SourceTAMIL NADU, INDIA, January 2, 2005: Imagine belonging to a tradition that can trace its ancestry back 600 years. Mr. Mohanraj Stapathi, chief architect of the renowned Thanjavur Big Temple, can do just that. Mr. Mohanraj and his two sons, Karunanidhi and Kuberan, run a sculpting idol workshop in Swamimalai, Tamil Nadu, where they employ 20 men and 2 women…
SourceBANGALORE, INDIA, January 24, 2005: A three-day faith show by American evangelist Benny Hinn has left behind a trail of controversies. With the Karnataka government providing the logistics support for the Festival of Blessings that concluded here Sunday night, the high-tech show attracted nearly a million people from all over India and abroad. Though massive protests, a 12-hour shutdown and…
SourceNEW DELHI, INDIA, January 28, 2005: Rock star Sting has declared himself something of a Hindu and an addict of India, in an e-mail interview, ahead of two concerts. Gordon Sumner, aka “Sting,” who performs for tsunami relief on February 4 at Bangalore and February 6 in New Delhi, said that he loves the country. “In a sense I am…
SourceMUMBAI, INDIA, January 25, 2005: Over 300 people have been killed in a stampede near Satara in Maharashtra. The stampede took place in the town of Wai during a religious procession. More than 500,000 pilgrims had begun a march up to the Mandhara Devi temple in the hills near the town of Wai in Satara district. The narrow entrance of…
SourcePUNE, INDIA, January 26, 2005: Volunteers and police today continued to search for bodies at Mandhradevi Hills in Maharashtra, where about 300 people were killed in a stampede yesterday. A highly placed police source in Satara told The Hindu over telephone that the total number of policemen on duty to manage more than 500,000 devotees was just over 200. The…
SourceGUYANA, SOUTH AMERICA, January 27, 2005: Swamini Mayatitananda Saraswati, or Mother Maya, formerly Maya Tiwari, calls for help for victims of extraordinary flooding in her home country of Guyana, which is 35% Hindu. Click “source” above to see how you can help. According to a press report, “The U.S. government is rushing relief supplies to Guyana, the U.S. ambassador said…
SourceNEWTOWN, FIJI, January 27, 2005: A Hindu temple located at Salato Circle in Newtown, Nasinu, was broken into for the fifth time in as many years early Thursday morning. The trustee of Shree Ram Krishna Mandir, Ramen Singh, said the break-in occurred at around midnight with thieves getting away with $2000 worth of musical instruments and other valuable items. He…
SourceNAGAPATTINAM, INDIA, January 24, 2005: When I entered one of the rows of temporary shelters built for tsunami victims in Pattancherry village in Nagapattinam (writes Rediff reporter Shobha Warrier) I witnessed a minor scuffle in a corner. Some inmates had surrounded a Christian priest and two nuns, and a war of words was going on. “We are Hindus and we…
SourceTULSA, OKLAHOMA, January 27, 2005: The Hindu Temple of Greater Tulsa is celebrating the Pranpratishtha (consecration) of the Deities in the temple in June, 2005. On this occasion they will publish an authoritative book on Hinduism. Potential authors for this edited book are invited. Please send your MSS or any related question to Dr. Pramode Verma at pverma@ou.edu. Additional details…
SourceBHUBANESWAR, INDIA, January 19, 2005: A sacred metal wheel at the 12th century Jagannath temple in Orissa is safe, experts have said after examining it with the help of sophisticated equipment. Experts from the National Metallurgical Laboratory (NML) and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) spent three hours examining the wheel on the top of the temple in the coastal…