US Hindu reform group condemns rituals by Bachchan

IANS, February 12, 2007

TROY/MICHIGAN: A US-based international Hindu reform organisation has expressed disapproval of the ritualistic ceremonies performed by Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan for his son Abhishek and fiancée Aishwarya Rai.

Aishwarya is a Manglik (astrologically Mars-bearing), which is believed to have negative consequences for her impending marriage. The actress is said to have married a peepal tree at Benaras, a banana tree at a Bangalore temple and a god's idol in Ayodhya.

The organisation Navya Shastra commends the Bachchans for their Hindu religiosity and charitable works but is extremely concerned about their actions, which will have an unhealthy impact on their fan base.

Before announcing their engagement, Abhishek and Aishwarya performed a series of poojas at the Kashi Vishwanath temple and the Sankat Mochan temple in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. After their engagement, the couple also sought the blessings of the deity at the Vindhyavasini Temple.

"What concerns us is that millions of people may rationalise their mistreatment of women based upon the Abhishek-Aishwarya example," said Jaishree Gopal, Navya Shastra Chairman, in a press statement.

"As it is, hundreds of thousands of women, and even some men, have difficulty marrying because of the alleged perniciousness of a random confluence of stars," added Gopal.

The organisation opines that astrology and similar unscientific practices should be renounced in marital matchmaking and other everyday activities in Hindu society.

It claims that much of the so-called Hindu astrology is an imported amalgamation of long-invalidated pseudo-sciences emerging from Babylon, Greece and Persia, and should be discarded as irrelevant to Hindu tradition.

Noting that the religious rationale for untouchability is also based upon an accidental birth, Navya Shastra urges the Bachchans and Aishwarya to renounce such actions.

300 Hindu chanters would 'reorganize the chaos' in Israel

By SHELLY PAZ, Jerusalem Post, Feb. 1, 2007

Three hundred Hindu scholars from India are waiting for visas to come to Israel to "reorganize the Israeli chaos" by chanting and practicing transcendental meditation.

Yoga and chanting are the new technologies for defeating terror, solving national problems and promoting prosperity, peace and invincibility, according to Dr. Alex Kutai of the Institute for the Science of Creative Intelligence, the Hosen Center in Israel. Hosen means strength in Hebrew.

The center wants to bring the 300 Vedic Pandits, who live according to Vedas - the main scriptural texts of Hinduism, also known as the Sanatana Dharma - to chant choruses and practice meditation in order to improve the "collective consciousness."

Kutai, 61, is a 31-year-practitioner of the Veda, a doctor of the Maharishi Research European University in Britain and an expert in the science and technology of natural law.

He said he planned to achieve "national invincibility" for Israel within a few weeks, if given the opportunity, by bringing the 300 Vedic Indians who specialize in a unique way of chanting that "has the power to rearrange the local mayhem."

"The chanting has to be performed with a certain mass of people who are the root square of one percent of the number of the country's population," he said. "In Israel this number is 300," said Kutai, asserting that the resultant positivism and harmony would "help prevent future dangers and intensify the good fortune of the nation."

Kutai said he turned to the Prime Minister's Office and the Interior Ministry to get the necessary approvals for the visitors, "but they are troubled with too many things and corruption scandals so they didn't understand what we wanted."

FBI to investigate role of right wing hindu elements role in disrupting Sikh Muslim relations

By Rob Young, Marysville-Yuba City, California

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

The FBI is helping investigate a threat to destroy the Sikh temple on Tierra Buena Road, Sutter County Sheriff Jim Denney said Tuesday. Copies of the written threat were received in the mail by the sheriff, the Yuba City Police Department.

The threat came as the Sikh Temple prepares for its 27th annual festival and parade through Yuba City on Sunday, an event attended by thousands of Sikhs from around the state and country.

Ed Vasquez, spokesman for the San Jose-based Sikh Communication Council, said local Sikhs and Muslims have had a good working relationship. The council was founded after 9-11 in response to violence against Sikhs whose beards and turbans caused them to be mistaken for Muslims. Sikh leaders suspect the role of right wing hindutva elements behind the hoax letter. Most of the muslims in the area is of Pakistani origin, but do have a very cordial relation with Sikhs.

When an arson fire destroyed the Islamic Center's mosque in 1994, local Sikhs contributed money to help rebuild it, said Abdul Kabir Krambo, spokesman for the Yuba City Islamic Center. Relations between local Sikhs and Muslims are generally good, “depending on who you talk to,” said Krambo.

“Oh, great,” said ,Krambo about the letter. The center's mosque is near the Sikh Temple on Tierra Buena Road. Krambo called the threat “just awful. As if we didn't have enough problems already.”

“We hope this doesn't mean problems between Sikhs and Muslims,” he said.

Threats of violence are inconsistent with the “Sufi-oriented” Muslim religion practiced at the Yuba City mosque, he said.

Krambo said he would warn his Pakistani Muslim friends to be on the lookout for outsiders or “anyone talking crap.”

Bains, Krambo and law enforcement officials said they were unaware of any actual groups called the Muslim Union or Taliban Group or of a Taliban leader being sentenced in India.

Karen Ernst, FBI spokeswoman in Sacramento, said law enforcement agencies don't consider the threat credible but are not totally dismissing it. “We're going to be investigating if there are leads to be followed up on,” said Ernst. “The main thing is that people should feel like they can go about their business and participate without being too terribly worried.”

The letter, which purports to be from the “Muslim Union” and is signed by the “Taliban group,” also contains a threat to destroy the Golden Temple in India because “our leader in India punish by sikh ladi judge.”

The Golden Temple is the holiest Sikh site in India and Muslims and Sikhs enjoy cordial relationship. “We also know they have Sikh temple in Yuba City and they are going to be celebrate Sikh guru birthday the first day of November. We are going to destroy the sikh temple in Yuba City on that day,” the letter went on.

Didar Singh Bains, chairman of the annual Sikh event, said temple leaders were “kind of surprised” by the threat but aren't varying their plans, except for adding extra security.

Since Sept. 11, it's hard to tell which threats are credible, said Bains.

“We are alert,” he said. Denney, who met with temple leaders, said the threat is being taken seriously because it deals with international terrorism.

India's Untouchables turn to Buddhism in protest at discrimination by Hindus

By Justin Huggler in Delhi, Independent UK, 13 October 2006

Across India this month, thousands of Hindus from the former Untouchable castes are converting to Buddhism in protest at the continuing discrimination they face. Mass conversion ceremonies are being held throughout the month, from Delhi in the north, to Hyderabad in the south. Organisers are claiming that more than 100,000 people have already converted.

Conversion is a highly charged political issue. Several states have passed laws this year making it harder to convert, and the mass ceremonies will infuriate Hindu nationalist parties that have been campaigning to stop lower caste Hindus changing their religion.

But for many Dalits, as Untouchables are now known, conversion is the only way to escape the oppression they still face in Hindu society. Untouchability has been illegal in India since independence, but it is still commonly practised. In many villages Dalits are not allowed to drink clean water from a well. In some areas, tea shops keep a different glass for Dalits to use, so higher-caste Hindus are not "polluted" by drinking from the same vessel, even after it has been washed. After the 2004 tsunami, Dalit survivors in Tamil Nadu were prevented from sharing water in relief camps.

Dalits are converting in large numbers this year because it is the 50th anniversary of the conversion of their most important leader of modern times, B R Ambedkar, who first called on Dalits to become Buddhists in order to escape discrimination.

When Mahatma Gandhi was leading non-violent protests against British rule, Ambedkar was using the same methods to demand equal rights for Untouchables. He was critical of Gandhi, and outspoken in his attacks on Hinduism.

"These people are converting as a protest," says Sakya Ponnu Durai, one of the organisers of the mass conversion ceremonies. But Mr Durai, a Dalit who himself converted two years ago, says he has wholeheartedly become a practising Buddhist. "After converting, I have much more satisfaction," he says.

Many of those converting are doing so to escape the menial jobs traditionally assigned to Dalits. Under the rigid rules of the caste system, it is difficult to change to a job reserved for a higher caste. Although this is no longer the case in the cities, in villages it is still practised. Many Dalits are forced to work as scavengers and latrine cleaners.

Mr Durai was more fortunate: his father was in the Indian military and was able to give him a good education in Chennai. But he says he still faced discrimination.

Even at university, Mr Durai says he was badly beaten by higher-caste students enraged that a Dalit had got better marks than them. Today, he is a federal government worker in Delhi. He is fully aware that conversions are a potentially explosive issue. Hindu nationalist parties are unhappy with the large numbers of lower-caste Hindus converting, not only to Buddhism but also Christianity.

This year several states, including Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, have introduced laws that anyone wishing to convert will have to obtain official permission first. Gujarat, home to some of the most hardline Hindu groups, has introduced a more controversial law under which Buddhism is considered part of Hinduism.

In a separate rally this weekend, not connected to the conversion ceremonies, thousands of Dalits plan to burn the new laws.

By a strange irony, as well as the 50th anniversary of Ambedkar's death, the conversions are taking place amid controversy over the funeral of the Dalits' most powerful political leader, Kanshi Ram. Ram had also converted to Buddhism, but some of his relatives objected when his cremation was carried out according to Buddhist rites.

Across India this month, thousands of Hindus from the former Untouchable castes are converting to Buddhism in protest at the continuing discrimination they face. Mass conversion ceremonies are being held throughout the month, from Delhi in the north, to Hyderabad in the south. Organisers are claiming that more than 100,000 people have already converted.

Conversion is a highly charged political issue. Several states have passed laws this year making it harder to convert, and the mass ceremonies will infuriate Hindu nationalist parties that have been campaigning to stop lower caste Hindus changing their religion.

But for many Dalits, as Untouchables are now known, conversion is the only way to escape the oppression they still face in Hindu society. Untouchability has been illegal in India since independence, but it is still commonly practised. In many villages Dalits are not allowed to drink clean water from a well. In some areas, tea shops keep a different glass for Dalits to use, so higher-caste Hindus are not "polluted" by drinking from the same vessel, even after it has been washed. After the 2004 tsunami, Dalit survivors in Tamil Nadu were prevented from sharing water in relief camps.

Dalits are converting in large numbers this year because it is the 50th anniversary of the conversion of their most important leader of modern times, B R Ambedkar, who first called on Dalits to become Buddhists in order to escape discrimination.

When Mahatma Gandhi was leading non-violent protests against British rule, Ambedkar was using the same methods to demand equal rights for Untouchables. He was critical of Gandhi, and outspoken in his attacks on Hinduism.

"These people are converting as a protest," says Sakya Ponnu Durai, one of the organisers of the mass conversion ceremonies. But Mr Durai, a Dalit who himself converted two years ago, says he has wholeheartedly become a practising Buddhist. "After converting, I have much more satisfaction," he says.

Many of those converting are doing so to escape the menial jobs traditionally assigned to Dalits. Under the rigid rules of the caste system, it is difficult to change to a job reserved for a higher caste. Although this is no longer the case in the cities, in villages it is still practised. Many Dalits are forced to work as scavengers and latrine cleaners.

Mr Durai was more fortunate: his father was in the Indian military and was able to give him a good education in Chennai. But he says he still faced discrimination.

Even at university, Mr Durai says he was badly beaten by higher-caste students enraged that a Dalit had got better marks than them. Today, he is a federal government worker in Delhi. He is fully aware that conversions are a potentially explosive issue. Hindu nationalist parties are unhappy with the large numbers of lower-caste Hindus converting, not only to Buddhism but also Christianity.

This year several states, including Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, have introduced laws that anyone wishing to convert will have to obtain official permission first. Gujarat, home to some of the most hardline Hindu groups, has introduced a more controversial law under which Buddhism is considered part of Hinduism.

In a separate rally this weekend, not connected to the conversion ceremonies, thousands of Dalits plan to burn the new laws.

By a strange irony, as well as the 50th anniversary of Ambedkar's death, the conversions are taking place amid controversy over the funeral of the Dalits' most powerful political leader, Kanshi Ram. Ram had also converted to Buddhism, but some of his relatives objected when his cremation was carried out according to Buddhist rites.

Over 25,000 child marriages on one day of MP Hindu festival, "Akshay Trityaa"

Superstition fuels child marriages in MP

Kumar Shakti Shekhar, NDTV.COM Sunday, April 30, 2006

(Bhopal):

Atleast 24 under aged couples about to get married in a mass wedding ceremony at Shivpuri in Madhya Pradesh, have been detained by the police.

These mass weddings are organised to mark 'Akshay trityaa' or akha teej.

The day is considered by Hindus as auspicious for weddings, but it has come to be associated more with the illegal practice of child marriage that still prevails in various parts of India.

But many among those detained are now refuting the allegation of being a minor.

One boy Madho Singh, allegedly a minor, has been detained in Rajgarh police station. He was to be married on May 3.

"I am a resident of Sanghi village. I was being taken to Bana village when the police came and arrested us. No, it was not my wedding today but I was supposed to get married in another 2-3 days. I have not done anything wrong as I am 22-years-old," he said.

Long-standing faith

Akshay Trityaa falls on the third day of the second half of the Hindi month of Vaishakh every year.

It is people's long-standing faith that couples live a long and happy life if they enter into wedlock on the occasion.

Thousands of marriages, including child marriages, are thus taking place in Madhya Pradesh at this time.

As a result of this, the infant and female mortality rates are high in the state. While the national average of female mortality is 407 per lakh, it is 498 in Madhya Pradesh.

Govt apathy

As against the infant mortality national average of 60 per 1,000, Madhya Pradesh has recorded 85 per 1,000.

Despite this the state government has shirked off all responsibility and has failed to launch a yearlong campaign with people's participation. As a result, the evil tradition continues.

State government advertisements on child marriages are considered illegal but the warning has hardly had any impact.

Child marriages take place on a large scale in Madhya Pradesh on Akshay Trityaa and the state government's writ goes only as far as the advertisements.

"I feel that no child marriage will take place this year. We will not let it happen. We are committed to totally checking child marriages in the state," said Kusum Singh Mehdele, Women and Child Development Minister, MP.

But anyone who dares to challenge the tradition is threatened with brutality. Last year a woman's hands were chopped off for trying to stop child marriage.

Sad reality

Madhya Pradesh leads the country in infant and female mortality rates and social workers blame child marriages for the sad reality.

"Whatever the claims of the government and official circulars may be, over 25,000 child marriages on one day cannot stop without political will and the fixing of accountability on ministers and officials," said Sachin Jain, social worker, Bhopal.

The state government's campaign to check child marriage will hardly have an impact since it was launched merely a few days before the Akshay Trityaa. It can prove useful only if run throughout the year.

S African Indian minister resigns after sex scandal

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

DURBAN: South African Indian provincial government minister Narend Singh, who led several initiatives to improve ties with India, has resigned after newspapers splashed pictures of him in a sex romp at a hotel with the wife of a prominent local businessman.

A steamy DVD of a tryst between Singh and Roseanne Narandas, a boutique owner and wife of well-known jeweller Bob Narandas, has been circulating for weeks now.

Earlier this week, Singh was adamant that it was a personal matter and that he would not step down as minister of arts, culture and tourism in KwaZulu-Natal province, where he has also served a term as education minister.

But late Tuesday Singh announced his departure from politics at a tearful meeting at his palatial home south of here, in what was also a show of support from his wife of 30 years, Manitha, daughter Keshika Singh, son-in-law Raveen Behari and son Shikar.

Although the provincial premier, S'bu Ndebele, had given Singh 10 days leave of absence while police investigate the motives behind the distribution of the DVD at schools and in private home post boxes, Singh announced his resignation but said he would remain a member of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) led by Zulu leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi.

Singh said he found it "sad" that such a personal and private thing had become a "part of the public domain, in a way that is highly destructive and embarrassing".

Singh said he had resigned because of the huge strain on his family, which he said had been totally supportive.

"While serving the community is close to my heart, I am not prepared to sacrifice the pride and dignity of my family at the altar of blackmail and political backstabbing," Singh said.

Police are investigating alleged blackmail attempts after Singh was told that the DVD would be distributed publicly if he did not withdraw from a provincial and local government election that was held across South Africa March 1 this year.

Singh, who has visited India a number of times, has always been a firm supporter of mutual cooperation between the two countries. A devout Hindu, Singh has also visited a number of Hindu shrines in India, and said he had received support from the head of the Divine Life Society in South Africa, Swami Sahajananda, during his crisis

Roseanne Narandas earlier rejected suggestions that she may have been instrumental in orchestrating the DVD after the national weekly Sunday Times printed extracts from the DVD with a report that Narandas had allegedly steered Singh towards the hidden camera.

Narandas, who also claimed that her husband and family were supporting her, said she would not do anything deliberately that would embarrass her family, which is also a prominent one here.

Although Singh claimed he had been forced to resign because his private life had been made public, supporters of the Moral Regeneration Campaign in South Africa have welcomed his move, saying as a minister of state, he had a duty to set an example.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1459106.cms

http://www.thepost.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=1&fArticleId=3168771

Untouchability’ does not spare IAS officer

Wednesday, 15 March 2006

From Anand V Yamnur DH News Service Gulbarga:

Even when the news of Dalits being denied water from a community tank in a village of Koppal district looms in the minds of the people, a similar case has come to light in a village of Surpur taluk of Gulbarga district.

Even when the news of Dalits being denied water from a community tank in a village of Koppal district looms in the minds of the people, a similar case has come to light in a village of Surpur taluk of Gulbarga district.

A Dalit IAS officer has been denied permission by the forward castes to conduct the marriage of his kin in the community hall of a temple.

Amidst complaints that Dalits are still facing untouchability in their own villages, the latest victim of this practice is none other than Pre-University Examination Board Director Gonal Bheemappa.

Untouchability is apparently still in vogue in Devar Gonal village in Surpur taluk of the district, the native of Mr Gonal Bheemappa. The Mouneshwar temple in the village is a symbol of communal amity with both Hindus and Muslims converging to pray.

However, the managing committee of the temple denied permission to Mr Bheemappa to hold the marriage of his younger brother’s son in the community hall attached to the temple, just because he is a Dalit.

Common practice

When Mr Bheemappa's younger brother Kenchappa Gonal sought his help for conducting his son Hanumantha’s wedding in the temple community hall, the former telephoned temple managing committee members Basavalingayya and Basavanthrai, both teachers by profession, for permission.

It is a common practice in the village to hold marriages in the temple and the feast in the community hall.

However, permission was flatly refused and the marriage was held at Gopalaswami temple at Surpur.

This in spite of Mr Gonal Bheemappa being a donor of the temple, said his brother Kenchappa. Bheemappa is even denied entry into the temple and has to be content praying from outside.

Apart from Dalits being denied entry inside the Mouneshwar temple, separate cups and utensils are kept for Dalits at hotels in the village.

The same practice prevails in about 40 other villages in Surpur taluk.

Kenchappa told Deccan Herald that as he did not wish to make an issue, he did not repeat his request to the temple management or complain to Surpur Tahsildar, who is the Chairman of the temple managing committee. The temple comes under Muzrai department.

British Sikhs and Hindus seek open-air cremations

Thursday, 09 February 2006

LONDON - Britain’s Hindus and Sikhs want the right to stage open-air cremations on funeral pyres so their dead can take an unimpeded path to reincarnation. “Without these essential last rites, the soul languishes in restless torment,” said Davender Ghai of the Anglo-Asian Friendship Society, a charity that is seeking to overturn a 75-year-old ban.

They are offended by the use of gas-powered crematorium furnaces and fearful that the ashes could be inadvertently mixed with others. Arguing that the law unfairly penalises followers of both religions, the charity has asked permission from local authorities in the northern English city of Newcastle to cremate their dead in the open air.

If the council refuses, they plan to take their case to the High Court in London and the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg if necessary. Up to 70 percent of people who die in Britain every year are cremated. Ghai said that at present many Hindus and Sikhs “take the ashes to the river Ganges because they think the last rites are not proper here because of gas-fuelled crematoriums.

“I am not blaming the funeral directors. They do their best but ashes should not be mixed,” he told Reuters. More than 550,000 Hindus and an estimated 320,000 Sikhs live in Britain where open-air cremations have been banned since 1930 amid environmental concerns over mercury emissions.

“This is the first time we have asked for anything. I am just praying and hoping,” Ghai said.

Andrew Bogan, legal adviser to the charity’s 2,000 members, said it was sad and poignant that having made their home in Britain, they should have to go continents away to find peace for their dead.

Explaining the sensitivities, he said: “Reincarnation is the fundamental tenet of the Hindu religion and the point of death and the ceremony and disposal to a large degree determines transmigration of the soul and its next embodiment. “Under no circumstances must there be any intermingling of the ashes. Modern crematoriums have up to 12 services a day so guaranteeing this is just not possible. For Hindus that is catastrophic.” A spokesman for Newcastle City Council said of the proposal: ”Until we have had time to examine the legal, environmental and financial implications involved, we are not in a position to comment.” But Bogan said he was he was confident of victory, concluding, “We are gathering signatures for a petition but we don’t want to bang the door down yet and start jumping on the desk.”

Hindu 'sect' mother starved herself to death in London

By Sukhi Anand, This is Local London Network
Saturday 16th December 2006

A MEMBER of a Hindu "sect" starved herself to death, just two years after her daughter died from malnutrition. Nirmala Vashram, 44, of Scarle Road, Wembley, weighed just under four stones when she was found in her bed last March.

Police believe the mother-of-two had been dead for some time when they found her emaciated body, an inquest heard yesterday morning. Mrs Vashram's daughter, Dina Premji, was only 20 when she also died of starvation in 2003.

Both women were devoted followers of Mataji, a little known branch of Hinduism and had been depriving themselves of food since a trip to India in 1999 when they met a "holy-man".

DS John Cardow, of Brent police, told Hornsey Coroner's Court: "Nirmala was a member of a sect. She was known to have extreme religious beliefs. Last March, her son called 999 and said his mother had stopped breathing. When the ambulance arrived they found her emaciated body. She looked skeletal and was in the foetal position. "She was regularly being supplied with food but refused to eat or drink."

It is believed Nirmala promised not to accept any form of western medical treatment as part of a penance she undertook in India. Doctor Michael Jarmulowicz, who carried out the post mortem, gave the cause of death as malnutrition and said: "She was the lightest adult I have ever examined.

"We could not straighten her legs at all."

The complex case was delayed by the remaining family's refusal to believe Dina or Nirmala were dead. Speaking after the inquest, DS Cardow said: "The family would never go against their mother's wishes and believed her death was god's will. Their concept of death is very different to ours, they were sending cards and gifts to the mortuary for months after her death.

"We believe Nirmala intended to return to the holy-man to have the penance removed but for some reason she took it to the extreme." Nirmala and her daughter were finally buried in a double funeral last year, which was carried out on behalf of Brent council.

Coroner Dr William Dolman recorded a verdict of "natural causes aggravated by self-neglect" and said: "Nirmala Vashram had voluntarily decided not to take food, clearly for some time. This was in response to a religious belief."