SourceNEW DELHI, INDIA, September 16, 2004: Advent of technology and modernization may have changed the face of almost everything including the festivities but there is a small group of people keeping alive the traditional way of celebrating the victory of good over evil. A handful of artists, called the Ravana Makers, are working overnight on the pavements near the band…
SourceCHENNAI, INDIA, September 13, 2004: With five days to go for the Ganesh Utsav, the question on everyone’s lips here is should Pillaiyar, as the popular Hindu God is known in Tamil, be made only of clay or also plaster of Paris? The problem lies in an interim order of a Madras High Court division bench, which last week prohibited…
SourceTIRUVARUR, INDIA, September 14, 2004: A total of 3,450 temples in the State have been renovated and kumbabishekam performed in the last three years, P.C. Ramasamy, Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Minister, has said. A sum of US$3.5 million had been allotted for renovating 6,000 small temples in Adi Dravida colonies this year. Annadhanam (free feeding) was being implemented in…
SourceINDIA, September 14, 2004: Eminent Sanskrit scholar Govind Chandra Pande has been awarded the 2003 Saraswati Samman by the K.K. Birla Foundation. It was another laurel for the eminent scholar and another reminder to everyone about the pressing need to “revive” the Sanskrit language. But Professor Govind Chandra Pande holds a slightly different view of the ongoing “demise” of the…
Religion News ServiceWASHINGTON, D.C., September 15, 2004: The U.S. State Department on Wednesday (Sept. 15) for the first time included Saudi Arabia on a list of eight “countries of particular concern” for not allowing religious freedom, a potential stumbling block for relations between the United States and its Persian Gulf ally. The department’s sixth annual report on international religious freedom…
HPIKAUAI, HAWAII, September 16, 2004: HPI reader patrick Beherec writes: “I noticed a minor error in the 15 September issue. The Zenit news organization is Catholic and tends to agree with the Pope, however it is not the ‘official’ news agency of the Vatican. That is the Vatican Information Service and the Bulletin of the Holy See Press Office.”
SourceMUMBAI, INDIA, September 12, 2004: Keen on reducing water pollution due to immersion of Ganesh icons in sea/river waters, a city-based religious trust has embarked on a novel project to spread awareness about “environment-friendly” Ganesh icon. Instead of icons made of Plaster of Paris, which offer longevity and convenience but are the very material contributing to the pollution – the…
SourceBANGKOK, THAILAND, September 12, 2004: The Thai government says it is writing a book on national etiquette to try to tackle the problem of culturally insensitive foreigners. It was prompted to act after posters for a US film picturing a man sitting on the head of a Buddha statue caused public outrage. Thailand is an overwhelmingly Buddhist country, and disrespecting…
SourceARGENTINA, September 15, 2004: The Universidad Abierta Interamericana offers courses on several levels, including for medical professionals. Click “source” to visit their Spanish-language website.
SourceVATICAN, September 12, 2004: (HPI note: This report is from the Vatican’s official news agency, Zenit.) The arrest of a member of the nationalist Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party for the Aug. 28 murder of a priest hasn’t satisfied Church officials who suspect a cover-up. Father Job Chittilappilly, who for 45 years carried out his pastoral work in the Catholic community…