Source: The Hindu THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, INDIA, February 12, 2002: The 29th all-India conference of Dravidian Linguistics which drew to a close here today has urged India’s government to scrap any move to include in the country’s standard school curriculum the theory that the Indus Valley civilization was of the Aryans and not of the Dravidians. In a resolution adopted unanimously at…
GO TO SOURCE MUMBAI, INDIA, February 9, 2002: In December of 2001, Tushar Gandhi, a great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, was approached by an American company who wanted permission to use images of Gandhi to sell to one of their clients, a credit card company. According to Tushar he told the Indianapolis-based company, “I have no copyright over Bapuji. But they…
GO TO SOURCE UNITED KINGDOM, February 17, 2002: A PhD student living in the UK and currently working on a topic regarding “Hindu Philosophy On Death And Dying” needs some help with editing her draft. Any offer from a scholar will be gratefully accepted. Kindly contact Sibani Roy at “source” above.
GO TO SOURCE NEW DELHI, INDIA, JANUARY 16, 2002: “I was destined to do this. I grew sick of Sanskrit in school, but it’s caught me again,” says 74-year-old composer Vanraj Bhatia, of his newest double album Ananta. He was trained in Indian classical ragas as a child and later studied composition in Western classical music with Nadia Boulanger. The…
GO TO SOURCE NEW YORK, USA, February 11, 2002: War, pollution and logging are despoiling the world’s mountain ranges. The Alps, the Rockies and the Hindu Kush are most threatened, according to a UN study released today. Mountains are the “water towers of the world,” supplying water to more than half the world’s population, said the report by the Tokyo-based…
GO TO SOURCE MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE, February 15, 2002: In a growing scandal for the Archdiocese of Boston, Roman Catholic leaders on Friday named 14 New Hampshire priests accused of sexual misconduct over a quarter-century. The Diocese of Manchester, which covers the state, gave the names to prosecutors and the public. “What I report is sad in one way because…
GO TO SOURCE SINGAPORE, February 12, 2002: Non-Hindus of various religions and ethnic groups are helping to rebuild the 127-year-old Sri Senpaga Vinayagar Temple in Ceylon Road, a Katong landmark often referred to simply as the Ceylon Road temple. Their generosity has helped the temple to raise more than US$2.7 million in three years. Mr R. Theyvendran, chairman of the…
GO TO SOURCE BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA, February 14, 2002: The Universidad Abierta Interamericana (Interamerican Open University), Argentina, is offering the first universitary post-degree course for Spanish-speaking medical doctors in ayurveda medicine starting March 2002. This one year training course is being offered through the Department of Ayurveda Medicine of the university and the Chairman Professor Doctor Sergio Lais, pioneer of…
GO TO SOURCE CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, February 15, 2002: Citing recently published challenges to R. Gordon Wasson’s identification of Vedic soma as the psychoactive mushroom Amanita muscaria (fly-agaric), this article reviews unpublished letters by Wasson in which he considered and rejected other psychoactive plants as candidates, including the mint Lagochilus inebrians, Convolvulaceae (morning glory) seeds, the fungal parasite Claviceps purpurea (ergot),…
GO TO SOURCE MUMBAI, INDIA, February 15, 2002: Hard-line slogan-shouting Shiv Sena Hindu activists burned cards and gifts in protest against Valentine’s Day which they say offends Indian tradition. Cane-wielding policemen guarded shops to prevent violence. The activists waved placards saying, “Down with Western Culture, Down with Valentine’s Day,” “Keep Hindu culture alive, Ban Valentine’s Day” as they set fire…