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.

Pādakṛcchra

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Pādakṛcchra literally means kṛcchra of four aspects.

Redemption Steps[edit]

Man is often prone to committing sins due to the weaknesses. However, religions generally provide him with ways and means of redeeming himself. Religion prescribes two steps for such redemption:

  1. Paścāttāpa - repentance
  2. Prāyaścitta - expiation

Origin & Performance of Pādakṛcchra[edit]

The most general name for prāyaścittas is ‘kṛcchra’. Out of the several varieties of kṛcchra, the pādakṛcchra is also the one. In this expiation, the transgressor of dharma has to take food only once a day on the first day of expiation. On the second day he is supposed to take food once only by night. On the third day he can have food once any time if he gets the food unasked. He is expected to observe total fast on the fourth day. Even the quantity of food allowed on the first three days is restricted by the dharmaśāstras.


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=Pādakṛcchra&oldid=135467"