Source: South China Morning Post INDIA, July 27, 2002: One of the country’s richest and oldest Hindu temples is planning a global hair tender in a move to cut out middlemen and get the best price for thousands of pounds of shorn locks donated daily by devotees. Authorities from the Tirupati temple, in Andhra Pradesh, said notices would be published…
GO TO SOURCE PARIS, FRANCE, August 10, 2002: The Annual Chariot Festival of Sri Manika Vinayakar Alayam, will be held for the seventh year in succession on September 8, 2002, under the able guidance of the founder & president. The chariot festival, an ancient Hindu tradition followed through the ages in their motherland, has not been forgotten by the thousands…
Source: The St. Petersburg Times ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA, June 29, 2002: In the classrooms of a small Episcopal church here, children are learning a philosophy that emphasizes respect for others, the virtue of looking beyond appearances and the importance of expressing gratitude to God. These children are not Episcopalian. They are Hindu, and are members of the Swadhyaya movement, a…
GO TO SOURCE CHENNAI, INDIA, July 27, 2002: Despite strict government regulations and a public interest petition appealing to the government to put a stop to animal and bird sacrifice, it stills continues at some temples in the state. However, a recent order by the Madras High Court to the Home Secretary and the DGP to enforce the Tamil Nadu…
Source: Hindu Press International MUMBAI, INDIA, August 5, 2002: A recent BBC report by their correspondent, Sanjeev Srivastava, begins, “One of the oldest languages in the world, Sanskrit, is in danger of becoming extinct in India, the country of its origin. Although most Indian languages still use the basic grammar of Sanskrit, no more than a few thousand people in…
Source: Religion News Service LONDON, ENGLAND, August 6, 2002: Both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England have announced their support for scrapping the English law against blasphemy and replacing it with a more generalized law against incitement to religious hatred. The present blasphemy law only covers material denying the truth of Christianity, the Bible or the Church…
GO TO SOURCE BHOPAL, INDIA, July 31, 2002: Sant Ram Kishore Das Khade Shree Maharaj has never in the past nine years sat or lied down. Originally from Nepal, the 73-year-old saint has pledged to remain standing for at least 14 years for world peace. Sant Ram feels he can remain standing for more than 14 years or even through…
GO TO SOURCE AHMEDABAD/VADODARA/RAJKOT, INDIA, August 3, 2002: On the first anniversary of the January 26 earthquake, the Narendra Modi government ordered special prayers to appease the dharti mata. Various organizations all over the state are praying for a revival of the monsoon. People are resorting to several methods to solicit divine intervention to avoid a drought. In Vadodara, plans…
GO TO SOURCE HYDERABAD, INDIA, July 26, 2002: Heaps of garbage, overflowing drains and filth all around was what the Mayor, T. Krishna Reddy, got to see in the vicinity of the famous Ujjaini Mahankali temple even as the annual Bonalu festivities commence on Sunday. The Mayor warned of stringent action if the “mess was not cleared up immediately.” Though…