SourceDEHRADUN, INDIA, February 14, 2005: The holy Badrinath shrine situated in the foothills of Himalayas will reopen for pilgrimage on May 13 after a winter recess of about six months. The decision to open the portals of the famous temple, considered one of the four most important pilgrimage centers in North India, was taken by a religious committee. The shrine,…
SourceNEW DELHI, February 12, 2005: The Indian diaspora cares more for Indian culture than the Indians “migrating” to higher income groups, Minister for Information and Broadcasting and Culture S. Jaipal Reddy said here. The 20-million strong Indian diaspora, scattered over 110 countries, is one of the most diverse and successful in the world, said Reddy. He was speaking Friday evening…
SourceNEW DELHI, INDIA, February 13, 2005: HPI note: We found this article in the Daily Pioneer quite interesting. We do not understand, however, why Dr. Arya says the Dwarpara Yuga follows the Kali Yuga. Our understanding is that the Sat Yuga follows the Kali Yuga. Hinduism Today’s founder, Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, also believed we had started to enter the Sat…
SourceICELAND, April 2003: In March of 2003, Iceland’s government passed a new law called the Children’s Act which calls for “The total abolition of corporal punishment of children by making it unlawful in the home.” Article 28 of the new Act states: “It is the parents’ obligation to protect their child against any physical or mental violence and other degrading…
The Nation (Thailand)BANGKOK, THAILAND, January 23, 2005: Hindus in Thailand honor Lord Siva every January in a grand festival called the Swing Festival. The origin of the festival dates back to a time when King Rama I orchestrated the celebration on the public grounds in Bangkok framed by Wat Suthat and the Brahmin temple Thewa Sathaan. During the reign of…
SourceDELHI, INDIA, February 11, 2005: Archaeologists say they have discovered some stone remains from the coast close to India’s famous beach front Mahabalipuram temple in Tamil Nadu state following the December 26 tsunami. They believe that the “structures” could be the remains of an ancient and once-flourishing port city in the area housing the famous 1,200-year-old rock-hewn temple. Three pieces…
SourceKALMNAI, SRI LANKA, February 10, 2005: Patrick Harrigan of the Living Heritage Trust in Sri Lanka is offering a novel way to assist a number of orphanages in Sri Lanka impacted by the tsunami. He writes, “Our Sri Lankan NGO the Living Heritage Trust has undertaken, among other disaster relief projects, one that aims to connect donors with particular orphanages…
SourceNEW ZEALAND, February 12, 2005: United States experts have used computer models to show that the 45.52 carat Hope diamond was cut from a larger diamond that had been in the possession of the French authorities and was known as the French Blue. “The evidence very much supports the theory that it was cut from the French Blue diamond,” said…
SourceCHENNAI, INDIA, February 11, 2005: It was a day of one legal reprieve after another, for the two Kanchi Shankaracharyas, Jayendra Saraswati and Vijayendra Saraswati today. While the junior seer walked out of the Chennai Central Prison on conditional bail, the senior acharya got anticipatory bail in another case. Vijayendra Saraswati was released a month after his controversial arrest at…
SourceCHENNAI, INDIA, February 10, 2005: From African-Indian music to songs by a London-based group of Indian Baghdadi Jews, the three-day music concert “Remembered Rhythms” aspires to give a taste of diaspora music to Chennai. Organized by the American Institute of Indian studies and Archives and Research Centre for Ethnomusicology, Chennai, the versatile concert will be held Friday, Tuesday and Thursday,…