SourceKUALA LUMPAR, MALAYSIA, January 14, 2004: The Hindu community has been celebrating Thai Pongal, also known as the Harvest festival, for over 5,000 years. Festival popularity has resulted in business for those catering to the festival. Traders sell milk, cashew nuts, raisins and honey to devotees who prepare to give thanks to the Sun for a good harvest. The tradition…
SourceRAWANG, MALAYSIA, January 16, 2004: Sweet success was spelt on the lips of all the participants in the People’s Pongal festival at Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Tamil Rawang in Malaysia on January 15. The participants filled 1,001 earthen pots with freshly-cooked sweet Pongal rice. More importantly, their very presence tripled the size of last year’s Malaysia Book of Records entry for…
By Paras RamoutarTRINIDAD, January 16, 2004: The 20th anniversary of, “Mantra of the Year” (MOTY), will be celebrated on Saturday, January 17, at 7 p.m., at the Hindu Prachar Kendra Mandir, Ragoonanan Road, Central Trinidad. Gita Ramsingh, coordinator of the programme, pointed out this year marks the 20th anniversary, “since the inception of this major religious initiative instituted by Raviji.”…
SourceWEST LANTANA, FLORIDA, January 15, 2004: Leila Persaud, a retired teacher who lives in a gated community (a subdivision of homes where access to the roads is allowed only for residents, who pass through a locked gate) of West Lantana in Florida said she faces fines and a trip to court if she continues to fly a jhandi (brightly colored…
SourceJAIPUR, INDIA, January 13, 2004: Activists participating in a national Dalit Swadhikar rally were denied entry into the famous Shrinath temple in Nathdwara, despite a 15-year-old judgment of the Rajasthan High Court directing the State Government to ensure unhindered access for Dalits to the temple. The rally, organised by the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights, started from four different…
Paras RamoutarTRINIDAD, January 13, 2004: Some 1008 havan kurns (receptacles to offer sacred fire) will be the highlight of this year’s third annual Hindu Makara Sankraanti ceremony set for Sunday, January 18, at the Dattatreya Yoga Center, Orangefield Road, Carapichaima. Thousands of devout Hindus are expected to attend the program organized by Pundit Munelal Maharaj and Pundit Randir B. Maharaj…
SourceIRAQ, January 13, 2004: The Art of Living foundation of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is bringing yoga, meditation and breathing exercises to try to soothe a people rattled by war and continuing violence. The Bangalore-based foundation whose goal is to “eliminate stress, create a sense of belonging and restore human values” has added Iraq to its 140 countries of operation.…
SourceMUMBAI, INDIA, January 14, 2004: It is pitched as the most expensive train ever to run on the Indian railway tracks. After the formal flagging off ceremony by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on January 16, The Deccan Odyssey (DO), dubbed as the “five star hotel on rails,” will traverse a distance of 2,200 kilometers covering the Konkan Coast, the…
SourceBHOPAL, INDIA, January 14, 2004: Incensed by the rape and murder of a nine-year-old on a Catholic Mission School campus in Jhabua last night, a mob of VHP activists today forced their way into the campus, pelted stones and attacked the priests there, according to this report. The mob was protesting the rape and murder of a nine-year-old who was…
SourceNEW DELHI, INDIA, January 11, 2004: Starting Friday in Bombay, Hinduism’s centuries-old social hierarchy will be the focus for thousands of global activists. The World Social Forum, an annual convention of the anti-globalization movement being held in Asia for the first time, will focus on caste as one of five main themes for its panels and protests. Gautam Mody, a…