GO TO SOURCE JAMMU, INDIA, March 5, 2001: A record number of 432,000 pilgrims have visited the holy cave shrine of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Ji since January 1, 2001. During the same time last year, 361,000 pilgrims had Darshan of the holy cave shrine. Of the 174,000 devotees who visited the shrine last month, over 136,000 were from outside…
GO TO SOURCE MECCA, SAUDI ARABIA, March 5, 2001: It is interesting to Hinduism Press International to observe the stark difference in reporting of the on-going Muslim Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca and the recently concluded Hindu Kumbha Mela. In the Hajj report, of which “source” above is but one example, there is not a hint of the sarcasm, ridicule and…
GO TO SOURCE BOMBAY, INDIA, March 1, 2001: Parsis, descendants of the ancient Persians and followers of the prophet Zoroaster, have an ancient way of disposing of their dead in the city of Bombay. On Malabar Hill and the tranquil park at Doongerwadi, Parsi followers bring their dead to be devoured by vultures. Bodies that have been exposed to the…
GO TO SOURCE KERALA, INDIA, February 21, 2001: Sparing the rod and spoiling the child, a medieval concept that chipped away at a child’s self esteem, has virtually been abandoned in most nations around the world. In 1989 the United Nations General Assembly adopted a move in favor of the “Rights of the Child” and the convention promoted that, “State…
Source: New York Times LAMPANG, THAILAND, December 16, 2000: Elephants are natural candidates for music-making! Their hearing is much keener than their sight, and they employ a vast range of vocalizations, many of which are heard on their recently released debut CD, by the New York-based Mulatta Records. The CD is a brainchild of Richard Lair, an American expatriate who…
GO TO SOURCE KABUL, AFGHANISTAN, March 3, 2001: Troops from the Taliban religious militia, under orders from their supreme commander, Mullah Mohammed Omar, used explosives and rockets Saturday to destroy two towering statues of Buddha in Bamiyan. Already two-thirds of the country’s statues have been eliminated. All the rest will be reduced to rubble on Sunday and Monday, despite worldwide…
Source: Times of India KABUL, AFGHANISTAN,March 2, 2001: The Taliban’s destruction of statues has evoked a strong response in India, with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) threatening suitable “reaction” in communally sensitive Ajmer town of Rajasthan if they do not stop “insulting” Rajput warrior Prithviraj Chauhan’s memorial in Ghazni. “The destruction of Bamiyan statues is an insult to Buddhism,” VHP…
Source: The Hindu NEW DELHI, INDIA, March 2, 2001: In a unanimous resolution adopted by both Houses of Parliament, India condemned “in the strongest possible terms” the Taliban’s decision to destroy the two 2,000- year-old Buddha statues in Bamiyan, Afghanistan. The Parliament also offered to bring these monuments to India at its own cost. The Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya…
GO TO SOURCE NEW DELHI, INDIA, March 5, 2001: The tradition of “but shikani” (idol or statue-breaking) practiced by Arab marauders in their quest to rule the Indian subcontinent, was done on the plea that idol or religious object worshipping was un-Islamic. One thousand years later, this intolerance has resurfaced, justifying the destruction of all statues of the Buddha in…
GO TO SOURCE WASHINGTON, February 26, 2001: A controversial finding that a meteorite from Mars might contain evidence of life has been given added credence by the discovery of a magnetic crystal that researchers say could have been made only by a microbe. Scientists at the Johnson Space Center in Houston say that a crystallized magnetic mineral, called magnetite, found…