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.

Talk:Dharma sastra-Ānhika tripuṇdravidhi

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

Tripuṇdravidhi[edit]

In Sanatana tradition mainly males applying bhasma on the forehead and on the other parts of the body is an essential part. Three horizontal lines applied with bhasma are called Tripuṇdra. There are various interpretations for three lines. Some scriptures interpret that the three lines represent three vedas, the first and foremost line represents sāma veda, the middle line represents yajur veda and the last line represents ṛig veda -

ūrdhvapuṇḍraṃ bhavet sāma madhyapuṇḍraṃ yajūṃṣi ca || adhaḥ puṇḍraṃṛcassākṣāt tasmat puṇḍraṃ trayāyuṣaṃ |[1]

According to devi bhāgavatam three horizontal lines represent trimūtis i.e. bramha, viṣṇu and śiva. The first line represents bramha, the sencond line represents lord viṣṇu and the last line represents śiva.

bramha-viṣṇu-maheśāna-stisro rekhā iti smṛtāḥ | ādyo bramhā tato viṣṇu-stadūrdhvaṃ tu maheśvaraḥ ||[2]

tripuṇdram with kumkum

According to boudhāyana, one of the commentators of vedas, in the phrase bhūtyai na prmaditavyaṃ[3], the word bhūti means vibhūti i.e. bhasma. And the whole phrase means one should apply bhasma without fail, and thus applying bhasma comes under the category of nitya karma.

  1. smṛti muktāphalaṃ, p.no.301
  2. devībhāgavatam - 11th skandha -11th sarga - sloka - 25, gita press, p.no.597
  3. tattiriopaniṣad-sikṣavalli, smṛti muktāphalaṃ, p.no.301