GO TO SOURCE PURI, INDIA, March 29, 2003: Gold ornaments, including rings, coins and decorative pieces and expensive clothes were among the gifts the King of Nepal, Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, and Queen Komal Rajalaxmi Devi offered to the Deities of the Sri Jagannath temple here on Saturday. A gold coin, a gold thread, three golden eyes, a small…
GO TO SOURCE AHMEDABAD, INDIA, March 29, 2003: A group of Christian organizations has petitioned the Gujarat state High Court to halt a government survey of Christians on the grounds that it “unlawfully targets” the minority group. The All-India Christian Council said the Christians are being “victimized in the name of collecting census information.” For the past two weeks, police…
GO TO SOURCE NEW DELHI, INDIA, March 29, 2003: Many people opt for traditional medicines because they are affordable and believed to be less harmful. As a result, the market is flooded with scores of Ayurvedic, Unani and Siddha cures, but there is no official machinery to give them accreditation. Experts have voiced concerns about their safety, quality, licensing of…
GO TO SOURCE AYODHYA, INDIA, March 28, 2003: At least 150 small conches, a stucco stone, a sandstone structure, pieces of bangles, a mud-stove (chulha) and some articles of glazed terra cotta were found during the 13th day of excavation at Ayodhya today. Sources here said five articles were found in the J5 trench, and one each in J3, K6…
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…