hinduism

The late Ram Swarup (1920-98), definitely the most important Hindu philosopher of independent India’s first half-century, liked to point out that other cultures had traditions similar to Hinduism before Christianity or Islam wiped them out. As he put it in his path‑breaking study of polytheism, The Word as Revelation (1980): “There was a time when [...]

Standing on a packed train on the way home from university, I was feeling terrible. It had been a hard week, I was annoyed with several colleagues, the train had been delayed and everybody nearby seemed to be coughing and sneezing on me! In the rush to get onto the train people were barging each [...]

Flames and aromatic fumes rose from a small pit as a family gathered around the Agnihotra, a sacrificial fire and special ceremony held Sunday at the Arya Samaj Greater Houston and Vedic Culture Center. The whole temple chanted traditional mantras, verses from the Veda, the four sacred and ancient books of Hinduism, specifically related to [...]

The increasing destruction, desecration and removal of Hindu temples in Malaysia has highlighted an ugly side to a nation which has been much vaunted as both an economic success story and as a successful model of multiculturalism. [Talking to any one of the many Malaysian students who study degree courses at British universities, and bring [...]

When one looks at the immense sea of knowledge that has come down to us from the Vedic civilization one cannot help but feel overwhelmed at the timeless grandeur and depth of such wisdom. Wisdom that has not only cast its eternal light upon the earth but wisdom that has laid the primal foundations for [...]

In 2004 Hindu Human Rights Group contacted the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation )over its tabloid programme Secret Swami which portrayed India’s venerated Guru Sri Sathya Sai Baba in an ill founded, malicious light. However this elicited no response from BBC and it is interesting to note that the aforementioned documentary by journalist Tanya Datta is [...]

Out of all the deities in the Hindu pantheon Ganesh, is one of the most popular. He is the ‘Remover of Obstacles’, and ‘Leader of the Celestials’. Each aspect of the image of a Hindu deity contains a meaning or message. Here we use the image of Ganesh to demonstrate this, and relate it to [...]

The construction of a Buddhist Vihara in the site after the destruction of several decade old Pi’l’laiyaar temple at Kokku’laay in Mullaith-theevu district cannot be allowed, said C.Yogeswaran, Batticaloa district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian in a memorandum to Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister D.M.Jayatrena who also hold the post of Ministry of Buddha Sasana. Mr Yogeswaran [...]

No less a person than Mahatma Gandhi once estimated that nearly a quarter of Hindus had converted to Islam over the past on thousand years. How true is this statement ? [...]

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. This definitely holds true with the images of Hindu deities. Taking the image of Lord Shiva, this article investigates some aspects of Shiva’s image…the crescent moon near his head, the river Ganga flowing from his hair and the dark blue neck. What can we learn from [...]