Source MELAKA, MALAYSIA, January 5, 2013 (The Hindu): In a cottage near Melaka, Hugh and Colleen Gantzer learn about a 230-year-old community of exiles — the Chettis of Malaysia, hailing not from Chettinad but Chennai, and distinguished by their richly merged bloodlines. When we spotted the entrance arch and the board, while driving around Melaka, we stopped. An inscription said…
Source ALLAHABAD, INDIA, January 4, 2013 (dawn.com): The Naga sadhus have arrived in religious procession towards at the Sangam, the confluence of the rivers Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati, as part of the Maha Kumbha Mela festival in Allahabad, India, Friday January 4th. Millions of Hindu pilgrims are expected to take part in the large religious congregation on the banks…
Source He who befriends a man whose conduct is vicious, whose vision impure, and who is notoriously crooked, is rapidly ruined.— Chanakya (350-275 bce), Indian politician, strategist and writer
Source UNITED KINGDOM, January 3, 2013 (BBC): A product of the British Empire, with a mixture of Western and Indian names, customs and complexions, 2,000 Anglo-Indians are to attend a reunion in Calcutta. But their communities in both the UK and the subcontinent are disappearing, writes Anglo-Indian Kris Griffiths. Journalist Kris Griffiths was born to a Welsh father and Anglo-Indian…
Source INDIA, January 4, 2013 (Live Mint): Rakhigarhi is a cluster of two sprawling villages –Rakhikhas and Rakhi Shahpur–in Haryana, around 106 miles from Delhi. That Rakhigarhi was a large Harappan town was known in 1963, when the area was first surveyed. What archaeologists are finding out now is that it is the biggest ever Harappan city, larger and more…
Source India has come to preserve spiritual traditions which many ancient cultures and countries have lost. Today Hinduism represents not only India but the ancient wisdom of humanity. In Hinduism many ancient countries can still rediscover their religious past, their old Gods and their old spiritual traditions.— Ram Swarup (1920-1998), Indian writer and scholar
Source TRINIDAD/TOBAGO, December 3,2012 (Newsday): The Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha Rampersad Bholai Sangre Grande Hindu School recently celebrates its Diamond Jublie at the school’s compound, Rosseau Street, Sangre Grande. In his short address at the function, Harold Seupaul, School Supervisor 11 North Eastern Division, Ministry of Education said the school is one of the best primary educational institutions in the…
Source LUCKNOW, INDIA, January 6, 2013 (India Times): Contrary to the earlier reports that the Shri Panchdasnaam Juna Akhara, popularly known as the Juna Akhara – has banned the entry of foreign visitors in its Akhara area at the Kumbh Mela site, officials of the Akhara have clarified that the ban remains in place only for nefarious elements, who leave…
Source ALLAHABAD, INDIA, January 6, 2013 (India Times): In an unsettling situation on the eve of the Maha Kumbh beginning January 14, saints and seers of various akharas camping on the Mela site have come out openly against the “mismanagement and utter confusion” where they have to run from pillar to post for even basic civic amenities. “What has aggravated…
Source Correcting oneself is correcting the whole world. The sun is simply bright. It does not correct anyone. Because it shines, the whole world is full of light. Transforming yourself is a means of giving light to the whole world.— Ramana Maharshi (1879-1950)