abcnews.go.com VARANASI, INDIA, March 8, 2006: India’s ancient holy city of Varanasi shut down on Wednesday in a protest against bomb blasts in a Hindu temple and a railway station which killed 15 people, but there were no reports of any sectarian backlash. Armed police mounted a strict vigil during the shut down, called by Hindu groups after Varanasi, one…
Hinduism Today SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA, March 9, 2006: The California State Board of Education approved a few additional changes to the proposed textbooks for social studies at the conclusion of its meeting today. They took public testimony on a proposed slate of change, or “edits,” which was the result of a committee meeting of February 27 (see HPI, here for the…
www.sikhpioneers.org CALIFORNIA, March 9, 2006: HPI note: At “source” is a series of articles on the “Mexican Hindus” (Sikhs actually) who migrated to California around 1907 and settled around Yuba City, producing the area’s first rice crop in 1911. The immigrants faced fierce racism, including laws preventing them from owning land. Immigration laws were then changed to prevent further immigration,…
www.dailypioneer.com VARANASI, INDIA, March 8, 2006: A deathly silence descended on this holy town as temple bells fell silent and people rushed home after a series of bomb blasts on Tuesday evening left at least 20 people dead and more than a hundred injured, many of whom are battling for their lives. Seven bombs were later defused, including four that…
www.cbc.ca VARANASI, INDIA, March 8, 2006: Security forces deployed to holy sites across India on Wednesday after terrorist bombings killed 20 people in Hinduism’s holiest city, sparking anger among its residents and worry about possible widespread sectarian violence. A mob of angry Hindus briefly blocked the motorcade of Mulayam Singh Yadav, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh state, when he…
www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk ENGLAND, March 4, 2006: More than 30 funerals a week are being carried out on the River Soar after it was blessed with water from the sacred Ganges. Families from America, Italy, Germany and France are now coming to Barrow-upon-Soar for the ritual scattering of ashes of loved ones. The practice is traditional for Hindus, Sikhs and Jains who…
www.c-n.com MILLSTONE, NEW JERSEY, February 22, 2006: Millstone Borough may seem like an unlikely destination for worshippers of a 19th century Indian saint. The historic town, settled in 1690, contains buildings older than the Declaration of Independence, hosted General George Washington and was the setting of several Revolutionary War skirmishes. With less than 500 residents and smaller than a square…
Weekend MAURITIUS, February 26, 2006: A 108-feet-murthi of Lord Siva, in standing posture, has been consecrated at Ganga Talao, the Hindu sacred lake at Grand Bassin in Mauritius. Built by Indian artisans, this Deity now overlooks the whole sacred lake, a traditional place of pilgrimage on Maha Sivaratree every year that draws thousands of devotees. The consecration ceremony was organized…
www.archaeologyonline.net USA, March 3, 2006: This website (“source”) by David Osborn is informative and well illustrated. It says in the introduction, “A vast number of statements and materials presented in the ancient Vedic literatures can be shown to agree with modern scientific findings, and they also reveal a highly developed scientific content in these literatures. The great cultural wealth of…
jurist.law.pitt.edu CANADA, March 2, 2006: (HPI note: This decision would also impact other displays of religious symbols in Canadian schools, such as bindis.) The Supreme Court of Canada on Thursday unanimously overturned a Quebec school board’s ban on carrying Sikh ceremonial daggers at school, ruling that it infringed students’ religious freedom under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Gurbaj…