SourceJHABUA, INDIA, January 29, 2004: Jhabua district has one of the highest tribal population with 86 percent tribals. The root cause of communal violence in the region is conversion. With hundreds of tribals belonging to the Bhil community being converted, first to Christianity, and then to Hinduism, the culture of the largest adivasi group in the country is going through…
SourceNEW DELHI, INDIA, February 6, 2004: Upon entering any business establishment in India, the words “Shubh Laabh” are inscribed at the entrance. Two days before Deepavali, the words are also written on any new cash ledger books to sanctify them. So what do the two words mean? “Laabh” means profit or accrual and is the reason businesses are formed in…
SourceSYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, February 2, 2004: Nearly 5,000 Hindus from around the world participated in a ceremony to bless the newly-built rajagopurams, or towers, of the Sri Venkateswara Temple at Helensburgh, Australia, yesterday. The complex is the largest Hindu temple in the southern hemisphere. Nat Iyer, a founding member of the Sri Venkateswara Temple Association, said the three towers symbolize the…
SourceLONDON, U.K., February 5, 2004: A major controversy has erupted after UNICEF’s UK branch printed a diary ignoring Hindu and Sikh religious festivals while listing religious festivals from Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Buddhism. Swami Nathan from the World Hindu Mahasangam explained, “I wrote to them three years in a row. …. They have not responded to any of my letters.”…
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,…