TAMIL NADU, INDIA, May 26, 2025 (The Commune): In a significant setback for the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department, the Supreme Court of India has rejected its Special Leave Petition, effectively upholding a pivotal ruling by the First Bench of the Madras High Court. This judgment puts a firm stop to the construction of commercial complexes…
WASHINGTON, D.C., May 26, 2025 (India West): In a landmark moment for religious diversity and spiritual representation in the U.S. Armed Forces, Pandit Shyam Maharaj has been appointed as a full-time active-duty Hindu chaplain in the United States Army. Commissioned on May 13, Maharaj became only the second Hindu chaplain in U.S. military history—an appointment hailed as a pivotal step…
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, May 21, 2025 (India West): Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and the David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace have agreed to a $2.6 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit alleging that high school students were compelled to engage in Hindu-rooted Transcendental Meditation (TM) practices without parental consent or full transparency. The late David Lynch is the…
INDIA May 19, 2025 (The Hindu): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee inaugurated the Jagannath Dham at Digha on April 30, kicking up a controversy with the Odisha government, currently run by the BJP. On April 28, Bankim Mishra travelled about 155 miles from Chhatna in West Bengal’s Bankura district to Digha in Purba Medinipur, carrying 3,003 lotus flowers and…
CONCORD, CALIFORNIA, May 14, 2025 (YouTube): There are hundreds of Hindu temples in America today thanks to the growing Indian population here. The first temple to be built was in San Francisco, California in 1959 by Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami. The Tamil tradition temple was later moved to Concord, CA in 1987 and operated in a church building there. Even though…
MADURAI, INDIA, May 9, 2025 (The HIndu): Thousands of devotees descended on the four Masi streets in Madurai to witness the Therottam (grand car festival) of Sri Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple on the penultimate day of the annual Chithirai festival on Friday. Ahead of the temple car procession, the Deities — Goddess Meenakshi, Lord Sundareswarar and Goddess Piriyavidai — were brought…
MUMBAI, INDIA, May 9, 2025 (freepressjournal.in) The Siddhivinayak temple in Prabhadevi has announced a ban on coconuts and prasad inside the temple premises from Sunday. Mumbai’s most visited Hindu shrine, dedicated to Lord Ganesh, said that the step was taken as a safety precaution because coconuts can be used to conceal explosives. Sada Sarvankar, chairman of the temple trust and…
INDIA, May 3, 2025 (The Hindu): The portals of Himalayan temple Kedarnath were opened on Friday (May 2, 2025), with more than 12,000 pilgrims attending the ceremony. The gates of the temple located at a height of more than 11,000 ft were opened at 7am, Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee (BKTC) officials said. The Himalayan temple was adorned with 10,800 kilos of…
INDIA, May 2, 2025 (Indian Express): Servitors of the Jagannath Temple in Puri have warned members of their community against participating in any rituals that are held at a new replica of the 12th century shrine that was opened by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the seaside town of Digha on Akshaya Tritiya. Several culture researchers and senior…
VIETNAM, May 29, 2020 (Swarajya): A monolithic sandstone Shivalinga from the 9th century CE was excavated by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) at My Son in central Vietnam. The Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar congratulated the ASI on the discovery and applauded its ongoing conservation project at the Cham Temple complex. He also said that the project was “reaffirming…
