SourceGANDHINAGAR, INDIA, February 6, 2004: Hectic preparations are underway at the Akshardham temple for a colourful function to be held there on Sunday, February 7, where President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam will interact with 20,000 children from different parts of the world. The President will attend the two-hour-long Balotsav (children’s festival) between 5.30 pm and 7.30 pm during which…
SourceKUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA, February 6, 2004: More than a million people swarmed Batu Caves and numerous other Hindu temples nationwide to do penance and seek blessings from Lord Murugan during Thaipusam yesterday. Among the worshippers who climbed the temple’s 272 steps to offer prayers amidst shouts of “Vel! Vel!” were many local and foreign tourists who came to witness the…
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…
www.nzherals.co.nzAUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND, February 1, 2004: A student interested in Ayurvedic medicine now has an option of studying the ancient science of India in New Zealand. Wellpark College, a NZQA-registered tertiary institution, offers a three-year diploma course. Dr. Sebastiano De Mel, an ayurvedic practitioner in Auckland, says, “Outside India and Sri Lanka the Wellpark College diploma is the most comprehensive…
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…
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,…
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…