Latest Hindu News

NEW DELHI, INDIA, March 9, 2007: The narrow sea between India and Sri Lanka has great significance to Hindu heritage as the Hindu epic, the Ramayana, climaxed in this area. When Sita, Lord Ram's wife, was abducted by King Ravan and taken to Lanka, an army of monkeys built a bridge across the channel from Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu to Sri Lanka to assist Lord Ram in rescuing Sita. The news release explains the situation, "The Ram Setu or Adam's Bridge, a chain of limestone shoals 48 km long that once linked Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu with Mannar in Sri Lanka's northwest, faces possible destruction when the ambitious Sethusamudram canal project comes up to create a navigable waterway in the narrow sea dividing the two countries. India does not have a continuous navigational channel linking the east and west coasts.

MADHUBANI, INDIA, March 29, 2007: Rishiprada, a five-year old girl from Raima village in Madhubani District, Bihar, has memorized the entire Bhagavad Gita; she also knows many other Sanskrit verses that she recites with full clarity of the language. Dr. Awadhesh Prasad Chaudhary, Rishiparada's great grandfather said she has been fond of learning verses which in turn prompted him to teach her all the 700 verses of Bhagavad Gita and amazingly, she did not disappoint him. Her father, Shatrumardan Chaudhary, has suggested that in view of her unique talent, the Government should come forward to help for her education.

NEW DELHI, INDIA, March 27, 2007: Over 100,000 people packed New Delhi last weekend for India's biggest gathering on body, mind and spirit, which showcased the growing interest in alternative remedies. The Nakshatra 2007 seminar and exhibition attracted renowned astrologers, numerologists, palmists, Vasthu Sastra experts, pyramid science consultants, gemologist, yoga teachers, tarot card readers, magnet therapies, acupuncturist, Reiki healers and scholars of ancient Indian wisdom. They suggested ways to overcome stress, health, finance and emotional challenges and how to remove unseen and unknown forces through self-healing methods. Vasthu Sastra and Vedic astrology dominated the seminars as many visitors were seeking for solace through the 5,000-year-old science of dwelling and wanted to know their future through horoscope analysis. The occasion also highlighted several areas of confusions and contradictions in the practices of Vasthu and feng shui from China.

DINDIGUL, TAMIL NADU, INDIA, March 25, 2007: The huge 10-day Panguni Uthiram festival will commence at the famed Palani Hills Murugan Temple with flag hoisting between 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. on March 26. The car procession will start from Padha Vinayagar Temple at Malai Adivaram at 4:00 pm on April 1. The temple administration has made elaborate arrangements for the festival. Cultural programs have been arranged at Kudamuzhukku Mandapam near Malai Adivaram during the festival days. Lord Murugan will be taken in a procession on Giri Veedhis in the evening on all festival days. Eminent speakers will render religious discourses and artistes and carnatic vocalists will sing devotional songs; the emphasis will be on folk music. The cultural programs will commence at 5.30 p.m. and end at 10 p.m. and the Nadai of the hill temple will open at 4 a.m. during the festival period.

DINDIGUL, TAMIL NADU, INDIA, March 25, 2007: The huge 10-day Panguni Uthiram festival will commence at the famed Palani Hills Murugan Temple with flag hoisting between 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. on March 26. The car procession will start from Padha Vinayagar Temple at Malai Adivaram at 4:00 pm on April 1. The temple administration has made elaborate arrangements for the festival. Cultural programs have been arranged at Kudamuzhukku Mandapam near Malai Adivaram during the festival days. Lord Murugan will be taken in a procession on Giri Veedhis in the evening on all festival days. Eminent speakers will render religious discourses and artistes and carnatic vocalists will sing devotional songs; the emphasis will be on folk music. The cultural programs will commence at 5.30 p.m. and end at 10 p.m. and the Nadai of the hill temple will open at 4 a.m. during the festival period.

DINDIGUL, TAMIL NADU, INDIA, March 25, 2007: The huge 10-day Panguni Uthiram festival will commence at the famed Palani Hills Murugan Temple with flag hoisting between 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. on March 26. The car procession will start from Padha Vinayagar Temple at Malai Adivaram at 4:00 pm on April 1. The temple administration has made elaborate arrangements for the festival. Cultural programs have been arranged at Kudamuzhukku Mandapam near Malai Adivaram during the festival days. Lord Murugan will be taken in a procession on Giri Veedhis in the evening on all festival days. Eminent speakers will render religious discourses and artistes and carnatic vocalists will sing devotional songs; the emphasis will be on folk music. The cultural programs will commence at 5.30 p.m. and end at 10 p.m. and the Nadai of the hill temple will open at 4 a.m. during the festival period.

LUCKNOW, INDIA, March 12, 2007: At a meeting held in Lucknow on March 12, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) discussed the issue of religious conversions in India. Speaking to over 1,400 delegates RSS national deputy chief Mohan Bhagwat said, "I do not deny that conversions had also taken place on account of ills in Hindu society, and that is why we are emphasizing on the need to reform ourselves. Our objective is to call upon the masses to sink differences of caste, sect and religion, as well as of political affiliations, in the larger interest of building social harmony and goodwill. Unless Hindu society gets rid of its ills, we cannot set a good example for those belonging to other faiths. The RSS is not opposed to schemes actually meant for the uplift of economically weak Muslims. We oppose the policy of minority appeasement followed by the central government. I wish to make it loud and clear that such a policy always obstructs Hindu-Muslim unity.

DELHI, INDIA, March 20, 2007: The blog at the above URL has pointed out what is a form of the Christian cross on the reverse of India's recently redesigned two-rupee coin. Click to the URL to see a photo of the coin. This type of cross is called "cross voided." It is defined in Wikipedia, here, as a " 'Cross voided throughout,' also known as the Gammadia, can be seen as a Greek cross (one with arms of equal length) with its centre lines removed, or as composed of four angles (L shapes) separated by a thin space. So the name 'gammadia' refers to its being made up of four shapes similar to a capital Greek letter gamma; the word 'gammadion' can also refer to a swastika. Used in heraldry on coats of arms and badges."

HYDERABAD, INDIA, March 17, 2007: This year, Telugu New Year, Ugadi, is mired in controversy with some religious heads, astrologers and even political parties warning the Andhra Pradesh government that celebrating it on Monday would spell doom for the state. A number of Agama religious schools say that Ugadi on Monday would be inauspicious as it is an amavasya day (new moon day) and also coincides with a solar eclipse.

A general holiday had been declared on Monday. But following criticism from various quarters, the government also announced an optional holiday on March 20, the day when some groups want to celebrate Ugadi. The government claims that it declared Ugadi on Monday on the basis of opinion expressed by 33 out of 39 Agama schools. It says that experts consulted by the government argued that the solar eclipse would end by 7:50 am and hence there was no harm in celebrating the festival on that day.

VARANASI, INDIA, March 17, 2007: As the first rays of the morning sun fall upon the banks of the river Ganges at Varanasi, an old man in a loincloth raises his outstretched hands towards the slowly rising orb and bids it namaste, or welcome for another day. It is a scene which has repeated itself every day for more than three thousand years in this holiest of India's cities - a place as ancient as Babylon or Thebes - which Hindus consider to be the beating heart of their religion.

While modern India rushes headlong to embrace many of the material aspects of Western capitalism - even Varanasi has an outlet of McDonald's - standing on the ghats (broad steps leading to a river) of Varanasi at dawn, it seems as if time is standing still.

TIRUCHIRAPALLI, INDIA, March 14, 2007: (HPI note: This article appeared in the Washington Post, one of America's leading newspapers.) Balaji, a Hindu priest, stood before the reclining god and offered a plate of coconut and bananas. His chest bare and his face adorned with red and yellow sacred paste, he set the food at the foot of a statue that Hindus regard as an embodiment of Lord Vishnu. Following ancient tradition deep inside one of India's oldest and holiest temples, he chanted Vishnu's names 108 times to beseech health, wealth and good fortune - not for himself, but for an Indian emigrant living in London who had purchased the prayer with her credit card on a Hindu Web site. "If you wish to make an offering, God will accept it - even if it's on the Internet," said Balaji. The Internet has become a hub of religious worship for millions of people around the world.

NEW DELHI, INDIA, March 10, 2007: Leaders of several social groups from within the Hindu community, the Dalits included, were among the 4,000 who gathered at the open air theater in Pragati Maidan here Friday evening and took a pledge to end the caste divide that Sri Sri Ravi Shankar warned would harm India's progress in the long run. A seven-point action plan that Ravi Shankar unveiled at the meeting and which the thousands of men and women accepted with their right hands outstretched included an immediate end to the ban on the entry of Dalits ("Untouchables") into Hindu temples in parts of India. The other aspects of the action plan are ending the practice of keeping separate utensils for the use of Dalits in eateries and also providing religious and spiritual education to Dalit children. "The anger of the past should not engulf us and divide the country. The fear and communication gap between communities is what is keeping us apart," he said in a brief address.

DELHI, INDIA, March 12, 2007: The World Congress on Psychology and Spirituality, 2008 will take place in Delhi beginning on January 5, 2008. Lama Samdhong Rinpoche, Prime Minister of Tibet-in Exile, will give the Inaugural Address on Dharma and Governance, on behalf of His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. Keynote speakers will include B.K.S. Iyengar, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and Dr. Karan Singh. Scholars in the fields of psychology, consciousness studies, Indic traditions, philosophy, medical and psychological clinicians, media and performance artists and spiritual teachers from diverse traditions are all invited to present on a wide range of topics. The deadline for proposal submissions is May 30, 2007. For more information and registration details see URL above.

NEW DELHI, INDIA, March 12, 2007: "Karan Singh : A Tryst With History, a Pictorial Biography" was launched with grand fanfare by Shri Pranab Mukherjee, India's Union Minister For External Affairs, in the Rose Gardens of New Delhi's India International Center on Friday, March 9, the 76th birthday of Dr. Karan Singh.

ALLAHADAD, INDIA, March 9, 2007: Time magazine photographer Prashant Panjiar has documented the recently held Ardh Kumbha Mela in a series of stunning black and white photos. The festival lasts 45 days at the confluence of three holy rivers, the Ganges, Yamuna and the esoterically mystical Saraswati. An estimated 70 million pilgrims gathered for this year's festival and Panjiar's photos have captured both the sadhus and the millions of humble pilgrims come to bathe. This is an above-average photo essay and commentary highlighting the world's largest spiritual gathering.

RISHIKESH, INDIA, March 6, 2007: The annual International Yoga Festival, organized jointly by the Uttrakhand Tourism and Parmarth Niketan Ashram in Rishikesh, is taking place from March 1- 7, and was officially inaugurated in a beautiful ceremony performed the hands of the Honorable Governor of Uttrakhand, H.E. Shri Sudarshan Agarwal. This years' festival includes almost 350 delegates from 38 countries across the world, including Australia, Austria, Canada, China, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Korea, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, UK and USA and many more. During the one week festival, the participants are learning the nectar of: kundalini yoga, Iyengar yoga, meditation, pranayama, kriya yoga, yoga nidra, nada yoga, reiki and more. The participants are blessed also with the presence, satsang and divine words of revered saints and spiritual masters, including H.H.

CHENNAI, INDIA, March 7, 2007: The spacious hall is packed to the brim, in fact overflows, and the singer on stage casting a spell on the audience with his high-pitched voice that stirs responses rarely seen in a concert hall. Yes, it is December in Chennai, the southern-most city in India, when the strains of music fill every nook and cranny as the annual music and dance festival is in full flow. We are not experiencing a concert by a leading Carnatic musician as is usually the case during this festival time but a bhajan session given by Sri Vittal Das Jaya krishana Dikshidhar, who comes in the lineage of the legendary Harikatha exponent Sri Senkalipurram Anantharama Dikshidhar. No other show during the entire month-long festival attracts such a gathering, and then you think, often open-mouthed: how is all this possible and that too on a Sunday morning during this nippy Tamil month of Margazi!

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, INDIA, March 3, 2007: In one of world's biggest devotional congregations of women, thousands performed the Pongal ritual at the famous Attukal Devi temple in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday. The entire city became a virtual sea of women when, cutting across caste, class and even religious barriers, women converged to cook the prasadam of rice and jaggery in fresh earthen pots on make-shift hearths, seeking the blessing of the presiding Goddess of the shrine.

Hailed as the women's Sabarimala, the Pongal has even made it to the Guinness Book of Records as a religious event that attracts the largest number of women on a single day. Devotees waited on city roads, streets and by-lanes hours before the ritual began at 10:45 am, when the holy hearth near the temple was lit by the chief priest. Within seconds, the fire exchanged hands and thousands of hearths were lit, making the rice-filled pots bubble and boil over.