SourceHYDERABAD, INDIA, March 4, 2004: The Vedic Friends Association Northeast India recently toured the area to “Give talks on encouraging people to preserve their culture and resist the pressure from Christian groups to give up their own traditions and convert to Christianity.” The trip began with a seminar in Hyderabad called “Global Hinduism in the New Millennium.” Hosted by Swami…
SourceKUPGAL HILL, INDIA, March 19, 2004: A rock art site dating back to the Neolithic or late Stone Age has been rediscovered in southern India. There is evidence that the site was first found in 1892 but the exact location was lost to future archaeologists. The Kupgal Hill site, according to the article, has boulders which have small, groove-like impressions…
SourcePRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA, March 15, 2004: Proud parents, teachers and well-wishers of the only full-time Hindu school in South Africa have honored its first batch of matriculates. Ramesh Chhagan, Chairman of the Pretoria Hindu School (PHS) board, said the function was held not only to vindicate the establishment of the school in 1997 — with just the first three grades…
SourceMUMBAI, INDIA, March 13, 2004: International media coverage and the celebrities descending on the 2001 Kumbh Mela in Allahabad for their holy dip marked a new opportunity for religious travel tours. Religious tourism, until lately the domain of small-time tour operators, is fast turning into a lucrative market for travel companies. A visit to Vaishnodevi, for example, which attracts more…
SourceSOUTH PLAINFIELD, U.S.A. March 13, 2004: The borough Zoning Board has voted unanimously to block the proposed construction of a Hindu temple in New Jersey. The International Swaminarayan Satsang Organization wanted to build a one-story, 14,000-square-foot temple on a 6.7-acre tract zoned for light-industrial use. “The congestion and traffic would be a detriment to the safety and welfare of the…
SourceKAUAI, HAWAII, March 15, 2004: Hinduism Today is inviting essays from Hindu teens and young adults (ages 13 to 25) on the subject of racial identity for the young Hindu-American of Indian ancestry. This touchy subject was explained to us some years back by a young Indian student. Students in his school were divided socially mainly along racial and ethnic…
SourceNEW YORK, U.S.A., March 14, 2004: Tens of thousands of people turned Liberty Avenue in Queens, New York, into a festival of color and music in celebration of Phagwah. People lined the avenue to watch the annual Phagwah Parade, which has been organized by religious leaders in the Queens Guyanese community for more than 10 years. As they watched floats…
SourceNEW YORK,U.S.A, March 13, 2004: As interior design gurus go, Kathleen Cox is no Martha Stewart. But she has organized her living space according to Vastu, the ancient Indian science of architecture. Vastu is the science of design of buildings, living spaces, towns and temples followed in India for thousands of years. Now it has made its way into the…
SourceLONDON, ENGLAND, March 14, 2004: Utter confusion was caused about the faith and identity of the two people of Indian extraction who were detained in Madrid by Spanish police following the receipt of a videotape purportedly from Al-Qaeda claiming responsibility for the massacre of 200 train commuter in Madrid. The two were identified as “Hindues,” but it turns out that…
SourceLONDON, ENGLAND, March 17, 2004: HPI was interested to learn that the history of Britain contains a controversy very much like that of the “Aryan Invasion” theory in India’s history. The Aryan Invasion theory claims that tribes from Asia entered India about 1500 bce and brought with them the Vedas, Sanskrit and many aspects of what came to be Indian…