www.ddinews.gov.in NEW DELHI, INDIA, January 19, 2008: The Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, a traditional circumambulation of the sacred Mount Kailas, this year will be more costly. As Kumaon Mandal Viakash Nigam, the agency running the Yatra, has increased the charges from Rs 15,500 to 19,000 per pilgrim this year, its Divisional Manager G.N. Pandey said. The government of India approved the…
in.reuters.com BANGALORE, INDIA, January 18, 2008: A Hindu monk who ignored a taboo against travelling abroad was anointed on Friday as the head priest of a popular temple in the pilgrim town of Udipi in Karnataka, despite opposition by conservative religious leaders. Sugunendra Teertha had travelled to the United States and Europe to promote Hinduism. This upset some orthodox Brahmins…
www.hindu.com COIMBATORE, INDIA, January 19, 2008: Mata Amritanandamayi Devi arrived in Coimbatore on Thursday, to attend the Brahmasthanam Temple festival organised on January 18 and 19 at Nallampalayam. According to a press release, the two-day program will include satsang, bhajans, meditation and darshan, for the benefit of Mata’s devotees. Pujas, Special pujas (Lalita Sahasranama) to mitigate the influences of Rahu…
www.nytimes.com KUANTAN, MALAYSIA, January 19, 2008: Rising prices for cooking oil are forcing some residents of Mumbai, India, to ration every drop. Bakeries in the United States are fretting over higher shortening costs. And here in Malaysia, brand-new factories built to convert vegetable oil into diesel sit idle, their owners unable to afford the raw material. This is the other…
www.economist.com LONDON, UK, January 17, 2008: “What does a moral person do, given all the problems and suffering in the world? How do you focus?” Larry Brilliant illustrates how difficult this is by recalling a friend’s struggle to decide how best to allocate a few rupees among the beggars waiting to die in the Hindu sacred city of Benares, in…
www.hindu-blog.com NEW DELHI, INDIA, January 17, 2008: NDTV Imagine Channel will be featuring a Ramayana serial based on Valmiki’s Ramayana and Tulsidas’ Ramcharitmanas. The new Ramayana will air starting from January 21, 2008. Announcing the launch of the show, Mr. Sameer Nair, CEO, NDTV Imagine said, “Ramayana is a tale for every generation. It is multi-layered, multi-faceted, multi-dimensional… and this…
www.religionnews.com NEW YORK, USA, January 15, 2008: Financial news powerhouse Dow Jones & Company has launched new “dharma indexes” to track the stocks of companies that observe the values of dharma-based religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism. The Dow Jones Dharma Indexes are the first to measure dharma-compliant stocks and now track more than 3,400 companies globally, including about 1,000…
www.hinduonnet.com NEW DELHI, INDIA, January 17, 2008: With an eye on its “primary source market”, Sri Lanka Tourism officials have identified 50 sites associated with the Hindu epic Ramayana to attract more pilgrim travellers from India to the island nation. “Following the Trail of Ramayana” is a touristic circuit based on research findings that link the sites to Lord Ram,…
www.eldia.es TENERIFE, CANARY ISLANDS, December 15, 2007: A tropical enclave in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Morroco, the Canaries are an African archipelago forming an autonomous community of the Kingdom of Spain. Its seven volcanic islands host what is proportionally the greatest Hindu population in Spain, according to Gope Bhagwandas Mahtani, Consul-General of India. “We came slowly,” explains…
www.hinduonnet.com ALLAHABAD, INDIA, January 14, 2008: As the Ardh-Mela (half-Mela) festival approaches, arrangements have been made by the government to ensure the safety of the thousands expected to pilgrimage to Allahabad for this holy event. The Mela will begin with the Makar Sankranti bathing on January 15. The Mela administration is expecting a congregation of five hundred thousand devotees bathing…