Colonial Discourse and the Suffering of Indian American Children Book Cover.webp

Colonial Discourse and the Suffering of Indian American Children is now published after academic peer-review and available through open access.

In this book, we analyze the psycho-social consequences that Indian American children face after they are exposed to the school textbook discourse on Hinduism and ancient India. We show that there is an intimate connection―an almost exact correspondence―between James Mill’s ( a prominent politician in Britain and head of the British East India Company) colonial-racist discourse and the current school-textbook discourse. Consequently, this archaic and racist discourse, camouflaged under the cover of political correctness, produces in the Indian American children the same psychological impact as racism is known to produce: shame, inferiority, embarrassment, identity confusion, assimilation, and a phenomenon similar to racelessness where the children dissociate from the tradition and culture of their ancestors

This book is an outcome of 4 years of rigorous research as a part of our ongoing commitment at Hindupedia to challenge the representation of Hindu Dharma within Academia.

Śrautasutras

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Origin of Śrautasutras[edit]

It is quite difficult to understand the Vedas because of the archaic language and the esoteric rites described there, most of which are completely unfamiliar and unknown to us today. However, the six Vedāṅgas[1] help us to a great extent in unraveling their mystery and even guide us to perform these Vedic rites. Out of the six Vedāṅgas, the last one is called Kalpasutras. This has branched off into four fields, the first of which is the Śrautasutras.

Contents of Śrautasutras[edit]

The Śrautasutras are concerned mainly with the details connected with the performance of the Vedic sacrifices. A few of these may be listed as follows:

  • The yajamāna[2] and the ṛtviks[3]
  • Agnyādheya[4]
  • Details of the performance of some sacrifices like Darśapurṇmāsa, Somayāgas, Cāturmāsya sacrifices, Sattra-yāgas and so on
  • Agnicayana or preparing the platform for the sacrifices with bricks etc.

Śrautasutras in Vedas[edit]

All the four Vedas have their respetive Śrautasutras. They may be listed as follows:

Rgveda[edit]

  1. Āśvalāyana Śrautasutras
  2. Sāñkhāyana Śrautasutras
  3. Śukla Yajurveda
  4. Kātyāyana Śrautasutras
  5. Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda
  6. Āpastamba Śrautasutras
  7. Baudhāyana Śrautasutras
  8. Bharadvāja Śrautasutras
  9. Mānava śrautasutras
  10. Vaikhānasa śrautasutras

Sāmaveda[edit]

Ārseya Kalpasutras or Maśaka Kalpasutras containing the Śrautasutra part also.

  1. Drāhyayana Śrautasutras
  2. Jaiminiya Śrautasutras
  3. Lātyāyana Śrautasutras

Atharvaveda[edit]

  1. Vaitāna Śrautasutras

Conclusion[edit]

Without the help of these Śrautasutras, it would not have been possible to perform the various Vedic sacrifices.


References[edit]

  1. ↑ Vedāṅgas means subsidiary sciences of the Vedas.
  2. ↑ Yajamāna means sacrificer.
  3. ↑ Ṛtviks means priests.
  4. ↑ Agnyādheya means production of fire from the araṇis or wooden pieces for the sacrifice.
  • 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=Śrautasutras&oldid=137431"