Colonial Discourse and the Suffering of Indian American Children is now freely available.
Colonial Discourse and the Suffering of Indian American Children Book Cover.webp

In this book, we analyze the psycho-social consequences faced by Indian American children after exposure to the school textbook discourse on Hinduism and ancient India. We demonstrate that there is an intimate connection—an almost exact correspondence—between James Mill’s colonial-racist discourse (Mill was the head of the British East India Company) and the current school textbook discourse. This racist discourse, camouflaged under the cover of political correctness, produces the same psychological impacts on Indian American children that racism typically causes: shame, inferiority, embarrassment, identity confusion, assimilation, and a phenomenon akin to racelessness, where children dissociate from the traditions and culture of their ancestors.


This book is the result of four years of rigorous research and academic peer-review, reflecting our ongoing commitment at Hindupedia to challenge the representation of Hindu Dharma within academia.

Ātivāhika

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Ātivāhika literally means ‘one who leads beyond’.

After death, a jīva (individual soul) takes anyone of these three courses as per his karma(deeds):

  1. Immediate rebirth
  2. Pitṛloka- World of manes
  3. Satyaloka or Brahmaloka- The world of Brahmā

Journey to either of the last two worlds involve passing through some intermediate stations like arcis (light), ahas (day), āpuryamāṇa-pakṣa (the bright fortnight) and so on. Though these appear to be physical realities, they really represent ‘ātivāhikas,’ the deities or divine guides who lead the jīva to the next destination in its onward journey.


References[edit]

  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

Contributors to this article

Deval Sancheti

Explore Other Articles

Retrieved from "https://hindupedia.com/index.php?title=Ātivāhika&oldid=117610"