South China Morning PostNEPAL, February 1, 2004: Minstrels born into the Kingdom of Nepal have been considered untouchables and relegated to the sub caste of Gandharbas. Even though the caste system was legally abolished in 1963, the Nepalese have been reluctant to accept the gandharbas into the mainstream. Playing an instrument called the sarangi, a four-stringed instrument played with a…
SourceWAILUA, KAUAI, February 7, 2004: New York Time’s reporter Michele Kayal spent two days visiting Kauai Aadheenam, home of HPI and Hinduism Today, to cover the all-granite Iraivan Temple now under construction here. Her report, available at “source” above, is excerpted below: The barefoot man from Bangalore, India, wedged a woolly coconut husk underneath a 400-pound block of stone and…
SourceKATMANDU, NEPAL, February 2, 2003: Since assuming the crown in 2001, Nepal’s King Gyanendra has experienced increased isolation reports this Asia Times article. Frustrated by ceaseless political infighting among Nepal’s elected leaders, the King sacked the government of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba 16 months ago and appointed his own administration to hold all executive powers. Gyanendra, 56, says his…
SourceMUMBAI. INDIA, February 3, 2004: The Maharashtra government has admitted to the Bombay High Court that funds from Mumbai’s Siddhivinayak temple are being diverted to a charity run by a politician. In response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), the state said that US$190,000 from the temple trust was transferred to Dada Undalkar Smarak Samiti — a trust run by…
Deccan ChronicleNEW DELHI, INDIA, February 1, 2004: At a workshop organized by the National Commission for Women, former Union minister Ram Jethmalani referred to a section of the Dowry Prohibition Act which does not consider dowry as a criminal offence, as long as it is not under any compulsion or threat. “On one hand, the number of innocent women being…
SourceMUMBAI, INDIA, February 6, 2004: This report in the Indian Express says, “It’s going to be the biggest gathering Mumbai’s seen recently: bigger than Sonia Gandhi, bigger than Bal Thackeray, and ten times bigger than the recently concluded World Social Forum (WSF). To frenetic activity — Mumbai can’t supply enough chairs so Pune is chipping in — and growing controversy,…
SourceNEW YORK, U.S.A. January 29, 2004: Proposed expansion of the Hindu Vaishnav Temple of New York brought impassioned testimonies by longtime neighborhood residents at the Community Boards Land Use Committee on Monday night. Nearly 50 devotees of the temple were also on hand for the public hearing, which was the first step in the temple’s application for a special permit…
The HinduCHERUKOLPUZHA, KERALA, February 1, 2004: The 92nd annual Hindu religious meet, organized by the Hindumatha Maha Mandalam (HMM), began on the sand-bed of the Pampa river at Cherukolpuzha, near Kozhencherry, on February 1, 2004. The vice-chairman of the Mata Amritanandamayi Math, Swami Amruthaswaroopananda Puri, who inaugurated the week-long convention, said strengthening military might or providing employment to all would…
Agence France PressePATNA, India, January 30, 2004: India’s temperamental bullion market has forced caution upon middle-class buyers ahead of the wedding season, which gets into full swing after Sunday when the astrology becomes auspicious for weddings after a long period. Last November, hundreds of thousands of nuptials held in a single week to fit into the decade’s most auspicious celestial…
SourceINDIA, February 02, 2004: Monsanto, the world’s largest genetically modified seed company, has been awarded patents on the wheat used for making chapati — the flat bread staple of northern India, reports this article. The patents give Monsanto, a US-based multinational company, exclusive ownership over Nap Hal, a strain of wheat whose gene sequence makes it particularly suited to producing…