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.

Śākalya

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Śākalya as per Bṛhadāranyaka Upaniṣad[edit]

The Bṛhadāranyaka Upaniṣad[1] describes in detail, the philosophical disputation between Yājñavalkya and Vidagdha Śākalya in the court of the king Janaka-Vaideha. The discussion centered round the number of devas or gods. Ultimately, Yājñavalkya won and Śākalya lost his life due to the curse of the former. The main reason was that Śākalya was ‘Vidagdha’, vain and arrogant due to his scholarship.

Śākalya as Padapāṭhakāra[edit]

Some say that Vidagdha was his name since he was a great scholar whereas the word Śākalya indicated that he was the son of the sage Śakala. The Nirukta[2] mentions one Śākalya as padapāṭhakāra[3] of the Ṛgveda.

Śākalya as per Pāṇini[edit]

Another Śākalya is mentioned by Pāṇini[4] four times in his Astādhyāyī. He was probably a grammarian. The well-known sage Kaśyapa was once saved from public ridicule by a teacher named Śākalya who prescribed some special purification rites.


References[edit]

  1. Bṛhadāranyaka Upaniṣad 3.9
  2. Nirukta 6.28
  3. Padapāṭhakāra is an expert in breaking the words of the Vedic Samhitā.
  4. He lived in circa 500 B. C.
  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

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