All posts by Rajesh Patel

Jaffna, Sri Lanka (CHAKRA)– Many Hindus and Hindu cultural organizations are shocked after hearing about plans to demolish around twenty-seven Hindu temples and ancient cultural monuments, as a result of a road expansion program in Jaffna, Kankesanthurai. Many organizations are voicing their concerns about the threat to Tamil cultural symbols under the guise of a development [...]

At one point in the Ramayana, Indrajit (Ravana's eldest son) launched a massive attack against a section of Rama's army, causing massive slaughter. When Jambhavan (the commander) arrived at the scene to survey the damage, the first thing he said was, "Is Hanuman alive?" [...]

Eating food with the hands in today’s Western society can sometimes be perceived as being unhygienic, bad mannered and primitive. However within Indian culture there is an old saying that " eating food with your hands feeds not only the body but also the mind and the spirit". [...]

Kali is one of the best known, but poorly understood forms of the Goddess. She is dark destructive and terrible in image. She is allied to the forces of death and destruction. The most common image of Kali shows her dancing on Shiva. This article aims to give an insight into Hinduism\'s use of such [...]

Most 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants who are born and brought up in a country could never imagine being expelled from it, and one would hope that such an event would never happen. Yet Ugandan Indians had been settled in the country for an even longer time. They were uprooted almost overnight, their homes, businesses [...]

Sri Aurobindo was one of the greatest philosophers, revolutionary ,mystics and visionaries of modern history. He was a major leader in India's freedom movement. Later in life he became a sage and scholar. His teachings have attracted many people from all around the world. The ashram that he founded is still thriving today, and centres [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Banning Sanskrit education in common schools from private schools in the valley to the remote public school they have officially bought an halt to Sanskrit teaching. From the start of their uprising they have used the threats of bloodshed in event of defiance as their prime weapon against  traditional language. The example of Sunsari’s Rādhākṛṣṇa saṃskṛta [...]