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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.


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Rasātala

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Rasātala literally means ‘That which is below the earth’.

Rasātala as per Viṣṇupurāṇa[edit]

The Mahābhārata and some of the purāṇas contain interesting descriptions of this universe. If there are six lokas or worlds above the earth ending in Satyaloka or Brahmaloka and seven below the earth also. ‘Pātāla’ is the general name given to these worlds. These seven pātālas are:[1]

  1. Atala
  2. Vitala
  3. Nitala
  4. Gabhastimān
  5. Mahātala
  6. Sutala
  7. Pātāla

Rasātala as per Other Scriptures[edit]

According to the Bhāgavata[2] Rasātala is the fourth in the series. The Garudapurāṇa[3] lists Rasātala as the sixth of these nether worlds.

Description of Rasātala[edit]

If the various descriptions of Rasātala given in these works are summarized, the following picture of this world emerges:

  • Rasātala is the fourth or the sixth of the pātālas and the abode of Ananta or Śeṣanāga, the thousand-hooded serpent on whom Mahāviṣṇu is reclining.
  • Mahāviṣṇu in his Varāha[4] incarnation killed the demons by entering the Rasātala loka.
  • He killed the demons Madhu and Kaitabha taking the Hayagrīva form.[5]
  • Surabhi or Kāmadhenu, the celestial cow lives here with her off-springs.
  • There is an ocean of milk here.
  • This world is more comfortable to live in than even Nāgaloka[6] or Svarga.[7]


References[edit]

  1. ↑ Viṣṇupurāṇa 2.5.2 and 3
  2. ↑ Bhāgavata 5.24.
  3. ↑ Garudapurāṇa 15.56,57
  4. ↑ Varāha means Boar.
  5. ↑ It is the form with a horse’s head on a human frame.
  6. ↑ It means the world of serpents.
  7. ↑ It means heaven.
  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

Contributors to this article

Himanshu Bhatt, Deval Sancheti

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