GO TO SOURCE JAMMU, INDIA, November 18, 2002: For hundreds of ailing or aging pilgrims unable to make it to the Vaishno Devi shrine near Jammu because of the difficult terrain, a new helicopter service is a perfect alternative. The helicopter service will be available from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., beginning November 19. The management says they hope to…
GO TO SOURCE NEW DELHI, INDIA, November 20, 2002: The Center for the Study of Developing Societies, in collaboration with India International Center, will host a regional conference of the International Association of the History of Religions in New Delhi from December 18-21, 2003. The last date for submission of abstracts is December 15, 2002. The conference aims to encourage…
GO TO SOURCE November 23, 2002: This website states that “For a fee of $10 per word (5 word minimum), a customer can have a telegram delivered to someone who has passed away. This is done with the help of terminally Ill volunteers who memorize the telegrams before passing away, and then deliver the telegrams after they have passed away.…
GO TO SOURCE COCHIN, INDIA, November 5, 2002: Delegates to the world’s first conference on traditional medicine are leaving the southern Indian city of Cochin pledging to raise the global profile of ayurvedic remedies. More than 2,000 Indian and foreign delegates spent four days discussing the relevance of the 5,000-year-old tradition of herbal and alternative medication in the modern world.…
GO TO SOURCE PUNE, INDIA, November 13, 2002: Portraying Lord Ganesha using a digital printing medium, Pune-based artist Subhash Awchat has a showing for ten days at the Y. B. Chavan Center, starting November 22. Subhash says, “Lord Ganesha has been a part of me since childhood and has always intrigued me. I chose the Lord as a subject to…
GO TO SOURCE PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA, November 18, 2002: Cambodian teachers are demanding the word God be removed from school textbooks amid an increasing encroachment of outside religions on a mainly Buddhist society. The rankling references appear in 12th-grade social science textbooks. According to the Cambodian Independent Teachers’ Association (CITA), mentioning God is a direct contradiction of the Constitution. CITA…
GO TO SOURCE BANGLADESH, INDIA, November 29, 2001: This interesting article is by Rationalist International, an Indian-based society of nonreligious secular humanists who believe in a scientific approach to life devoid of theology. In this article they accuse India’s Christian missionaries of orchestrating the recent conversion of Dalits, or “untouchables,” not to Christianity, but to Buddhism. The hidden agenda, believes…
GO TO SOURCE PHOENIX, U.S.A., November 22, 2002: Sunday, November 24, from 10:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. a celebration of Deepavali and India is being held at the Heritage Square, Phoenix, Arizona. The program includes North and South Indian Food, arts and crafts, henna design, books, music, Indian clothes, jewelry and accessories. Demonstrations include Indian cooking, the sari and talks…
GO TO SOURCE THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, INDIA, November 20, 2002: Elaborate facilities have been arranged at the police camps for police personnel who wish to go on pilgrimage to Sabarimala. Unlike in the West, where police guards would stay aloof from a religious ceremony, in India it is common for the police on duty to participate in the worship as much as…
GO TO SOURCE SABARIMALA, INDIA: November 16, 2002: The Lord Ayyappa temple was opened this afternoon for the annual Mandalam-Makaravilakku pilgrimage, one of South India’s largest religious events. The Melsanthi, A. R. Raman Nampoothiri, opened the sanctum and lit a traditional lamp amid chants of “Swamiye Saranam Ayyappa,” at 5:30 p.m. The new Melsanthi (chief priest), Perikamana Sankara Narayanan Nampoothiri,…