GO TO SOURCE KALICOT, INDIA, March 29, 2003: The 148-year-old throne of Goddess Kali at the Dakshineswar temple, where both Ramakrishna and Vivekananda meditated for hours, will be replaced by a new one on Saturday. The new 10-foot-high throne will replace the old wooden structure encased in silver. Kusal Chowdhury, secretary of Dakshineswar Kali Temple and Debottar Estate said, “Devotees…
GO TO SOURCE NEW DELHI, INDIA, March 24, 2003: When an Islamic insurgency began in Indian Kashmir in 1989, the area’s Hindus became the prime target. Muslim terrorists directed a campaign of assassinations and intimidation against Kashmiri Pandits, as the area’s Hindu brahmins are known, and most of them were forced out of Kashmir. Eleven families stayed on in the…
GO TO SOURCE GANDHINAGAR, INDIA, March 26, 2003: The Gujarat Freedom of Religion Bill, 2003, passed in the state assembly on Wednesday. It states anyone found converting a person from one religion to another “by force or any fraudulent means” can be fined up to US$2,000 or face up to three year’s imprisonment. The imprisonment period would be four years…
GO TO SOURCE NEW DELHI, INDIA, March 25, 2003: The scientific community has rejected the Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s proposal to include eggs as part of their midday meal in the capital. They say eggs have few nutritional benefits and even the protein content in wheat flour is almost the same. All eggs do, they say, is add to the…
GO TO SOURCE CLAYTON, U.S.A., March 25, 2003: Two 17-year-old boys are charged with firebombing attacks at a Hindu temple in suburban St. Louis, investigators said Monday. The youths are charged with second-degree arson and criminal possession of a weapon in the attacks on the temple. St. Louis County Police said temple officials initially wondered if the attacks were crimes…
Source: HPI KATHMANDU, NEPAL, March 22, 2003: King Gyanendra and Queen Komal of Nepal began an 11-day Indian pilgrimage last Thursday, visiting a number of Hindu shrines in southern India. This is King Gyanendra’s first religious trip abroad. H. H. Sankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati of Kanchipuram invited the world’s only Hindu monarch to a festival of kotihom (sacred fire) and the…
GO TO SOURCE CHENNAI, INDIA, March 22, 2003: Deputy Prime Minister L. K. Advani met with His Holiness Sankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati of Kanchipuram and urged him to pursue the initiative taken by him to help reach an agreement among concerned parties regarding Ayodhya. The Sankaracharya had earlier held discussions with leaders from both the Muslim and Hindu communities, but without…
GO TO SOURCE LAUTOKA, FIJI, March 27, 2003: The 100th Anniversary Commemoration of the arrival of Fiji’s south Indians will be held on Friday, April 11, with an Inauguration Ceremony at the newly established Lautoka Sangam Village in Lovu. Then India Sanmarga Ikya Sangam will hold its 77th Annual Convention in Lautoka, Fiji, on April 18, 2003. The Convention will…
GO TO SOURCE BHUBANESWAR, INDIA, March 22, 2003: The Orissa Government will soon come up with a “culture policy” designed to stop the blatant commercialization of Lord Jagannath of Puri, state Panchayatiraj Minister Damodar Rout told the assembly today. The minister’s announcement came after Speaker Sarat Kumar Kar directed the state government to take necessary steps to stop the “desecration…
Source: HPI PUNE, INDIA, March 22, 2003: The inclusion of scientific understanding has added a deeper meaning to traditional Hindu ceremonies, thanks to specially trained priests by the Jnana Prabodhini’s Santrika section. The head of Jnana Prabodhini, Yeshwant Lele says, “More and more people are curious about the rituals they have been performing blindly over the years. The priests trained…