Dealing with Misrepresentation of

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Dealing with Misrepresentation of India and Indic
Traditions An ESHI Presentation
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Voltaire, one of the greatest French philosophers
"I am convinced that everything has come down to
us from the banks of the Ganges
It is very important to note that some 2,500
years ago at the least Pythagoras went from Samoa
to the Ganges to learn geometry ...
But he would certainly not have undertaken such a
strange journey had the reputation of the
Brahmins' science not been long established in
Europe.
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"India is the cradle of the human race, the
birthplace of human speech, the mother of
history, grandmother of legend, and great grand
mother of tradition. Our most valuable and most
instructive materials in the history of man are
treasured up in India only." - Mark Twain
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Albert Einstein said "We owe a lot to Indians,
who taught us how to count, without which no
worthwhile scientific discovery could have been
made."
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Will Durant "India was the mother of our race
and Sanskrit the mother of Europe's languages.
She was the mother of our philosophy, mother
through the Arabs, of much of our mathematics,
mother through Buddha, of the ideals embodied in
Christianity, mother through village communities
of self-government and democracy. Mother India is
in many ways the mother of us all."
"India will teach us the tolerance and gentleness
of mature mind, understanding spirit and a
unifying, pacifying love for all human beings."
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Yes! They are talking about our heritage
Philosophy, Science, Mathematics, Medicine,
Music, Culture and Religion.
And yet, what we teach our children
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How world is represented St Louis, a picture
postcard
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How world is represented Dubai, UAE, a picture
postcard
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And India Can you tell the City?
This is Mumbai!
Your personal photo album has a better picture of
Mumbai!
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India Continued If you didn't know this is
Chennai!
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India Continued - Jaipur, Our pink City
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India Continued
Caption reads This Indian woman is wearing a
sari,
Obviously, the authors Cannot tell a Sari from a
Lehnga!
One wonders - Who writes textbooks on India!!!
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Examples from California textbook for Grade VI
Oxford University Press textbook reads The
monkey king Hanuman loved Rama so much that it is
said that he is present every time the Ramayana
is told. So look aroundsee any monkeys?
There is more
But in southern India, Divali is the time for
worshipping a demon king. According to local
traditions, Vishnu conquered the local demon king
Bali, and then banished him from his kingdom
forever in the netherworld. Bali begged
Vishnu.especially new clothes.
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Examples from California textbook for Grade VI
Holt textbook reads However, Hinduism also
taught that women were inferior to men. As a
result, Hindu women were not allowed to read the
Vedas or other sacred texts.
The truth is that more than 20 sages of the Vedas
were women alone!
There is more The Ramayana, written later than
the Mahabharata,
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Examples from California textbook for Grade VI
from Harcourt School Publisher Hindi is
written with the Arabic alphabet, which uses 18
letters that stand for sounds
And from Teachers Curriculum Institute To recite
them Vedas orally, the Brahmins had to memorize
more than 100,000 verses!. We all know that all
the Vedas put together has less than 30,000
verses!
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California textbook for Grade VI
Indian groups consisting of academics, temples
and Ashrams took up correcting the errors with CA
Department of Education.
A professor of Sanskrit from Harvard University
sent a petition opposing corrections. Neither him
nor the signatories could have possibly read 100s
of recommendations between Nov 5th and Nov 8th,
yet they charged In Conclusion the proposed
textbook changes are unscholarly, are politically
and religiously motivated,
Perhaps, they did not even read the original
textbook. One wonders what their motivation is?
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Classroom experience of our children (Texas)
Every day, young desi children and teenagers are
unreasonably tormented because of our perceived
background. The school textbooks are half the
cause.
Why pick on us Hindus and Indic traditions?
In words of a student The average American
doesn't know squat about India, and with the help
of poorly researched textbooks, they learn
nonsense.
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Classroom experience of our children (Texas)
The teacher Well,Mr. West says standing up and
going to the chalk board, from what I understand
Hindoos are all about caste system. And he
begins a long irrelevant, and incorrect
explanation, which he memorized from our
textbook.
The student I dont even bother correcting him,
to save myself from anymore embarrassment. I
wanted to get out of there. Fast. I can already
feel my stomach sink what did I do to deserve
this?
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Trisha Parsricha of Houston, Texas
appeals Reading what you or your childs Social
Studies textbooks says on India and Hinduism and
writing a simple letter or email to the editor
can make a world of difference not only for you
but for thousands of others. A letter to the
Board of Education for your district cant hurt
either,
We have ignored the issue for too long. Its time
we act, not for ourselves, but for our children.
This will help groom well-informed individuals
all over America, and not just in our homes. Our
children will then take pride in their heritage!
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There is a total disconnect between what we know
of India and how it is presented.
The stereo-types and negativity is a very
embarrassing experience to our children to an
extent that they want to dissociate.
Embarrassment also leads to emotional stress
within our families, enhances generation gap.
ESHI has taken this challenge and Professors
from universities all across USA are taking lead.
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Educators Society for the Heritage of India
(ESHI) is a non-profit organization founded in
2003 for this very purpose.
ESHI has built a network of Educators. Over 100
professors from various American Universities
have come on board ESHI to take this cause up.
There are many temples, Ashrams, Indian
Organizations who support ESHI towards this cause.
Leading Authors and Gurus of Vedas and Indian
Philosophy are working with ESHI.
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• School Textbook is just the tip of the iceberg
• ESHI is working in other areas including
• College/University publications and books
• Media Radio, Television and Web
• Magazines
• Libraries
• Museums

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ESHI partners with many organizations Training to
teachers on Indic Culture, through Indic Culture
and Training Seminars (ICATS), India in
Classrooms and Meru Foundation. Hindu
University of America. A Full time curriculum and
instructions expert (Ph.D.) to lead the textbook
correction in all states. Resources to teachers
through a network of academics. NetOHM (Network
of Hindu Minds) a young professionals
organization whose members have experienced the
embarrassment in the classrooms. All Indic
traditions and religions are represented by ESHI.
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ESHI is an organization of Academicians and
professionals, supported by Temples, Sampradayas,
Ashramas, and all Indic religious traditions -
Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism.
Our Children are the future and we do not want
them to grow with embarrassment, learning wrong
things and loose pride. Hindu Parents and the
community leaders are very important since its
our children and their future.

• ESHI is a
• network of experts,
• a platform to make the right changes and
• help the world understand our heritage.

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• ESHI Strategy
• Serve as a network and utilize local strength
• Bring all Hindu academicians, religious and
  community leaders together (already has over 100
  academicians)
• Legal team to deal with discrimination etc.
• Organize leaders locally to represent ESHI and
  Hindu community to the DOE in each state.
• Steer a coordination committee for coordination
  among all the organizations