1. Mata Amritananda Announces $22 Million for Relief
Source

KOLLAM, KERALA, INDIA, January 3, 2005: With the biggest relief measure announced so far, the Mata Amritananda ashram in Kerala has announced a US$22 million (1 billion rupees) tsunami relief for the affected states. Announcing this at her ashram in Vallikkavu, Kollam, on Monday, Mata said the sum would be spent in consultation with the Central government. Expressing great regret at the sufferings of the accident-hit people, the spiritual head of the ashram with a considerable following said that the ashram was willing to adopt all the orphaned children if their kin would leave them at any of the ashram centers in the country. The ashram also has plans to study the tsunami phenomenon, Mata said. If the government permitted, the ashram proposes to reconstruct all the houses that have been completely destroyed by the tsunami attack across Kerala. These houses will be built according to the specifications of the government.

HPI adds: There were 10,000 devotees at Mata's ashram in Kerala at the moment of the tsunami, which washed through the ashram grounds. See http://www.hinduismtoday.com/hpi/2004/12/30.shtml#2.

2. Swami Chidanand Saraswati Adopts Village in Tamil Nadu for Rehabilitation
Source

TAMIL NADU, INDIA, January 4, 2005: Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji Maharaj, the founder and chairman of India Heritage Research Foundation, has personally traveled from Rishikesh (Himalayas) to the Chennai area. His group writes, "Pujya Swamiji is currently near Cuddalore, a town about 3 hours south of Chennai, where horrendous damage took place from the tsunami. We came down on the 30th December, thinking to spend New Year's with the tsunami victims to offer them hope and peace. However, upon seeing the devastation wrought on the villages, he decided to stay and to adopt the village of Thevanampattnam, a village with about 3,000 families that was devastated by the tsunami. We are doing short term and long term relief work, including rebuilding homes that were destroyed, repairing homes that were damaged, setting up community kitchens, medical centers, distribution centers, etc. Further we are building shops for those women/girls who have lost all male members of their families (and who therefore have no way to make a living). We are repairing boats that were damaged and will replace the boats that were lost. Once the boats are repaired/purchased, we will purchase new fishing nets for the fisherman. We have decided to open an orphanage here for any children who have been orphaned by the tragedy (or by any other tragic circumstances), and we will also take any children who want to come back to Rishikesh to join the Parmarth Gurukul. We are planning gardens with grass, plants, flowers and trees in the new housing areas, so that there is greenery and beauty for the local people. Further, we are planning a playground for the local children. If you are able to help in this relief effort, your assistance would be greatly appreciated. Your tax-deductible donations can be sent payable to India Heritage Research Foundation or IHRF 603 Bedfordshire Rd, Louisville, KY 40222, USA, Phone: (502) 426-7127 (Contact person: Rekha and Atul Mashruwala), Fax: (502) 426-8064, E-mail: ihrf@ihrf.com. For India: IHRF C/o Pujya Swamiji Chidanand Saraswati, Parmarth Niketan, P.O. Swargashram, Rishikesh - 249304; (Himalayas), India Ph: +(91-135) 2440088, Fax: +(91-135) 2440066, E-mail: ihrf@ihrf.com."

3. Malaysia Hindu Sangam Switches Aid Efforts from India to Sri Lanka
Source

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA, January 3, 2005: This press release from Datuk A. Vaithilingam, president of the Malaysia Hindu Sangam, reads:

"I have great pleasure in informing that 6 medical doctors are leaving for Sri Lanka this week to assist more in disasters especially in the east and north-east of Sri Lanka. Three doctors with four other assistants are leaving on January 5 and three on January 7. We established our contacts in Sri Lanka and India. A Malaysian, Mr. T. M. Ramachandran is the person in Sri Lanka and another Malaysian, Mr. Waytha Moorthy is the contact person in Tamil Nadu. The doctors in Sri Lanka will be attached with Chinmya Mission. Our volunteers in India took some US$6,000 worth aid but found that relief work there were moving well with RSS and Seva Barathi International volunteers in the forefront. Therefore Mr. Waytha Moorthy and group are moving over to Sri Lanka within a few days taking along with them water purifiers and medical aid supplies to join our doctors. The medical panel of 6 doctors and 8 assistants led by Dr.Ganesan are also taking along medical aid worth $9,000. Sri Lanka especially needs more medical and food supplies. The 35 NGOs coordinated by Malaysia Hindu Sangam will continue to monitor the situation. We have sent 3 containers of food, mineral water and medical supply worth $18,000 to Sri Lanka."

4. Sri Lankan Army Accused of Taking Over Refugee Camps
Source

SRI LANKA, January 5, 2005: (HPI note: A series of reports have appeared regarding the relief efforts in Sri Lanka, not all painting the same picture. We start with the most recent.)

In a sudden move, the Sri Lankan Armed Forces are manning the refugee camps in Amparai, Batticaloa and Trincomalee since Tuesday. The Special Task Force (STF) in Thirukovil, Amparai have hijacked two tractors of the Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) relief supplies and distributed them after removing the TRO labels. "The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Special Task Force (STF) have stepped up their harassment of workers of the (TRO)," Mr. K. P. Reggie, Executive Director of the TRO, told TamilNet on Wednesday. The TRO has called for an urgent Press Conference today at 6pm at its Colombo office. Goods sent to the East continue to be stopped at checkpoints and delayed, and TRO workers are being harassed in Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Amparai according to Reggie.

5. Tamil Rebels Bring Discipline to Disaster
Source

KILINOCHCHI, SRI LANKA, January 2, 2005: Veterans of a long guerrilla war, the Tamil rebels who control northern Sri Lanka moved with military precision to help victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami. The speed and efficiency of the massive humanitarian operation showed an administrative capability that underscored the rebels' demand for Tamil independence from the Sinhalese-dominated southern part of Sri Lanka. Within minutes of the disaster, soldiers of the Liberation Tigers for Tamil Eelam, or LTTE, were evacuating survivors and pulling bodies from the still-roiling water, villagers and aid workers said. In a well-practiced drill, squads set up roadblocks to control panic and prevent looting. Others requisitioned civilian vehicles to move the injured to hospitals. Many donated blood. Teams with digital cameras and laptops moved into disaster zones to photograph the faces of the dead for later identification, then swiftly cremated or buried the corpses.

Sathinathan Senthan, the village mayor of Kallappadu, said boats of the elite Sea Tigers, the LTTE naval arm which had a base at the neighboring town of Mullaitivu, arrived even as the tsunami floodwaters were receding. Other sailors arrived on bicycles, he said. "Until now, they are still there," Senthan told a reporter in the refugee camp, where he was trying to hold the grieving survivors together. Half his village of 2,200 people was killed, he said, and not a building remained standing. By the end of the first day, the first refugee centers were set up. Women in the Tigers' camouflage uniforms began registering the survivors and recording the relief items they received -- ensuring no one got more than he should. "They applied a very efficient military machine. All they had to do was give the command," said Reuben Thurairajah, a British doctor who watched the maneuver in amazement. Meanwhile, in the south, the government was struggling to cope while politicians argued over who was in charge. From the field came isolated reports of corruption and hijacking of relief trucks.

6. Sri Lanka Government and Rebels Cooperate in Disaster Relief
Source

UTHUKADY JUNCTION, SRI LANKA, January 3, 2005: The Tidal Wave Task Force headquarters here is not much to look at, but what is happening inside is extraordinary. Inside a crumbling, bullet-ridden building in rebel territory in northern Sri Lanka, low-level representatives of the country's government and Tamil Tigers rebels - mortal enemies in a brutal civil war - are sitting together and planning the distribution of relief aid to tsunami victims. In other parts of the country, ordinary government and Tamil Tiger soldiers have worked together to repair tsunami-damaged roads, according to international monitors. Checkpoint commanders on both sides have loosened rules to ease the flow of aid. And a government hospital has even accepted an injured Tamil official for treatment.

In a reaction reminiscent of the sense of unity that spread across the United States following the September 2001 terrorist attacks, large numbers of Sri Lankans appear to be spontaneously reaching across the country's festering ethnic divides and delivering donated food and aid to rival ethnic groups. "We see people strongly affected by it," said a senior Western diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity. "They think about the possibility of working together and the necessity to do so."

In the mountain town of Teldeniya in central Sri Lanka, Jayasingha, a 32-year-old businessman, was one of hundreds of people who attended a ceremony at a Buddhist temple where monks lit 15,000 oil lamps in remembrance of the dead. Sinhalese, who make up about 75 percent of the population, are generally Buddhists. Tamils, who make up roughly 18 percent of the population, are generally Hindus. Gently cradling his 11-month-old daughter in his arms, Mr. Jayasingha, a Sinhalese, said the nation's response to the crisis has shown that Sri Lankans can work cooperatively. "Muslims, Sinhalese, Tamils, they are working together everywhere with this problem," he said. "I'm hoping in the future it will be like that."

7. Elephants Sense Tsunami
Source

THAILAND, January 2, 2005: Agitated elephants felt the tsunami coming, and their sensitivity saved about a dozen foreign tourists from the fate of thousands killed by the giant waves. "I was surprised because the elephants had never cried before," mahout Dang Salangam said on Sunday on Khao Lak beach at the eight-elephant business offering rides to tourists. The elephants started trumpeting -- in a way Dang, 36, and his wife Kulada, 24, said could only be described as crying -- at first light, about the time an earthquake measured at a magnitude of 9.0 cracked open the sea bed off Indonesia's Sumatra island. The elephants soon calmed down. But they started wailing again about an hour later and this time they could not be comforted despite their mahouts' attempts at reassurance. "The elephants didn't believe the mahouts. They just kept running for the hill," said Wit Aniwat, 24, who takes the money from tourists and helps them on to the back of elephants from a sturdy wooden platform. Those with tourists aboard headed for the jungle-clad hill behind the resort beach where at least 3,800 people, more than half of them foreigners, would soon be killed. The elephants that were not working broke their hefty chains. "Then we saw the big wave coming and we started running," Wit said. Around a dozen tourists were also running towards the hill from the Khao Lak Merlin Resort, one of a line of hotels strung along the 10 km (6-mile) beach especially popular with Scandinavians and Germans. "The mahouts managed to turn the elephants to lift the tourists onto their backs," Kulada said. She used her hands to describe how the huge beasts used their trunks to pluck the foreigners from the ground and deposit them on their backs. The elephants charged up the hill through the jungle, then stopped. The tsunami drove up to 1 km (1,000 yards) inshore from the gently sloping beach which had been so safe for children it made Khao Lak an ideal place for a family holiday. But it stopped short of where the elephants stood. On Sunday, the elephants were back at work giving rides to the tourists on whom the area depends.

8. Indian Spiritual Network Now Available in the US
Press Release

EL SEGUNDO, California--One of India's two prominent and highly successful spiritual networks, AASTHA Broadcasting, has expanded its reach and now covers the USA. As of December 9, 2004, it affiliated with DIRECTV channel 2005 which gave it access to the USA. Its contents are 90% Hindu and it broadcasts 24/7. It has, in past years, grown to serve Indian communities in Europe, Africa and Australia. Its lineup features--in Hindi, Gujarati and English--spiritual discourses, religious ceremonies/events, devotional music, documentaries on places of pilgrimage, presentations on ayurveda, yoga, meditation, astrology etc. The Indian fare will be supplemented by programs originating in the USA later this year. More information at 1-800-378-4179, http://www.directv.com, http://www.aasthatv.com and http://www.aasthsansar.com

9. Book Release: Musical Instruments In Temples
Source

THANJAVUR, INDIA, December 10, 2004: More than 100 musical instruments of the stringed, wind and percussion varieties have been mentioned in the Thevaram, Divya Prabandham, Tiruppugazh, Karaikkal Ammaiyar's verses, the Kanda Puranam and other Tamil works. They are discussed in the recently released book, Alaya Vazhipattil Isaikkaruvikal by Raama Kausalya available from Minambikai Padippakam, Jatavallabhar Illam, 6/78, Tillaisthanam, Thanjavur-613203. Rs. 125 (it is not clear from this report if the book is in Tamil or English). Most of them are still being played only in temples during daily worship, festivals and processions. The percussion-cum-music instrument Gottu Vadyam is played in the Ambal temple in Avudaiyarkoil during evening worship and no other instrument is allowed to be played inside this shrine. The Veena is said to be played in the morning and late night service at the Srirangam Ranganatha temple by the descendent of a particular family which has been rendering this service for 45 generations. It may be news to many that the North Indian stringed instrument Sarangi was being played as accompaniment to Thevaram singing in temples only in the Madurai and Tirunelveli districts. No temple worship can be imagined without the ubiquitous instrument Nagaswaram, which is played according to a specific pattern from morning till night. No less than 18 instruments are played at the Tyagaraja temple in Tiruvarur. Numerous instruments, including a clarinet, were being played at the Sarvavadyam ritual at Cheyyur near Chengalpattu. Many have, however, become obsolete with the passage of time for want of funds and players.

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