www.bloomberg.com

NEPAL, April 8, 2008: Nepal, the world’s last remaining Hindu monarchy, votes this week in an election that may bring an end to almost 240 years of rule by the family of King Gyanendra. The three top parties contesting the April 10 ballot are campaigning to scrap the monarchy or allow it only a ceremonial role. Forty-nine percent of Nepalese support the monarchy, according to an opinion poll in January, even through Gyanendra is unpopular after the autocratic rule he imposed in 2005. “The reason is that it is woven into Nepali tradition and culture,” said Sudhindra Sharma, director of Interdisciplinary Analysts, the Kathmandu-based independent research organization that carried out the poll. “Support for the monarchy is a proxy for tradition. It is a part of national identity.”

Fifty-nine percent of Nepalese preferred the country to remain a Hindu state, according to the January poll of 3,010 respondents chosen randomly in 30 of the nation’s 75 districts. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 1.8 percentage points. Many Nepalese believe Gyanendra’s family are reincarnated Hindu gods, who created the landlocked Himalayan kingdom between India and China. About 80 percent of Nepal’s 29 million citizens are Hindu. The people dislike thecurrenty king as a result of the circumstances under which he took the throne, analyst Sudhindra Sharma said. “He eroded the sanctity” of the monarchy, he said. “There was suspicion all around.”

“It is hard to believe the king will not rule anymore,” said Jagdish Karki, an agricultural laborer on the outskirts of Kathmandu. “If other parties can rule better, and that is the reality, then it is the king’s fate.”

www.hindu.com

CHENNAI, INDIA, April 3, 2008: A new documentary attempts to shed light on one of the least researched areas of scholarship in Asian history: the many cultural and religious influences of ancient Indian civilisation on the kingdoms in South-East Asia. “Indian Imprints,” a documentary film directed by S. Krishnaswamy, which will soon be aired on Doordarshan, will feature the many legacies of a thousand years of close cultural contact between the civilizations of ancient India and South-East Asia, from monuments and temples to dance forms and literature. The documentary was filmed in over 100 locations in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Indonesia. From the first century A.D., traders from southern India visited kingdoms in these countries, leading to extensive cultural contact between kingdoms such as the Pallavas in south India and civilisations such as the Cham in south Vietnam and the Khmer Empire in modern Cambodia. “When ancient Indian civilizations went to these places, they did not go as colonizers, but made an enormous cultural and philosophical impact,” Mr. Krishnaswamy, who wrote and directed the film, said. “We have to wake up to our old values of mutual respect and tolerance.”

bja.ncjrs.gov

CHICAGO, April 7, 2008: In addition to the video on Hinduism, the Bureau of Justice Assistance in conjunction with the Chicago Police Department has produced an entire set called “Diversity Series: Religions, Cultures and Communities.” The DVD series explores some of the many religions and cultures with which law enforcement officials come into contact. Each video clip offers tips on working with people of different faiths and backgrounds, including suggestions for inoffensive law enforcement techniques. The religous videos include a general one on diversity, Sikhism, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam and Eastern Orthodox, in addition to Hinduism. There are additional videos on “culture” including East Asian, South Asian, Mexican and Central and South American.

www.hinduismtoday.com

You may develop a thousand virtues and be reckoned as the greatest in the land. But the lotus of your heart will not blossom until you receive the grace of the Guru, the grace of God!
Dada Sadhu Vaswani