Source PENANG, MALAYSIA, January 6, 2014 (Penang Channel): This is a short video of the annual Thai Pusam festival in Penang where devotees smash thousands of coconuts in honor of Lord Murugan. Note the large number of Chinese people taking part in the Hindu festival. It doesn’t equal the feat described above, but is more of a community affair.
Source KERALA, INDIA, January 12, 2014 (New India Express): It is the beginning of the year and Namboothiri families in Kerala are getting ready to conduct Vettakkoru Makan Pattu (the song to worship Lord Vettakkoru Makan) or pantheerayiram. It is a popular but challenging ritual in which the chief priest has to break 12,000 coconuts continuously in one sitting. Manoj…
Source DEHRADUN, INDIA, January 21, 2014 (Times Of India): Only a few months are left for the Kailash Mansarovar yatra to begin. But Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam (KMVN), the nodal agency for the ministry of external affairs-organized yatra, is still undecided about the route that the yatris will take through Uttarakhand this year. [HPI note: this is for pilgrims going…
Source Only the guru is father, mother and brother. He is also friend, well-wisher and the only wealth. Thus everything should be surrendered to him. The disciple, fully surrendered to the guru, sees him as God, and then becomes God himself.— Chandra Jnana Agama, 2.68
Source UNITED KINGDOM, January 8, 2014 (Daily Mali): “Sugar is the new tobacco,”said Simon Capewell, professor of clinical epidemiology at the University of Liverpool. Professor Capewell is part of a new US-UK campaign group — Action on Sugar — that says asking firms to make voluntary changes has failed. The typical Briton consumes 12 teaspoons of sugar a day and…
Source KOCHI, INDIA, December 22, 2014 (The Hindu Business Line): Vaidyaratnam has set up a museum on ayurveda to enlighten the public on its rich heritage and evolution. Set up with an investment close to US$809,000 at Thaikkattussery near Thrissur, the museum, the first of its kind, will be inaugurated by former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on December 27. Astavaidyan…
Source INDIA, January 14, 2014 (NY Daily News): Makar Sankranti is a major Hindu harvest festival celebrated in almost all parts of India. It marks the transition of the Sun into the zodiac sign of Makara rashi (Capricorn) on its celestial path. The day is also believed to mark the arrival of spring in India. Makar Sankranti is a solar…
Source CHENNAI, INDIA, January 16, 2014 (New Indian Express): Taiwan scholar and poet Dr. Yu Hsi (Hung Ching Yu), who has translated Tirukkural and the poems of Subramaniya Bharathi and poet Bharathidasan in Mandarin, was conferred with the Thiruvalluvar Award instituted by the Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday. The founder president of the Tamil Sangam of Taiwan, Dr. Yu Hsi…
Source GEORGE TOWN, MALAYSIA, January 17, 2014 (The Malay Mail): Malaysian Hindu devotee Karthi Gan grimaces while tapping his feet to the beat of ritual drums as two men plunge dozens of sharp hooks into his chest and back. The painful ritual is Karthi’s way of giving thanks to the Hindu Deity Muruga as part of the country’s colorful annual…
Source MADURAI, INDIA, January 6, 2014 (The Hindu): One look at the sprawling Mariamman Teppakulam, and it is the buzz of humanity inside the tank (a line wate reservoir) that first catches your attention — boys playing cricket, people walking across the tank to go to the other side and few wheeling bicycles through patches of the dry brown and…