Source NEW DELHI/THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, INDIA, July 6, 2011 (NDTV): The Supreme Court has ordered that the multibillion-dollar treasure found at a Kerala temple will now be filmed and photographed. The vaults of the Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple, sealed for close to 150 year according to some estimates, is being supervised by two former judges of the Kerala High Court, appointed observers by…
Source PICKERING, ONTARIO, CANADA, June 30, 2011 (News Durham): The Devi Mandir Hindu Temple in Pickering is expanding and a grant from the Ontario government is helping cover the costs. The Satya Sanatan Dharma Cultural Sabha of Canada, also known as Devi Mandir, will receive $422,300 over 18 months. The money will go towards repairs and upgrades of the facility…
Source DHAKA, BANGLADESH, June 30, 2011 (msn): Religious minorities, including Hindus, in Bangladesh slammed the approval of the 15th constitutional amendment bill that retains Islam as the state religion as it goes against the secular character of the 1972 constitution. Bangladesh”s Parliament approved the 15th Amendment Bill 2011 that scraps the controversial nonpartisan caretaker system to conduct general elections and…
Source Everything changes, everything passes; things appearing, things disappearing. But when all is over–being and extinction both transcended–still, the basic emptiness and silence abide, and that is blissful peace.— Mystical song from a Hindu story
Source SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA, July 2011: It has taken half a century, but archaeologists in Cambodia have finally completed the renovation of an ancient Angkor temple described as the world’s largest three dimensional puzzle. Cambodian King Sihamoni and French Prime Minister Francois Fillon will be among the first to tour the impressive three-tier temple during an inauguration ceremony on July…
Source KERALA, INDIA, July 4, 2011 (India Today): Opinion is divided on the ownership of the treasure at the Kerala’s Padmanabha temple. The discovery has sparked off a controversy as to what happens to the treasure now. Does it belong to the public or to the royal family? Former High Court Judge M.N. Krishnan said, “We are expected to take…
Source THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, INDIA, July 3, 2011 (TImes of India): Treasure continued to tumble out of the Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple here on Saturday with a Supreme Court-appointed committee finding more gold idols, coins and other assets on the sixth day of inspection in the shrine’s hidden vaults. Unconfirmed reports said the total value of all assets recovered from the shrine…
Source INDIA, May 20, 2011 (RNL): For centuries devadasis played a special role in Hindu temples rituals in India, but since being banned in 1947, much of their history and art have been forgotten. Devadasi (“Servant of God”) is an old Hindu tradition in which girls were ‘married’ and dedicated to a God or to a temple. The tradition includes…
Source PURI, ORISSA, July 4, 2011 (Indo-Asian News Service): Tens of thousands flocked to Orissa’s Jagannath Temple in Puri as the annual chariot festival or Rath Yatra began on Sunday. All the rituals have began almost on scheduled time, Laxmidhar Pujapanda, the public relations officer of Jagannath Temple, said. The festival marks the journey of three Hindu Deities – Jagannath,…
Source Intelligence is finite, but stupidity knows no limits.— Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (1927-2001), founder of Hinduism Today