Posts Categorized: Religion

America’s Largest Hindu Temple Opens in NJ

  By Lavina Melwani, Hinduism Today, Hawaii, January 1, 2004 All photos from BAPS You can now travel to india without boarding a plane or even leaving your home in America! Indeed, you will think you have arrived in 17th-century India, but you are actually in a small, very American town—Robbinsville, New Jersey. In this… Read more »

ICJ: Parliamentary Privilege Used to Undermine Independence of the Judiciary

Sri Lanka by International Commission of Jurists, Geneva, August 30, 2023 The ICJ today expressed concern about attacks on the independence of the judiciary in Sri Lanka under cover of parliamentary privilege. On 22 August 2023, Sarath Weeresekera, a former Minister and a Member of Parliament belonging to the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, the country’s ruling political… Read more »

Map of Buddhist Sites in NE by Cyril Mathew in 1970

Posted on Facebook by Sarawanan Komathi Nadarasa, June 10, 2023 [Translated from Tamil by Google Translate with some changes by the Editor.]   Under the guise of Buddhist archaelology, a map of places to be occupied in the North and East was prepared in 1970. I don’t know how many of us know that Cyril… Read more »

Kurundi: A Runway To ’56?

by Tissaranee Gunaratne, Colombo Telegraph, June 18, 2023 “Already the snow falls…” ~ Karl Kraus words in verses III In his fifth labour, Heracles cleans the Augean Stables by rerouting the rivers Alpheus and Peneus through the filthy abode of King Augeas’ divine cattle. Many believed that the Aragalaya would have a similarly cleansing effect on… Read more »

The Politics of Archaeology Spreads Discord in the North and East

by Maatram, courtesy Groundviews, Colombo, May 23, 2023 Media personnel and activists are reporting several cases of Hindu religious sites being damaged, relics removed and Buddhist statues erected in their place with the collaboration of the Department of Archaeology. Hindu kovils are being re-named as Buddhist temples. There are reports of land grabs from Tamil villagers by the military and monks… Read more »

USCIRF Recommends Sri Lanka for Special Watch List

by US Commission on International Religious Freedom, May 1, 2023 USCIRF Annual Report 2023 – Sri Lanka RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE U.S. GOVERNMENT ■ Include Sri Lanka on the Special Watch List for engaging in or tolerating severe violations of religious freedom pursuant to the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA); ■ Direct U.S. Embassy officials to… Read more »

Ancient Hindu Shrine on Kurunthoormalai Hill was Destroyed by Soldiers

led by Minister Vidura Wickramanayake states Jaffna District MP Sumanthiran in Parliament;Urges Govt not to Continue in Racist Direction 9903_25th+april+2023.pdf (amazonaws.com) (Excerpts from Speech made in Parliament on 25 April 2023 by Jaffna District TNA Parliamentarian MA Sumanthiran PC) Video of the speech at https://fb.watch/kcEU-YAWeR/ I am mentioning this Kurunthoormalai issue and according to the… Read more »

Tamils Flag Escalating Attacks on Temples in Northern Sri Lanka

by Meera Srinivasan, The Hindu, Chennai, April 23, 2023 Several Tamil political parties have called for a protest on April 25 against the recent temple attacks, among other issues Tamils in Sri Lanka have witnessed an escalation in the attack on Hindu temples in recent weeks, a trend that they note is part of the… Read more »

Idol Politics: Knowledge and Action

by A.Nillanthan, March 25, 2023 In the North, more than three statues have been opened in the last one week alone. Along with Nataraja statue, Valluvar statue, Sangliyan statue, there is a bell obelisk in Tirunelveli market. We looked at the politics behind these idols in last week’s article.The religious politics behind these idols should… Read more »

Overseas Temples & Tamil Migratory Space

by Pierre-Yves Trouillet, South Asia Multidisciplinary Research Journal, 2012 Abstract Temples have been places of major importance for Tamil societies for more than fifteen centuries. Following the migration of Tamilians from South India, the perpetuation overseas of their tradition as temple builders and the creation of a Tamil diaspora, they can now be found on the… Read more »

A Soldier’s Dream

by A. Nillanthan, March 4, 2023 [translated from the original Tamil by Google Translate, with some improvement by the Editor.] The soldier said on the last day that Buddha had appeared in a dream to him in a army camp in Nilavara on the island of Sri Lanka. As Rauf Hakeem once said, the statues… Read more »

Murugeysen Tiruchelvam and Koneswaram Issue

by DBS Jeyaraj, Daily Mirror, Colombo, November 19, 2022 Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader and Trincomalee district MP Rajavarothayam Sampanthan wrote a politically important letter to President Ranil Wickremesinghe on September 14, 2022.    In that detailed missive, the veteran Tamil MP pinpointed several measures being enacted under the current regime affecting the Tamil people…. Read more »

MP Sampanthan Letter re Thirukkoneshwaram Temple

by TNA leader MP Sampanthan to Pres. Ranil Wickremesinghe, September 14, 2022 THIRUKONESHWARAM – “DAKSHANA KAILASH” RENOWNED HINDU TEMPLE IN TRINCOMALEE AND TRINCOMALEE HARBOUR I am informed that in recent times certain meetings have been held in Trincomalee wherein activities relating to the above two institutions Thirukoneshwaram – Dakshana Kailash and Trincomalee Harbour have been… Read more »

Racial Discrimination a Bane to Progress

by Dishan Joseph, Daily News, Colombo, July 22, 2022  “It is not our differences that divide us, but our inability to recognize, accept and celebrate those differences” – American poet Audre Lorde Our beautiful Motherland Sri Lanka is a nation embellished with centuries of recorded history. When we delve into this history we can see… Read more »

Sex, Repression & Sanskritization in Sri Lanka 1987

The 1987 Stirling Award Essay by Dennis McGilvray, Ethos, American Anthropological Association, Vol. 16, No. 2 (June 1988), pp. 99-127 The_1987_Stirling_Award_Essay_Sex_Repres Since 1952, when the concept of Sanskritization was first utilized by M. N. Srinivas in his study of the Coorgs of western India, the idea has been a useful, if at times ambiguous, tool… Read more »

Myanmar Coup: Military Regime Seeks to Weaponize Religion

In a propaganda blitz, the military portrays itself as the guardian of Buddhism and stokes fear of a Muslim takeover. by Billy Ford, Zarchi Oo, US Institute of Peace, Washington, DC, December 16, 2021 Ten months have passed since Myanmar’s military overthrew the country’s elected government, and by now it’s apparent that arrests, executions, torture… Read more »

The Archeology of Buddhism

by Jason D. Hawkes, University of Leiden, February-May 2021 13 lecture series at The Archaeology of Buddhism – Leiden University MediaSpace™ video portal Colonial origins of South Asian archeology, Lecture 1.3 at The Archaeology of Buddhism, Lecture 1.3 – Leiden University MediaSpace™ video portal

Karthigai Deepam: The Light of the Gods

by Anuradha Srinivasan, Sri Lalitam Trust, Pondicherry, December 6, 2021 Rows of unlit lamps dot both sides of the street, all the way to the village temple tank. Women dressed in colourful silk saris, draw intricate geometric patterns, or kolams, at the entrance to their house. In the centre of each kolam stands a kuthu… Read more »

Sri Lanka’s Muslims Face Backlash

Two Years After Easter Attacks Sri Lankan government ramps up restrictions on minority community. by Jumaina Siddiqui, Melissa Nosell, US Institute for Peace, Washington, DC, April 29, 2021 Two years after the Easter Sunday attacks that left 269 dead and injured more than 500, Sri Lanka’s Christian community is still waiting for justice while its… Read more »

Sri Lanka’s Muslims Face Backlash

Two years after Easter attacks Sri Lankan government ramps up restrictions on minority community. by Jumaina Siddiqui & Melissa Nozell, US Institute for Peace, Washington, DC, Thursday, April 29, 2021 Two years after the Easter Sunday attacks that left 269 dead and injured more than 500, Sri Lanka’s Christian community is still waiting for justice… Read more »