INDIA, August 12, 2022 (Religion News by Murali Balaji): My dad was born in 1946, a year before India’s independence from British rule. (My mother was born a decade later in Puducherry, which would only become wholly independent of French rule in 1963.) Growing up in newly independent India, his post-World War II, post-independence generation was encouraged to adopt a…
Enjoy this short video of the spectacular annual festival at Sri Lanka’s foremost temple:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vy-Znp2kOfU
JAMMU, INDIA, August 11, 2022 (Daily Excelsior): Raksha Bandan festival which is observed on the last day of the Hindu Lunar month of Sawan was celebrated across Jammu with traditional fervor and gaiety today despite the heavy downpour during the day. Keeping the age-old tradition alive, the sisters of all age groups right from old women to girls tied rakhis…
TIRUPATI, INDIA, August 10, 2022 (Deccan Chronicle): The abode of Lord Venkateswara in Tirumala witnessed a huge surge in devotees on Tuesday. All compartments in the Vaikuntam queue complexes were packed to capacity and devotees had to wait in long queues to have darshan. While all the pilgrim accommodation counters at Tirumala have put up no vacancy boards, it was…
RAJKOT, INDIA, August 9, 2022 (News Walli): Shravan is a holy month in Hinduism dedicated to the worship of Lord Siva. In Rajkot Central Jail Hindu prisoners are fasting the entire month of Shravan. The prisoners also worship the Shivalinga every day in the Shiva temple in the prison premises. Suresh Bhalia, a prisoner who is serving a sentence in…
HYDERABAD, INDIA, August 11, 2022 (Deccan Chronicle): With 20 days left until the Ganesha festival, sculptors are preoccupied making the first-ever clay statue of Khairatabad Ganesha (which is built each year for the festival). The statue, in the form of Sri Panchamukha Maha Laxmi Ganapati, weighing 45 tons, will be 50 feet tall when completed. The statue on the left…
IRVINE, CALIFORNIA, June 30, 2022 (India West, by Geeta Sikand): Recently, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) Report has falsely attacked India for curbing the religious freedom of its minorities. It has recommended placing India on the blacklist as a “Country of Particular Concern,” a practice that began in 2020. Ajay Shah, President of the US-based Hindu Policy…
DUBAI, August 9, 2022 (Hindustan Times): The first images of Dubai’s grand Hindu temple are out. It will be open to the public on October 5 on the occasion of Dussehra festival. The temple will have 16 Deities including from South India and a separate section for Guru Granth Sahib. White marble and hand carved pillars are being used to…
LIVERMORE, CALIFORNIA, August 9, 2020 (India Currents): Over 250 volunteers, 32 priests, three shilpis, two musicians and one sthapathi came together to celebrate the third Maha Kumbhabhishekam at the Shiva-Vishnu temple here. The festivities began July 6 and concluded July 10. It took two years of planning to pull this event together. But, as most of 2020 was wiped out…
NEW YORK, U.S., August 9, 2020 (Huff Post): Cambodia’s ambassador to the United States said Monday that the transfer of 30 antiquities by U.S. law enforcement authorities to his country was a return of the “souls of our culture.” Ambassador Keo Chhea spoke at a ceremony where a 10th century sculpture, Skanda on a Peacock, was among several works of…