GO TO SOURCE MUMBAI, INDIA, December 30, 2000: The Shankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Swami Jayendra Saraswati is in Mumbai to present the National Eminence Awards instituted by the South Indian Education Society. In an interview the seer spoke of his support of Bal Thackeray’s brand of Hindutva — regarded as extreme even by Hindu nationalists — and why he’s forgiven…
GO TO SOURCE RAJKOT, INDIA, December 31, 2000: Three Hindu organizations, the Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Shiv Sena, have banned couples from dancing together during New Year’s parties in Rajkot, citing as their reason that it is against Hindu culture. Two hotels in the city, the Garden Water Park and Motel The Village, requested the police for…
GO TO SOURCE WASHINGTON, D.C., December 28, 2000: A leading US think tank has urged the incoming Bush administration to forge a special relationship with India and develop a foreign policy toward New Delhi independent of a “South Asia” policy that lumps India with all other nations in the sub-continent. The Rand Corporation, the Pentagon’s think tank, has called on…
GO TO SOURCE SINGAPORE, December 30, 2000: The Times of London reporter Fiona Terry winced when she met Hindu devotees at a Singapore festival. She writes, “It seemed an ungodly thing to do — parade two miles through the streets of Singapore with spears through cheeks, hooks piercing the skin and shoes of upturned nails. Yet this wasn’t some inexplicable…
GO TO SOURCE LUCKNOW, INDIA, January 1, 2001: Ivory poachers killed an elephant in an Indian wildlife reserve but were driven off by furious villagers, who consider the elephants sacred, and forest guards, before they could remove the elephant’s tusks, officials said Monday. The carcass of the poisoned elephant was found Sunday in Corbett National Park, home to nearly 600…
GO TO SOURCE BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, December 20, 2000: The review of “Kali’s Child” by Swami Tyagananda of the Ramakrishna Mission, Boston, is up on the Infinity Foundation website. His review discusses every instance of the Bengali translation that he considers as false, misleading or from a non-existent source. It is 100+ pages in length. For those who are new to…
Source: The Sunday Times, London DUNGARPAR, INDIA, December 17, 2000: Sharda Suthar, 30, and her family live a simple life in a tiny village in northwest India, until last week, when the illiterate mother of two heard that her husband, Suresh, 32, was one of 16 Indian stonemasons who had been awarded up to US$13,433 in back pay for their…
GO TO SOURCE AYODHYA, INDIA, December 18, 2000: Masons assembling the stonework for India’s most controversial Hindu temple in Ayodhya near the demolished Babri Masjid have been ordered to finish their work by March 31. Babri Masjid was built after the temple marking the birthplace of Rama was destroyed by Muslims. Almost daily trucks arrive in the town’s two dedicated…
Source: Hindustan Times LUCKNOW, INDIA, December 28, 2000: Police stopped a 32-year-old widow, Radha Rai, from committing sati — burning herself to death on her husband’s funeral pyre — December 26. Radha, who had dressed as a newly-wed bride, said she had had a dream in which she was directed to commit sati, an ancient practice in some parts of…
Source: Jakarta Post KUDUS, CENTRAL JAVA, INDONESIA, December 18, 2000: The becak (pedicab) is the main mode of transport in this small town of Kudus, 55 kilometers east of the Central Java capital Semarang. Once at the forefront of the spread of Islam, now the town is home to people of all religions. Kudus Tower and Al Aqsa Mosque, or…