Word: hindus
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...have consumed the idyllic homeland of your past, the act of remembering can be an act of pain. For Sudha Koul, a native of wounded Kashmir, memory is all that remains?the memory of magical food, dense family love and the knowledge, once shared by the disputed province's Hindus and Muslims alike, that "we were all Kashmiris and we lived in the most wonderful place on earth...
...claimed tens of thousands of lives, Koul's lovely, elegiac memoir The Tiger Ladies (Beacon Press; 224 pages) shows that the isolated vale in the Himalayas was a heaven before it became a hell. In the simpler pre-partition world of Koul's majestic grandmother and anxious mother, Hindus and Muslims were united by their fiercely unique Kashmiri identity. The greatest threat was a harsh winter and even that, in Koul's lush prose, was to be cherished as a gift...
...waters hold special religious significance for Hindus, thanks to the carvings commissioned by Jayavarman II. The despot ordered part of the river diverted temporarily so that hundreds of phallic images could be carved into the sandstone floors along a shady brook area. These lingams?which actually look no more raunchy than rounded bumps?are surrounded by square outlines that represent the vulva, as per Hindu tradition. Tourists can slosh right into the shallow river to touch or photograph the sculptures through the flowing water...
...conflicts in India stems from one small piece of land in Ayodhya. Originally, a Hindu temple to the God Rama was built there, but in the sixteenth century, Muslims tore down the temple and replaced it with a mosque. This mosque was left standing until a decade ago, when Hindus tore down the mosque, leading to riots in which 2,000 people died. The issue comes down to who should have a house of worship on this land...
...conscious choice to exclude the deaths of hundreds of Muslims from news coverage is not simply an oversight or for lack of interest in international news. Considering that the 57 Hindus who were killed were deemed worthy of the front page, it is highly suspicious that there was no follow up for the Muslim victims. The media must give evenhanded treatment to all regions of the world and all ethnic groups. Otherwise, it will fall into the trap serving prejudicial news in a world that severely needs a better understanding of people different from themselves...