Latest Hindu News

COLOMBO, SRI LANKA, April 30, 2007: Six persons including a Hindu priest were killed when the Sri Lankan Navy stormed a Hindu temple on an island off the northern Jaffna peninsula Sunday. The military claimed five of them were rebels belonging to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) who had taken cover inside the temple and attacked the navy, which arrived at the location to carry out a search operation. But the pro-rebel Tamilnet website said that six persons were killed when the navy carried out a search operation following an attack on a group of sailors on the previous day where a naval officer was killed on Kayts island, 420 km north of the capital. There was no independent confirmation about the incident. Fighting in the north and eastern parts of Sri Lanka has left over 4,000 dead and more than 200,000 displaced during the past 15 months.

COLUMBO, SRI LANKA, April 21, 2007: Peace and prosperity -- That's what people hope for each New Year. Pudhu Varudam marks the beginning of the Hindu Solar Calendar (Almanac) on the first of the Tamil month of Chittirai when the sun moves from the last house of the Zodiac (Pisces), to the first house (Aries). The Tamil people rise early on New Year's morning and have their ritual bath. Each member of the family is anointed with Maruththu Neer before the bath. It is a decoction of a variety of medicinal herbs, leaves, flowers, saffron etc., prepared by temple priests and available only at temples. Herbs and flowers used in the preparation are lotus, pomegranate, vilvam, aruham grass, saffron, thitpili, sukku and pepper. The ritual bath signifies the outer purity making way to spiritual purity. After wearing the new clothes in colors given in the Panchangam, family members gather in the shrine room for a special puja.

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.

A Hindu healing tradition that is very popular in India and Sri Lanka is called Ayurveda. This treatment helps the individual with their doshas: vata, pitta, and kapha. These areas create a person...

This year, Rama Navami festival falls on 27th March. Coinciding with the festival, several Hindu groups across the world have launched a campaign centering of the heritage of Lord Rama. The Rama Sethu - a thin bride which connects India to Sri Lanka is one of the most important physical landmarks [...]

When I heard that the India lost to Bangladesh, and later Sri Lanka, in the Cricket World Cup, I must have been only Indian who was actually [...]

This year, Rama Navami festival falls on 27th March. Coinciding with the festival, several Hindu groups across the world have launched a campaign centering of the heritage of Lord Rama. The Rama Sethu - a thin bride which connects India to Sri Lanka is one of the most important physical landmarks [...]

When I heard that the India lost to Bangladesh, and later Sri Lanka, in the Cricket World Cup, I must have been only Indian who was actually [...]

Sri Lanka's casinos are among the very few that are legal in South Asia. In fact, the whole country is rather more laid back and unstuffy about such things than anywhere else in the region. This is pr...