Source: Central News Agency TAIPEI, TAIWAN, November 9, 2001: Taiwan’s president, Chen Shui-bian, and 12 local and foreign dignitaries, including Swami Dayananda Saraswati, opened the Museum of World Religions” in suburban Taipei today. Chen said, “The inauguration of the museum is a pride and glory of the 23 million people of Taiwan, as it is the first of its kind…
GO TO SOURCE DELHI, INDIA, December 6, 2001: Following the illegal sale of genetically modified cotton seed in India, the government has now said it will soon allow the cotton crops to be sold commercially for the first time. The government has been studying the GM cotton for over a year. It is resistant to the bollworm, which causes considerable…
GO TO SOURCE December 5, 2001: The Bangladeshi government must take urgent action to protect the country’s Hindu minority following weeks of grave human rights abuses, Amnesty International said today in a new report. Before the general election in October, the Hindu community was targeted, reportedly by supporters of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) for their perceived support for the…
GO TO SOURCE NEW DELHI, INDIA, December 5,2001: A multi-media exhibition that applies some of the latest interactive technology to one of India’s most sacred cities, Varanasi (Banaras), has just ended in the Indian capital of Delhi. It took viewers on a virtual journey — including a ride on an electronic rickshaw — to explore what is widely believed to…
GO TO SOURCE VIETNAM, June 23, 2001, A Siva Lingam monument, a relic from the lost Champa Kingdom, stands proudly at the My Son site in Vietnam. Statues depicting Lingam and Yoni can be found in Hindu-influenced cultures across the entire Asian region. But the Cham religion in Vietnam has taken these images and fashioned them into a distinctive and…
GO TO SOURCE MADISON, WISCONSIN, December 5, 2001: Frank Morales of the University of Wisconsin at Madison writes, “This proposed anthology will include papers by leading scholars and professors who specialize in many fields of South Asian Studies. These fields include: Religious Studies, Philosophy, History, Literature, Political Science, Languages, Indigenous Sciences, Anthropology, Geology, Psychology, Medical Sciences, Sociology, etc. The focus…
Source: HPI December 5, 2001: A report yesterday mistakenly identified Sri R. Venkataraman as “India’s President.” He is, of course, a past president of India. The present president is Sri K.R. Narayanan.
Source: India West LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, December 1, 2001: The dedication of girls to temples in India is the topic of “Maya,” a new film from director Dijvijay Singh. The film’s release was hailed for its unsparing depiction of India’s little-understood devadasi tradition. The film centers around twelve-year-old Maya (Nitya Shetty) who lives with her middle class family. The day…
GO TO SOURCE TIRUVANNAMALAI, INDIA, November 30, 2001: Hundreds of thousands of devotees witnessed the grand spectacle of the lighting of the Annamalai Maha Deepam (bonfire) on top of the 2,668-feet high Annamalai hills on the occasion of Krittika Deepam which marked the culmination of the 10-day Krittika Deepam festival here on Friday. Bonfires are lit near temples throughout South…
GO TO SOURCE NEW DELHI, INDIA, November 15, 2001: Speaking out against religious conversion Swami Dayananda Saraswati, a Hindu spiritual leader, says at a meeting here, “If a person is converted by proselytization, he’s uprooted from his tradition. There’s a need to see we all live in harmony and mutual respect.” Despite these sentiments, conversion is a reality throughout India…