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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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Purṇapātra

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Purṇapātra literally means ‘a vessel which is full’.

In Vedic sacrifices like Darśapurṇa-māsa, it refers to a vessel, full of water, from which the priest adhvaryu pours water into the joined hands of the wife of the yajamāna or the sacrificer who is holding the yoktra[1] in them. A mantra from the Taittiriya Samhitā[2] has to be chanted at that time.

At the end of a homa, performed as per the tantras,[3] a purṇapātra has to be gifted. This is called ‘purṇa-pātradāna’. It consists of keeping in a plate all the ingredients needed for a full meal like uncooked rice, gram, ghee, oil, salt, fruits and sweets along with a coin as dakṣiṇā or cash-gift and give it to a brāhmaṇa after the homa. As a substitute for such a purṇapātra, one can offer a vessel of sufficient quantity of rice enough for a single meal, some fruits and a coin. Before giving it away, it has to be sanctified with appropriate mantras.


References[edit]

  1. ↑ Yoktra means the cord of muñja grass used as a belt.
  2. ↑ Taittiriya Samhitā 1.1.10.2
  3. ↑ Tantras means Śāktāgamas.
  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

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