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…
www.hinduonnet.com SABARIMALA, INDIA, January 14, 2008: Thousands of devotees on Monday evening witnessed the “Makara Jyothi” — a celestial light on the eastern horizon — marking the finale of the pilgrimage season of the hill shrine of Sabarimala, which witnessed a record turnout of 32.5 million pilgrims this season. The chant of “Swami…Saranam…Ayyappa” rent the air as the holy light…
www.dnaindia.com NEW DELHI, INDIA, January 13, 2008: New Delhi’s community of seven hundred thousand Tamils are gearing up to celebrate the harvest festival of Pongal with literary programs, mass prayers and music concerts. The week-long celebrations will also include preparing ethnic delicacies and drawing the “kolam” in the house. “Thai Pongal”, as it is popularly called in Tamil Nadu, is…
www.centralchronicle.com BHOPAL, INDIA, January 12, 2008: Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan has announced that Yoga will be part of school education from next academic year. He was speaking at the state level “Surya Namaksar” event organised by the School Education Department at the TT Nagar stadium today. The Chief Minister joined the students in performing Suryanamaskar and…
www.hinduamericanfoundation.org BEIJING, CHINA, January 13, 2008: Impressed by the enthusiasm shown by Chinese youngsters to learn Hindi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday announced a grant of 7.5 millions to the Institute of Indian Studies at the prestigious Peking University. The Institute of Indian Studies of Beijing has been active for a long time in promoting Indian culture and languages…
www.hindusangam.org.my KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA, January 12, 2008: (HPI note: this is the summary of an interview given by Malaysia Hindu Sangam’s President, Datuk A. Vaithilingam.) “Practicing Hinduism, or any other faith for that matter, is no problem in Malaysia. I don’t see it being a problem now and also in the future. Despite the differences in our belief system, Malaysians…
www.hinduonnet.com SABARIMALA, INDIA, USA, January 13, 2008: Security has been stepped up at Sabarimala two days ahead of the Makaravilakku, marking the finale of the pilgrimage season as devotees in thousands kept thronging the hill-shrine of Lord Ayyappa. About 3000 police personnel have been deployed around the temple complex with high-tech equipment to keep a close watch on the uninterrupted…
www.hinduamericanfoundation.org KENSINGTON, MARYLAND, USA, January 12, 2008: The Hindu American Foundation is seeking information about online and correspondence courses on Hinduism from accredited institutions. This will be used in evaluating potential educational curriculum for upcoming projects from the foundation. Please e-mail the course name and curriculum as well as contact information to HAF Working Group member Arvind Chandrakantan, chandrakantan@gmail.com.
indiamediabias@gmail.com NEW DELHI, INDIA, January 10, 2008: Swami Lakshmananda Saraswati, Hindu leader of Orissa, was attacked in his car on December 24th by a group of locals who allegedly were religious extremists. Lakshmananda has been leading an anti-conversion movement in the area and several clashes followed his hospitalization. What follows is an interview where Swami explains his view of the…
www.hinduonnet.com CHENNAI, INDIA, January 11, 2008: A four-day international symposium on “Tamil as a Classical Language” will be held in Chennai from January 17, which will deliberate on topics like translation of Tamil classics into Dravidian, Asian and European languages. Jointly organized by the Mysore-based Center for Excellence of Classical Tamil (CECT) and the Institute of Asian Studies (IAS), the…