kkayan@hotmail.com SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, September 24, 2006: Sri Venkateswara Temple, Helensburg, Australia, about 50kms south of Sydney has been celebrating Ganesha Visarjana since 1991. This year the festival, celebrated on September 3, brought over 4,000 people from near and far (“near” by Australian standards is a radius of 500kms). In Sydney, the observance was started in 1996 by a small group…
www.hinduismtoday.com KAUAI, HAWAII, September 25, 2006: Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami, publisher of Hinduism Today, gave the September 15th plenary session address on “Religion and Media” to the World Religions After 9/11 world Congress at the Palais des congres, Montreal, Canada. The Hawaii-based Satguru’s highly illustrated Keynote presentation is now available as an on-line movie at URL above. It was well received…
www.ibnlive.com JAIPUR, INDIA, September 24, 2006: The Jain practice of Santhara or fasting with the intent of dying has been challenged in the Rajasthan High Court. A petitioner has equated the practice with suicide and mercy killing, setting off a debate on the age-old religious practice. “When people on hunger strike are booked by the police, why under the shelter…
www.hindu.com MYSORE, INDIA, September 24, 2006: Dasara festivities began in this historic city on Saturday, with the lighting of the traditional lamp and a special puja to Goddess Chamumdeshwari, the main Deity, atop Chamundi hills. Continuing the traditional link, Mr. Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wodeyar, of the Mysore royal family, began the festivities by performing a puja inside the palace. The entire…
paras_ramoutar@yahoo.com PORT OF SPAIN, TRINIDAD, September 23, 2006: “The Hindu Thought Contribution to World Thought and Culture” is the theme for the twentieth edition of the annual Divali Nagar, set for October 12 – 20, 2006. Richard Ramlakhansingh, manager, said in an interview that “Divali Nagar is the gravitational centre in Trinidad for the annual celebration of Divali Festival of…
www.ascribe.org ROCHESTER, N.Y., September 19, 2006: Scientists are using modern imaging technologies to digitally restore a 700-year-old palm-leaf manuscript. The project led by P.R. Mukund and Roger Easton, professors at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), will digitally preserve the original Hindu writings known as the Sarvamoola granthas attributed to scholar Shri Madvacharya (1238-1317). The collection of 36 works contains commentaries…
www.business-standard.com MUMBAI, INDIA, September 24, 2006: The rising number of Muslim terrorist strikes has not dampened the festive spirit for Navaratri in Mumbai, Durga Puja in Kolkata and Ramleela in New Delhi. However, efforts to buy anti-terror insurance for these public celebrations are turning into a futile exercise. General insurers are wary of underwriting terror risk insurance for such events…
www.hindu.com NEW DELHI, INDIA, September 23, 2006: Hundreds of artisans from West Bengal who have been camping at Chittaranjan Park in South Delhi for the past three months are now giving finishing touches to Deities of various Goddesses for the festivities that are due to start September 28. While the smaller Deities are being brought by various Puja samitis from…
www.ndtv.com JAMMU, INDIA, September 23, 2006: Katra is all spruced up and ready for the Navratara festival. Hundreds of pilgrims have already begun making their way to Katra with an average of 30,000 pilgrims coming to Vaishno Devi temple here every day. Hotels in Katra are offering up to 50 per cent discounts during this period. “We want that the…
www.ndtv.com NEW DELHI, INDIA, September 23, 2006: The traditional Gujarati folk dance where dancers form two circles, moving clockwise and counter-clockwise, holding dandiyas (two sticks) and strike them against their traveling partner’s pair has become wildly popular outside of Gujarat. This Navaratri dance celebration has invaded India’s capital where people have committed themselves to learning the dance correctly. Gearing up…