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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.


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.

Gajalakṣmi

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Gajalakṣmi literally means ‘Lakṣmī associated with elephants’.

Gajalakṣmi

Gajalakṣmi is the most popular of the eight forms of Lakṣmī and is called Aṣṭamahālakṣmi. She is usually shown on the lintels of door-frames dressed in snow-white garments and is seated on a lotus of eight petals. She has four arms carrying the following:

  1. Long-stalked lotus
  2. Pot of nectar
  3. Bilva fruit[1]
  4. Conch

Behind her are the two decorated elephants shown as pouring water over her from pots held in their trunks. The elephants may also be shown with raised trunks each holding a lotus in adoration. One of the well-known figures is in the stone relief of the Varāhamaṇḍapa at Māmallāpuram (Mahābalipuram) near Chennai (or Madras).


References[edit]

  1. ↑ Bilva fruit is Aegle marmelos.
  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

Contributors to this article

Krishna Maheshwari, Deval Sancheti

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