2 billion to make Ayodhya a sister city of Kimhae. "It will lead to the progress of Ayodhya and I am happy, " he said. "The fact that it is associated with my family makes it special."

NEW ZEALAND

Hot and Cold New Zealand

With a population of less than 4 million, one could hardly call New Zealand overpopulated. But think twice before planning to migrate there. After letting in 120,000 during the years 2001-2002, there is fresh fear of people pressure from outside. In New Zealand's Weekend Herald, Geoff Cumming wrote in November, 2002, referring to applicants who had made life plans to move, "Suddenly, New Zealand no longer wants them. Three times since June, the pass mark for general skills applicants has been rachetted up, ruling out our biggest migration category for all but the most highly skilled who already have a job to come to." The climate makes resident Asians feel like outsiders. But with huge numbers of people also leaving New Zealand every year, there are concerns that the country's economy, minus new immigrants, may suffer.

On a slightly different note, archeologists have proved that people have been coming and going from New Zealand for ages, among them Phoeneciansm , circa 600 bce, and Tamils, circa 1170 ce, as evidenced by this old Chola era bell found in Northland, NZ.

CANADA

Ganesha's New Home In Canada

Ganesha will soon have a new home in multi-ethnic Vancouver. The Sri Ganesha Society of British Columbia, comprised of 100 Sri Lankan families, holds weekly satsangs and monthly chaturthi pujas. Their future looks bright. They received an icon of Lord Ganesha from the late Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, and last year prominent artists from India and Chicago helped with a successful fund raiser.

UNITED KINGDOM

"Asian" Label Turns Slanderous

The media in Britain is causing consternation amongthe benign Indian Hindu population by lumping them with Pakistani and Bangladeshi Muslims under the label "Asian." The term rightly includes them, plus Chinese, Malays, Japanese etc., but the UK media labels only Indian subcontinent immigrants as "Asian." After Bradford's riots between whites and the Pakistani and Bangladeshi underclass two years ago, the press referred to riots between "whites and Asians," even though Hindu and Sikh shops had been burned and looted in the fray. Hindus walking on the streets are still stared down by Brits as villains, though they were, in fact, as much the victims. The problem intensified after 9/11. UK Hindus are now pleading for designation at least as "Indians."

MAURITIUS

Hindu Rights to Higher Education

Mauritian Hindus with academically high-achieving children feel awkwardly trapped. On the one hand, what staunch Hindu wants her child to be conditioned by Christian belief structure in a Catholic school? But in Mauritius, the best education seats leading to future university placement are in Catholic secondary schools, which are partially subsidized by the government. Thus arises the current anomaly of Hindus challenging the right of Catholic secondary schools to reserve 50 percent of their seats for Catholic students. The Hindu-controlled government has proposed to replace religious with socio-economic criteria in the admissions process for the schools. Catholic Vicar General Jean-Maurice Labour called the proposal a trap, and the Catholic Church has demanded a stay of execution. A common Hindu front, including the Arya Samaj and the Sanatana Dharma Temple Federation, told the government not to give in to any form of "blackmail." Trade Union leader Suttyhudeo Tengur said, "Any stay of execution will be perceived as if the Supreme Court was condoning unconstitutional discrimination against non-Catholic children." Mr. Leckraj Seereekissoon (president of the Parent Teachers' Association of the Pandit Cashinath Kistoe Aryan Vedic Aided Primary School) had even stronger words, "The Bureau of Catholic Education bosses can agree to operate without discrimination and be applauded, or pursue the philosophy of discrimination against non-Catholics, certainly non-Whites, and defeat national solidarity.... A ploy to ensure that in three to five years time the Church exerts full control on all star secondary schools. The Church would have, in the long term, conditioned most of the best students to its influence." At press time the issue was still unsettled.

BRIEFLY...

ANDRA STATE GOVERNMENT HAS pulled out of "loss-making" temples. The priests of at least 24,000 temples earning below ^US$500 annually must now search for new income. The Supreme Court had allowed the State government to take away priest controlled endowment lands and instead pay them salaries on a pay scale. But the State government's Endowments Department is now unwilling to bear those expenditures, deciding it would be better to lose control over these temples rather than pay the priests' salaries. In the long run, temples may benefit from such autonomy.

THE CHENNAI HIGH COURT DENIED a petition by Parveen Akhtar, a Muslim divorcee, to void the Muslim law under which a husband can decree a divorce by merely pronouncing talaq ("divorce") in the presence of two witnesses. Solicitor General B. G. Gopalan argued that Section Two of the Muslim Personal Law [Shariat] Application Act of 1937 does not come under the Constitution's purview.

MAHARISHI'S SAMHITA YOGA institute in Germany registered the trademark "Vastu" five years ago. They later took Marcus Schmieke to court for using "Vastu Academy," forcing him to change his academy's name to "Vasati." Ashwini Bansal, director of the Delhi-based Vastu Shastra Institute said, "We are planning to fight the registration and will examine what legal recourse we can take under the German trademark law."

NASIK KUMBHA MELA 2003 auspicious dates at Trimbakeshwar are set. Shahi snan (royal bath) will take place on August 12. The auspicious dates for the second and third bathing are August 27 and September 7. An estimated 1.1 million pilgrims are expected.

BRITISH MINISTER, REV. RICHARD Farr has banned yoga from his church. "We are here to tell people about Jesus and his exclusive claims. It seems completely inappropriate that we should give someone a platform who is advocating different spiritualities."