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Saturday, February 03, 2024

Here’s How the Hindu Supremacist Movement Is Infiltrating US Politics

As the 100-year-old movement in India celebrates a key victory, a new report reveals its ties with the US far right.

By Samantha Agarwal , TRUTHOUT   February 2, 2024
Activists of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) conduct Hindu rituals to ensure a win for U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump in Allahabad, India, on May 18, 2016.
RITESH SHUKLA / NURPHOTO VIA GETTY IMAGES

At 1:30 am on the bitterly cold night of January 22, around 50 people gathered at New York City’s Times Square. The crowd had assembled to watch a live telecast of the consecration of the Ram Mandir, a temple to the Hindu deity Rama in the northern Indian city of Ayodhya, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Built on the ruins of a 16th-century mosque destroyed by a Hindu supremacist mob in 1992, the new state-sponsored Ram temple has become a milestone in the 100-year march to power of the Hindu supremacist movement, also known as Hindutva.

On this winter night, members of the Indian diaspora had congregated in one of the country’s most visible public spaces to bear witness to what they saw as a historic achievement. The crowd glanced expectantly at the towering screens, and, when energy lagged, a few among them led the group in chants of “Jai Shri Ram” (hail Lord Ram) and waved triangular, saffron-colored flags — an unmistakable symbol of the Hindu supremacist movement. (The slogan Jai Shri Ram has been appropriated as a Hindu supremacist slogan over a course of a number of violent campaigns and has become a murder cry during lynchings and assassinations.) Yet, as time dragged on, it became clear that the awaited livestream was not forthcoming.

Whether the advertising space was in fact secured for a screening or not was in the end immaterial. The “news” of the Times Square live telecast had been disseminated in the Indian media and had thus served to validate a story that Hindu supremacists have spent years cultivating: that the Indian diaspora is unanimous in its support for Modi’s India. In fact, the use of Times Square as a symbol of global legitimacy, even when such expressions have been deeply contested, has been a repeated strategy of the Hindu far right in the U.S.

It seemed even the hopeful Times Square attendees understood this ars bellica on some level, which kept their mood from souring too much. “It was supposed to be out here… but it’s too bad,” said Paras Pandhare, with a shrug and a laugh. For Pandhare and other attendees that evening, the moment they had gathered to celebrate was a grand historical occasion, marking the end of what they deemed to be a five-century era of subservience. “India is on the rise again, and it deserves to be,” Pandhare added pridefully.

The Centrality of the Ram Temple to Hindu Supremacist Politics


In a way, the Times Square debacle reflected the broader dynamics that color Hindu nationalism, and in particular the Ram temple movement. As in many fascist movements of the past, its membership and supporters have been far less concerned with facts than with the larger aim of reclaiming the nation from their imagined enemies. The central premise of the Ram temple movement — that a Mughal king named Babur demolished a Ram temple to build the Babri Mosque on the exact birthplace of Lord Ram — are claims that arose in the 19th century from various Hindu groups, but have never been proven, and are unlikely to ever be.

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In the 1980s, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a mass cultural organization which formed in 1964 as part of the Hindu supremacist movement, capitalized on this mythology, turning it into a national campaign to replace the Babri Masjid (mosque) with a new Ram temple. A few years later, the newly formed Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which rules India today, helped propel the “Ram Janmabhoomi” (birthplace of Ram) campaign into the mainstream, first through a 10-state, 10,000-kilometer “rath yatra” (chariot procession) in 1990 and then in 1992 in the demolition of the mosque. The razing of the mosque set off a series of interreligious riots that killed at least 2,000 people, most of them Muslim. This is considered by many to be one of the most tragic moments in India’s post-independence history.

Nonetheless, the Ram temple issue has been a watershed for Hindu supremacists and especially the BJP. Prior to this campaign, in the federal elections of 1984, the BJP won a paltry two seats in the Indian parliament. By 1989, its strength had grown to 85 seats. Ten years later, its seat share had nearly doubled to 161. Today, it has a full majority in India’s multiparty democracy at 303 of the 543 seats. In the past 35 years, the temple has gone from being a site of grievance for Hindu supremacists to a symbol of their triumph. Its construction further rounds out a full decade of Narendra Modi’s rule, during which India saw rising casteist and religious violence, the passage of discriminatory citizenship and anti-conversion laws which target Muslims and Christians, and political disenfranchisement of Indian-occupied Kashmir.

Although the dust from the inauguration of the temple has barely settled, in anticipation of the upcoming national elections Hindu supremacist groups in India and the U.S. are already lining up the next violent usurpation. Times Square rang with chants translating to “Ayodhya is just a preview, Kashi and Mathura are next,” threatening the destruction of two other historically contested mosques. The VHP’s U.S.-based affiliate, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America, also put out a press release demanding that a mosque in Kashi be converted into a temple. The promise for the destruction of more mosques and the communal violence that will inevitably follow, will continue to be used to buttress the Hindu far right’s majoritarian claims.

The Global Reach of Hindu Supremacy


The Hindu nationalist project has long been transnational, and has deep roots in the U.S. A report detailing this history has recently been launched by a new coalition called Savera: United Against Supremacy, which describes itself as a multiracial, interfaith platform against the rising tide of supremacist politics. Titled “The Global VHP’s Trail of Violence,” this report highlights the growing connections between the Hindu supremacist movement in the United States and the American far right, as well the former’s complicity in multiple instances of deadly anti-minority violence in India.

In particular, the report draws attention to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America, or VHP-A, established in 1970, which is the apex Hindu supremacist organization in the U.S with 21 chapters around the country. Although the VHP-A claims to be “legally separate and operationally independent” of the VHP in India, in moments of celebration — as in the past week — it has often been keen to emphasize its central role in the broader Hindu supremacist movement, and in advancing the programmatic agenda of the VHP.

While the VHP-A was not officially connected to the Times Square gathering, it claimed credit for organizing a number of parallel events including large gatherings in San Francisco, Houston, Chicago and Washington, D.C. In these celebrations, the VHP-A boasted of its role in supporting the demolition of the mosque and the construction of the Ram Mandir, corroborating the revelations of the Savera report. In addition to calling for more mosque demolitions, it recently announced a new pan-U.S. “rath yatra” or chariot march, using the same term used by the movement that demolished the Babri Masjid in 1992 and sparked frequent incidents of communal violence in its wake. This hate caravan that caused widespread violence in India will now be an affront to Muslims in the U.S.

The Savera report shows that the VHP-A has played a continuous role in Hindu supremacist violence, not just during the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, but also in the 2002 anti-Muslim riots in the state of Gujarat, the 2008 anti-Christian riots in the state of Odisha and the infamous 2020 riots in India’s capital of Delhi. In this latest spate of violence, a VHP-A member from Houston, Sachin Chitlangia, both helped run the online platform of and personally raised over $115,000 for Kapil Mishra, who is widely seen as one of the key architects of the Delhi violence.

The VHP-A also tried to platform another hatemonger and monk, Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati, an instigator of the Delhi riots, at an online religious event a year later. “Those we call Muslims in our current era were called demons in earlier eras,” Narsinghanand has said. “Islam should be eradicated from Earth … all Muslims should be eliminated.” The VHP-A had to pull back after progressive groups raised a stink, but their associate Vibhuti Jha went ahead, inviting Narsinghanand to his channel. Jha himself said that “our youth must be trained for war.”

But while VHP-A has contributed to violence in India, it has also worked to fortify far right groups and movements in the U.S. For example, the report recounts the 2012 Stop Islamization of Nations Conference, hosted by infamous Islamophobes Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller, whose organizations have been designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as hate groups. At the conference, Babu Suseelan, a long time Hindu supremacist leader and VHP member based in the U.S., preached, “If we do not kill the bacteria, the bacteria will kill us. Muslims will breed like rats and they will be a majority.” He continued, “Islam can be stopped! And it can be wiped out.”

“The extent to which Hindu supremacist groups are emerging as important players in global far right and anti-Muslim networks is a matter of deep concern, and we hope Savera’s report sparks further investigation into the topic,” said Wendy Via, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism. This is illustrated by the ways in which Spencer has increasingly pandered to an Indian far right audience, including by writing his Twitter handle in Devanagari (the alphabet used for Sanskrit, Hindi, and other Indian languages). In toto, the Savera report documented nearly a dozen such links between far right actors in the U.S. and the VHP-A, its members and affiliates.

© SAVERA 2024 – REPRINTED UNDER CC 4.0

The extent to which the Hindu far right is seeding Trump-aligned candidates is also touched upon. The former 2024 Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who attended two fundraiser galas hosted by the VHP-A’s advocacy wings, is a well-known example. But Ramaswamy is just the tip of a much broader phenomenon. A notable example mentioned in the Savera report is Manga Anantatmula, a VHP-A leader who played a critical role in the campaign against affirmative action that eventually resulted in the 2023 Supreme Court decision which ruled affirmative action protections unconstitutional. (Immediately following the decision, VHP-A’s advocacy wing tweeted: “We welcome #AffirmativeAction ruling by the #SCOTUS.”)

Anantatmula has since used that involvement to launch her congressional election campaign in Virginia’s 16th district. In a recent episode framed around strategies to flip Indian American votes to the far right on Vibhuti Jha’s show (Jha has run for state office on a Republican ticket as well), Anantatmula invoked the alarmist discourse of white supremacists in her messaging to Hindus. “Let’s not be daydreamers, thinking that bringing your paycheck home is enough to take care of your family. No, your next generation is about to be hanged,” she said. “If they think that Hindus are safe in this country, they are not safe.”

Finally, Hindu nationalists have been savvy enough not to limit their allegiances to the right-wing camp. There are a number of prominent Democrats including Ro Khanna (D-California), Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Illinois) and Preston Kulkarni (Texas congressional candidate) who have accepted campaign contributions from Hindu nationalists and are friendly with the VHP-A or allied organizations. Some of them, like Maryland’s Gov. Wes Moore and Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller, deny their ties to Hindu supremacists while depending heavily on these very groups for campaign finance. Although this is not a focus of the Savera report, it is important to understand how so-called liberal Indian Americans are also contributing to the right-wing compact.

The Intersectional Struggle Against the Hindu Far Right


In this context, South Asians in the U.S. have an important role and responsibility in building mass resistance to Hindu supremacy. We can start by educating individuals within our communities about the threat posed by Hindutva (Hindu supremacy) and U.S.-based organizations like the VHP-A. Savera’s new report goes a long way in supplying the information that is needed for such a conversation. Other useful resources include Georgetown’s Bridge Initiative’s VHPA Factsheet, Hindutva Watch and the anti-Hindutva Harassment Manual by the South Asia Scholar Activist Collective.

Moreover, from supremacist chants at Times Square to Anantatmula’s credentials in the attack on affirmative action, it is evident that Hindu supremacy and white supremacy are increasingly joined at the hip — and that many actors in both movements seem willing to put aside their internal contradictions to advance a common majoritarian agenda. The same can be said of the deepening political, economic and ideological ties between Zionism and Hindutva, the stakes of which have never been higher. The Hindu supremacists have not only cheered on Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza but have capitalized on it to demonize Muslims in India.

Additionally, the U.S. foreign policy establishment’s effort to make India a “strategic defense partner” in the U.S.’s rivalry with China has revealed the bipartisan nature of Hindutva’s U.S. base. While the Obama administration worked to rehabilitate Modi (after he was blacklisted by the U.S. government for nearly 10 years due his role in the 2002 Gujarat pogroms) as part of its “Pivot to Asia” policy, President Donald Trump signed over $3 billion in arms deals with India. And despite Modi’s worsening record of human rights abuses, the Biden administration has now given a “free pass” to Modi in order to maintain this “strategic” partnership. Not even an attempted assassination of a U.S. citizen seems to have gotten in the way of another $4 billion in drone sales to India under the current U.S. administration. Biden’s enabling of the first livestreamed genocide in world history further suggests that no caste atrocity or anti-Muslim pogrom will be too much for the U.S. to stomach in the course of its imperial pursuits.

In this context, the South Asian progressives must concentrate on building new movement coalitions that are not only interracial, internationalist and interfaith but also grassroots and responsible to members rather than “national interests.” Defeating the far right will further require us to take an unwavering stance against casteism, racism and ethnonationalism in all of their manifestations. The formation of Savera is thus a welcome development. If the existential challenges we face are so deeply interconnected, movements on the left must cross traditional siloes too, the coalition argues in its report. “It’s a moment of great crisis and precarity, but also one that has produced deep clarity about our interconnectedness.”



SAMANTHA AGARWALl is currently a Changemaker Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of International Service at American University. Her work is on the intersection of caste inequality and ethnonationalism in India.


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Friday, November 24, 2023

Caste equality advocates in the US vow not to give up

Leah Carter in Los Angeles

California's governor vetoed a historic bill to add caste as a protected category, but efforts to recognize discrimination in the United Statescontinue to pick up steam.

Prem Pariyar (far right) and other members of Californians for Caste Equity pose together
Image: Prem Pariyar

When Prem Pariyar arrived in the US from Nepal in 2015, he didn't expect that he would be sleeping in a van or on couches in employee housing due to his caste affiliation.

"I thought caste discrimination does not exist here. I was very depressed," Pariyar told DW.

Pariyar, a descendant of a family in the Hindu Dalit caste, sometimes referred to discriminatorily as the "Untouchables", is one of many South Asian advocates pushing forward efforts to legally recognize caste discrimination in the US.

While caste is commonly referred to in the context of Hinduism and India, it is a social hierarchy system that is thousands of years old and recognized in several countries across the region, including Nepal, where Pariyar grew up.

"We need to educate everyone so that this system will be stopped," he told DW. "We are isolated generation to generation. There is intergenerational trauma."
Caste discrimination crossing borders

Pariyar decided to come to the US after his family was violently attacked because of their caste in the middle of the night in their home in the capital, Kathmandu.

When he tried to file charges against the assailant, the authorities did nothing, and even threatened him for taking action.

He proceeded to find a job at a restaurant in the US, where his employer offered to house him. However, his colleagues in the house wouldn't share a room with him, making casteist claims and slurs. So, he slept on the couch, instead.

Pariyar, who is now on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Social Workers, California Chapter, said his story is not unique. While he had hoped to leave this form of discrimination behind in Nepal, he said he and several others have faced significant hurdles in employment and even safety upon coming to the US.


There are over 5.4 million South Asians in the US, with the majority concentrated in California. They are one of the largest growing demographic groups in the country, with many people coming to work in the tech industry in California's Silicon Valley.

Many US-based Dalits say the system of discrimination has followed them, resulting in harassment, sabotage in the workplace and even violence.

In recent years, activists have united under new groups such as the Californians for Caste Equity Coalition and Equality Labs, which were both instrumental in the push for legal recognitions.

Legal setback


Last month, following over a year of advocacy and a month-long hunger strike, California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed Senate Bill 403, which would have made the state the first to include caste in the list of protected classes under civil rights laws.

The bill would have offered employment and housing protections alongside categories such as race, gender and sexual orientation.

However, despite an overwhelming majority (31-5 in the Senate), Newsom called the bill "unnecessary," saying that protections against caste-based discrimination are covered legally under already existing protections that "shall be liberally construed."

The veto created an uproar on both sides of the South Asian community, spurring rallies at the capitol, lobbying lines through hallways, and a hunger strike in favor of the bill.

Those opposing the bill, such as the Hindu American Foundation, called it both racist and a potential "constitutional disaster," which would have "put a target on hundreds of thousands of Californians simply because of their ethnicity or racial identity."

Critics of Newsom's veto decision have said that he made the move in order to maintain relations with a growing Hindu voting base, which largely upholds the caste system.

"Through this process, we shined a light on a long-hidden form of discrimination that persists across multiple communities in California," said Senator Aisha Wahab, the first Muslim and Afghan American woman elected to the state legislature, and the author of the bill.


Efforts pick up steam

Despite the veto, Fresno, a city in California's Central Valley, unanimously agreed to ban caste-based discrimination specifically, about a week prior.

In February, Seattle became the first US city to outlaw caste-based discrimination. Educational institutions, including California State University, Harvard, Brandeis and University of California – Davis, all in recent years have made separate legal provisions on the matter.

Meanwhile, the corporate world has also added to the movement, with tech giants including Apple and IBM updating employee policies to include caste discrimination in recent years.

Those protections follow a 2020 lawsuit initiated by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing against Cisco, a $195 billion (€178 billion) company, on the grounds that a Dalit employee had been severely discriminated against by supervisors of a "higher" caste.

Had caste discrimination been recognized then, advocates say, the employee could have won the case.

For now, Pariyar says recent legal efforts have united the Dalit community and others fighting for protections.

"Many more cities are rethinking caste," he said. "Before, I was alone. Now, our people are united, and our voice is one to combat this."




 

Indian-origin doctor commits $4 million for Hindu advocacy in US

Indian-origin doctor Mihir Meghani has pledged to donate $1.5 million more to the Hindu cause over the next eight years, taking the total number to $4 million.

Indian-American physician Mihir Meghani. (Photo:X)

Hinduism is not just a religion, it's a way of life, a prominent Indian-American physician, who has committed $4 million to advocate Hindu advocacy and awareness causes in the United States, has said.

Emergency care physician Mihir Meghani, who founded the Hindu America Foundation along with his friends two decades ago, at the annual Silicon Valley gala early this month of the organisation pledged to donate $1.5 million more to the Hindu cause over the next eight years.

This contribution will raise his total donations for the cause to $4 million in two decades.

The announcement by Dr Meghani possibly gives him the distinction of being the biggest Indian American donor for the Hindu cause in the United States.

“My wife, Tanvi and I, have contributed $1.5 million to the Hindu American Foundation thus far. We've also contributed a million dollars more over the last 15 years to other Hindu and Indian organisations and causes. Over the next eight years, we're making a pledge of $1.5 million to pro-India and Hindu organisations,” Dr Meghani told PTI in a recent interview.

“I say this to all of you who are viewing this to realise that I don't have a startup company. I don't have any side businesses. I'm an emergency doctor on a salary. My wife is a fitness instructor and a jewellery designer. We're not making millions of dollars a year. We don't have stock options. We're doing this because it's our Dharma, it's our duty,” he said.

Just out of university, Dr Meghani and three of his friends Aseem Shukla, an associate professor in urologic surgery; Suhag Shukla, an attorney and Nikhil Joshi, a labour law attorney co-founded the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) in September 2003, the first of its kind Hindu advocacy group in the US.

Responding to a question, Dr Meghani said Hinduism is not as easily understood by most Americans because most Americans are Christian. “They come from an Abrahamic background. When they look at different religions, they can't understand that Hinduism is not just a religion, it's a way of life. It's a way of thinking about life," he said.

Hindus who are coming from India don't quite understand that they have a Hindu identity and an Indian national identity, he said, adding: "We need to talk about that".

"What we need are Hindus to be strong in the Bharatiya or Indian identity, which is the political identity for our civilisation, but also they should be very proud and open about their Hindu identity. And when they have that, their coworkers, their friends, and neighbours will understand us better,” he said.

One of the early successes of HAF in Washington DC, he said, was to get Diwali recognised in the US.

"Now you can see that Diwali is celebrated at the White House, with the Vice President, in the US Congress and all across different state and local governments across the country. But it took time to get there,” he said about the three-year effort by them.

The Hindu American Foundation, which in its initial years was all based on volunteerism, now has an annual budget of $2.5 million and has several full-time staffers. Its goal is to increase its budget to $5 million next year and $20 million by the end of the decade, he said.


Sunday, November 12, 2023


What is Diwali, the Festival of Lights, and how is it celebrated in India and the diaspora?

DEEPA BHARATH
Thu, November 9, 2023






India Festival
People look at lanterns displayed for sale at roadside stalls ahead of Diwali festival in Mumbai, India, Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023. 
(AP Ph

Diwali is the most important festival of the year in India — and for Hindus in particular.

It is celebrated across faiths by more than a billion people in the world’s most populous nation and the diaspora. Over five days, people take part in festive gatherings, fireworks displays, feasts and prayer.

Diwali is derived from the word “Deepavali,” which means “a row of lights.” Celebrants light rows of traditional clay oil lamps outside their homes to symbolize the victory of light over darkness and knowledge over ignorance.


WHEN IS DIWALI?

The dates of the festival are based on the Hindu lunar calendar, typically falling in late October or early November.

This year, Diwali begins Nov. 10 and the festival will be observed on Nov. 12.

WHAT ARE SOME HINDU STORIES OF DIWALI?

While Diwali is a major religious festival for Hindus, it is also observed by Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists. The origin story of Diwali varies depending on the region. All these stories have one underlying theme — the victory of good over evil.

In southern India, Diwali celebrates the victory of Lord Krishna’s destruction of the demon Naraka who is said to have imprisoned women and tormented his subjects. In northern India, Diwali honors the triumphant return of Lord Rama, his wife Sita, and brother Lakshmana, from a 14-year exile in the forest.

HOW IS DIWALI CELEBRATED?

The festival brings with it a number of unique traditions, which also vary by the region. What all celebrations have in common are the lights, fireworks, feasting, new clothes and praying.

—In southern India, many have an early morning warm oil bath to symbolize bathing in the holy River Ganges as a form of physical and spiritual purification.

—In the north, worshipping the Goddess Lakshmi, who symbolizes wealth and prosperity, is the norm.

Gambling is a popular tradition because of the belief whoever gambled on Diwali night would prosper throughout the year. Many people buy gold on the first day of Diwali, known as Dhanteras — an act they believe will bring them good luck.

Setting off firecrackers is a cherished tradition, as is exchanging sweets and gifts among friends and family. Diwali celebrations typically feature rangoli, which are geometric, floral patterns drawn on the floor using colorful powders.

WHAT ARE THE DIWALI STORIES FROM OTHER FAITHS?

Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs have their own Diwali stories:

—Jains observe Diwali as the day the Lord Mahavira, the last of the great teachers, attained nirvana, which is liberation from the cycle of birth, death and rebirth.

—Sikhs celebrate Bandi Chhor Divas — a day that overlaps with Diwali — to commemorate the release of Guru Hargobind, a revered figure in the faith, who had been imprisoned for 12 years by the Mughal emperor Jahangir.

—Buddhists observe the day as one when the Hindu Emperor Ashoka, who ruled in the third century B.C., converted to Buddhism.

___

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.





Diwali is Sunday: Here's what to know about the Hindu holiday (and some tasty recipes)

James Powel, USA TODAY
Updated Fri, November 10, 2023 

Members of the South Asian community will be celebrating one of the important days on their religious calendar on Sunday.

Diwali, the five-day festival of lights, kicks off Friday and will include sweet treats and artistic combinations of flowers, powder, rice or sand called rangolis to bring good luck and fireworks.

The holiday, also called Deepavali which translates to "a row of lamps and lights," centers around clay pots that are placed around homes and places of worship that symbolize the light within man that can overcome the darkness of ignorance, according to the Hindu American Foundation.

The celebration is a public holiday in many parts of India and is recognized on the New York City school holiday calendar.

Here's what to know about Diwali.

Thousands turned out at the Diwali celebration at Papaianni Park in Edison on Nov. 4, 2023.

What does Diwali celebrate?

Many Hindus observe Diwali as a day of celebrating the return of Prince Rama of Ayodhya, his wife Sita, and brother Lakshman after 14 years of exile, according to the Hindu American Foundation. Some Hindus celebrate the holiday as the day Lord Krishna defeated the demon king Narakasura.

Diwali is also celebrated by Jains, Sikhs, and some Buddhists with each honoring different portions of their cultural histories.

The common thread between the cultural interpretations of the holiday is the victory of light over darkness.
When is Diwali?

This year Diwali begins November 10 and runs until November 15.

Report: As turkey prices drop, cost of some Thanksgiving side dishes go up
How is Diwali celebrated?

The festival is celebrated across five days with each day having particular rituals associated with them.

Day 1 Dhanteras: Celebrants clean their homes, make rangolis and kolam, a decorative art drawn with rice flour, and shop for and prepare food


Day 2 Chhoti Diwali, Kalichauda: Referred to as "small Diwali" celebrants decorate their homes and place clay pots


Day 3 Diwali: The height of the holiday, celebrants wear their best clothes, light lamps and have as much light as possible in their homes and watch fireworks


Day 4 Annakut, Padwa, Govardhan Puja: Considered by many celebrants as the first day of the new year, the day is one of thanksgiving and reflection

Day 5 Bhai Duj, Bhai Bheej: A day to celebrate brother-sister relationsips, siblings gather to honor their bond




What is eaten during Diwali?

The festival is known for its sweet snacks that are eaten throughout the five days. Commonly consumed treats include: motichur laddu a sugary concoction that melts in your mouth, jalebiis a spiral-shaped sweet made of all-purpose flour, gram flour and sugar syrup and gulab jamun is a dessert made of small balls (like the size of donut holes) dipped in a pool of rose-flavored sugar syrup.

Here are some recipes to consider if you are partaking in the festival this year:
Date and nut bar (khajoor tukda)

These bars are made from dates, cashews, almonds and pistachios without added sugar. They make great power bars. This recipe is from "Beyond the Curry with Bharti," by Bharti Sanghavi.

Makes: 15 pieces

Ingredients:

¼ cup raw almonds, cut in half widthwise


¼ cup raw cashew pieces


¼ cup raw pistachios


½ pound Medjool dates, fresh, pitted (about 13 dates)


½ teaspoon ghee, plus more for brushing (see note)

Instructions:

Mix all nuts, and dry roast in a medium pan over medium heat on the stovetop for four or five minutes, stirring occasionally so they toast evenly. Set aside.


In a small pan, saute dates for 2 minutes over medium heat. They will melt into a thick pulp.


Remove dates from heat, and add nuts. Mix well.


Brush a cutting board and rolling pan with ½ teaspoon ghee. Make a smooth ball from date and nut mixture and roll into a ½ inch thick square sheet on the cutting board.


Brush ghee on top of mixture. Let it cool for 15 to 20 minutes.


Cut into 1½ by 1½ inch squares.

Store in refrigerator. Serve at room temperature.

Note: Ghee is clarified butter that is sold at Indian markets and at many other grocers. It can be made at home by melting butter until the milk solids separate and come to rest on the bottom of the pan; pour off the clarified liquid butter, leaving the solids behind. Allow to cool and solidify.
Lentil crispies (chorafali)

Chorafali is a traditional Diwali festival snack. Originating from the Indian state of Gujarat, chorafali is highly anticipated on the Diwali table, since it’s usually made once a year. Chorafali are light and fluffy snacks that melt in your mouth. This recipe is a personal recipe from Bharti Sanghavi, who runs Indian Groceries & Spices in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin.

Makes: 10 cups

Ingredients:

½ cup water, plus 2 tablespoons


½ teaspoon salt


½ teaspoon baking soda or papad khar (alkaline salt)


3 teaspoons of any neutral oil, plus more for deep frying and oiling surface


2 cups gram flour (besan or chickpea flour)


1 cup urad (lentil) flour (see note)


1 teaspoon red chile powder


1 teaspoon black salt

Instructions:

In a small pot, bring ½ cup water, salt, baking soda and oil to a boil. Turn off heat.


In a large mixing bowl, combine flours. Little by little, add hot water mixture, mixing with a spoon. Add another 2 tablespoons of room-temperature water to make a firm dough.


Knead dough with a little oil on a flat surface. Let rest for 15 minutes.


Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the chile powder and black salt to garnish the finished chips later.


Halve the rested dough so kneading is easier. Knead one portion for a few minutes until the dough's color lightens.


Roll dough into a rope about 7 inches long and cut into even 7 equal pieces. Roll each piece with a rolling pin until it's 5 inches wide. Cut into ½-inch-wide strips.


Heat 1 to 2 inches of oil in a wok or heavy medium pot to 375 degrees. Place 2 or 3 strips into the oil and fry until golden brown on both sides. It will take a few seconds for them to puff up after adding them to the oil. Remove, using a slotted spoon, and drain on paper towel. Sprinkle a bit of red chile powder and black salt on top.

Repeat with remaining dough.

Serve at room temperature. Store in airtight jars for 3 to 4 weeks.


This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: When is Diwali 2023, what is the holiday and why is it celebrated?

Diwali 2023: The symbolic foods eaten during the Festival of Lights

Olivia Petter
Fri, November 10, 2023 

Diwali 2023: The symbolic foods eaten during the Festival of Lights


Diwali, the festival lights, sees millions of people attend events across the world every autumn to celebrate the triumph of good over evil.

Celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs and Jains, Diwali is one of the most significant festivals in Indian culture and calls for a number of traditional dishes.

From the popular sweet treats to the savoury main meals, here are some of the key foods eaten over the course of the five-day celebration, which this year begins on Sunday 12 November.
Mithai

(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

South Asian sweets and desserts are called mithai and are a staple part of Diwali celebrations.

Many of the treats are fried foods made from sugar, chickpea flour and condensed milk.

They vary between regions but common ones include balushahi, which are a bit like doughnuts, laddoos and barfis.

They can be eaten alongside savoury items or eaten alone as a snack.

It is custom to exchange decorated boxes of mithai among family and friends during Diwali.
Chivda

(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Snacks are a fundamental part of the Diwali menu and many of them come in the form of chivda, a spiced Bombay mix that consists of a variety of dried ingredients, such as peanuts, chickpeas, fried onion and fried lentils.

Sometimes, it’s eaten as part of a meal but most of the time it’s enjoyed on its own as a snack.

Lapsi Halwa

(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

This sweet dish is often eaten on the very first day of Diwali and is made from large-grain cracked wheat, which is then cooked with ghee and sweetened with sugar and cardamom powder.

It’s incredibly popular and is often served with a yardlong bean curry, as the beans are thought to represent longevity.
Aloo Tikki

(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

These small, fried patties are made from shredded potatoes and are usually served alongside regional sauces, such as mint sauce or tamarind sauce.

They look and taste a bit like potato pancakes and are usually crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, making them an irresistible traditional Indian delicacy.
Samosas

(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Though they’re eaten all year round, samosas peak in popularity around Diwali.

The fried pockets of pastry usually come in the shape of a triangle and are stuffed with either mince meat, lentils or vegetables.

Because Diwali is all about celebrating the sweetness of life, special sweet versions are often made to mark the festival, containing ingredients such as coconut, cardamom and of course, sugar.


Why Diwali Remains My Most Treasured Holiday of the Year

Manali Jobanputra
Thu, November 9, 2023

From delicious foods to decorations and gift-giving, the annual Hindu festival of lights celebrated in late fall is a full-on family affair.




The Spruce Eats / Bahareh Niati

As the air turns crisp, and the city comes alive with shimmering lights, my heart fills with bubbling excitement and anticipation because Diwali is just around the corner.

It’s the time when Maa turns us into Monica Geller and we embark on a mission to clean every nook and cranny of the house, which is the prime step in preparing for Diwali. We spend at least three weeks meticulously scrubbing, swabbing, and washing everything until it’s Monica clean.

Besides cleaning, another prerequisite and my favorite pre-Diwali tradition is preparing faral, the snacks and sweets for the holiday. There are umpteen varieties and these treats vary based on region, tradition, and family preferences. Our family favorites are mathri (a flaky biscuit), chakli (a spiky spiral of fried dough), chiwda (a fried snack mix), and coconut ladoo (round sweet treats). Among these, coconut laddoos hold an extremely special place in my heart. They are the essence of my Diwali.
My Love of Coconut Ladoos

As a child, I couldn’t yet partake in preparing faral so I spent my time sitting around the kitchen adoring Maa. I yearned for the day I would be able to join in. To include me, Maa came up with a little ritual.



The Spruce Eats / Bahareh Niati

When making coconut ladoos; she would prepare the ladoo mix, and include us to help roll and shape them. We sat on the patio, rolling ladoos and sharing laughs. My brother and I couldn't resist gobbling up a couple, which led to Maa's playful scolding since we ate them before offering bhog (food offered to god). What started as a little ritual to make me feel included has now become a cherished tradition in our family. To this day, we make ladoos together.

By the way, my brother and I are still sneaking ladoos, and Maa has finally given up on scolding us! The aroma of coconuts, our family gathered around, sharing laughter and stories while shaping ladoos is a priceless memory that always warms my heart.
Preparing for Diwali as a Family

Now that I am grown up, both Maa and I prepare the faral. Mathri is an essential companion to our evening chai, without which no chai-time is truly complete. Chiwda, a cherished childhood tiffin snack, is yet another perfect chai-time companion. Mohanthal is the melt-in-the-mouth sweet that we savor between meals (or any opportunity we get). And there are so many more dishes.

In addition to our homemade delights, we also buy ready-made sweet boxes–gifting these during Diwali is a customary practice. These sweet boxes feature an array of other tantalizing treats such as kaju katli and badam katli (fudge-like sweets made with cashews and almonds, respectively), soan papdi (a flaky sweet), motichoor laddoo (another kind of sweet ball), and more delights that we don’t usually prepare at home.

Apart from food, decoration such as lanterns, lights, rangolis (temporary floor designs using a mix of materials), diyas (candles), and torans (decorative door hangings), are all an integral part of Diwali. My brother and I take great joy in adorning the house every year, and the glimmer of colorful lights and decor at dusk creates a truly breathtaking sight.



The Spruce Eats / Bahareh Niati
Diwali Gifts and More Beautiful Traditions

Another enjoyable tradition is shopping, encompassing everything from clothing and crackers to jewelry and even real estate. As Diwali marks the most auspicious time of the year, people often make substantial investments, including purchasing homes, cars, and gold. Our family has a cherished tradition of buying gold, and my dad delights both Maa and me with beautiful gold jewelry. This custom has now extended to my husband, who also surprises me with some exquisite jewelry.

A vital aspect of our celebration involves acts of kindness, especially towards the unsung heroes–our community helpers. Through sweets and gifts, we express our heartfelt gratitude to them. Celebrating with them not only heightens our own joy but also enriches the festive spirit with a profound sense of purpose and significance.



The Spruce Eats / Bahareh Niati

Diwali is that special time of the year when we willingly wake up at 4 AM, without an alarm or Mom's reverberating wake-up call. Mornings begin with bursting crackers and are followed by pooja (a Hindi word that means prayer and worship). Each of the five days of Diwali marks a different occasion hence a different pooja. We pray and offer gratitude for our family, home, and other precious belongings. Following the pooja, as we seek blessings from our elders, we are graciously gifted with naik, a monetary blessing. My brother loves this tradition as he is the youngest, so we all shower him with cash and he feels like he is the next Bezos.

The evening festivities are adorned with the warm glow of diyas, family reunions, faral, and of course crackers. The day after Diwali marks the beginning of the new year as per the Hindu calendar, and we welcome it surrounded by our loved ones with immense joy, fun, and blessings.

If this has sparked your excitement too and you're eager to partake in Diwali celebrations, I've included recipes for some of these mouthwatering dishes below. Give them a whirl and fully embrace the delightful spirit of our Desi festivities.

Get the Recipes

Mathri

Coconut Laddoo


Chivda

Wishing you a very happy Diwali and prosperous new year!

Read the original article on The Spruce Eats.



SEE







Wednesday, October 25, 2023

In the Hindu diaspora, dancers and feminists celebrate the modern cultural significance of Navaratri

Throughout the United States, South Asian Americans young and old have come out to dance garba, the folk dance that began as a devotional form of worship and has now become a cultural phenomenon for Hindus and non-Hindus alike.


People dance during the Dandiya Drop garba in New York City. Photo by Misha Patel

(RNS) — The garba, a folk dance from western India once performed by women at home to celebrate the Hindu goddess Durga, has improbably inspired Bollywood-sized performances at social gatherings and competitions in the United States.

The garba originated in Gujarat, the state along India’s western coast, as part of celebrations of the holiday of Dussehra that marks the end of Navaratri, a nine-day festival of devotion to the Hindu goddess Durga that ends Tuesday (Oct. 24).

Honoring the divine feminine energy of Durga and her incarnations, the garba, whose name comes from the Sanskrit word for womb, has been danced by thousands of colorfully dressed South Asians across New York and New Jersey over the past nine days. It is often danced on college campuses and at local community centers until long after midnight.

Many of those dancing will be non-Hindus, as second-generation Hindu Americans have hosted garba events that emphasize the dance’s fostering of community. 

At Maria Hernandez Park in Brooklyn, New York, on Sunday, professional dancer Alisha Desai, whose father is Gujarati, welcomed passersby to take part in a garba performance and workshop in collaboration with the Brooklyn Arts Council.

Alisha Desai, left, performs alongside other dancers. Photo courtesy of Alisha Desai

“I wanted everyone to feel comfortable,” said Desai. “If you are Hindu, I wanted you to have a good time and practice your beliefs with everybody. But I wanted anyone who maybe doesn’t even know who Durga is to feel comfortable enough to join in and celebrate.”

Describing herself as spiritual, not religious, Desai said the art form has been vital in connecting her to her own heritage. Desai studied classical Indian dance in India for a year while in college, where she was inspired to bring a taste of large-scale garba back to her own community in Brooklyn.

“Art and dance are spiritual acts,” said Desai. “It is a way to connect to the oneness and everybody, and a higher power. That’s kind of my meditation, and my way of grounding myself.”

Pankti Doshi, a Gujarati American from the Bay Area, said the communal nature of the dance led her to co-found the event planning group and/aur, which hosts meetups and parties for South Asian American New Yorkers looking for a way to connect with their culture. 

“I was constantly surrounded by South Asian people,” said Doshi. “I had this feeling instilled in me that: I am South Asian, I am Indian, and I’m so excited to be a part of this community.”

People dance during the Dandiya Drop garba in New York City. Photo by Misha Patel

Her group’s unique garba was called Dandiya Drop: a pop-up event for adults, complete with drinks and dance influencers, specifically pitched toward the children of immigrants like her, who have a unique American experience, she said. (A dandiya, or dandiya raas, is a variation of the garba, in which sticks are slapped together.)

“Garba is really an experience where people are gathered to build that sense of belonging, where they’re sharing a new culture, a new dance and a sense of contagious energy,” she said. “There’s this underlying feeling that we’re creating a sense of home in such a large city.”



According to Shana Sippy, an associate professor of religion and chair of Asian studies at Centre College in Kentucky, the traditions of Hinduism, diverse as they are, readily adapt to the local context. Garba, as it has migrated out of Gujarat, has transitioned from a domestic folk dance to become “a way to represent your culture and your tradition,” said Sippy. “Not only are you embodying your culture by dancing, but you are representing it to others.”

Navaratri celebrations don’t end with garba. In south India, women of the house put together golus, or tiered altars of dolls and items depicting events in Hindu mythology. Bengali people celebrate Dussehra with a large-scale Durga puja, or ritual.

The first time Vasudha Narayanan, a Hindu scholar at the University of Florida, participated in a garba was when she came to America from southern India in the 1980s. But for years since, she has hosted a golu open house.



Vasudha Narayanan poses in front of her golu, a tiered Hindu altar. Photo courtesy of Vasudha Narayanan

The United States, Narayanan said, lends itself to pan-Hindu celebrations, where immigrants and their first-generation offspring can share the nuances of local traditions their families left behind.

“It is the transmission of culture through music and dance, both horizontally — communicating it to Hindus from other parts of India — as well as vertically, to the next generation,” said Narayanan. “That kind of transmission helps us understand the diversity of Hinduism and that it’s not a single way of celebration or belief.”

Anu Sehgal founded the Culture Tree in New York with the intention of teaching South Asian language classes to kids in the diaspora. But since its start, the school has become a hallmark of Indian cultural programming geared toward children, from puppet shows to museum exhibits.

While her goal is to keep religion out of her educational programs, Sehgal doesn’t shy from introducing Navaratri traditions to children with its cultural history, including the widely known story of Durga’s victory over the demon Mahisha.

People attend Navaratri festival celebrations in India Square in Jersey City, New Jersey, Oct. 21, 2023. RNS photo by Richa Karmarkar

“There is such a huge benefit of celebrating festivals for these children, for including their heritage, their culture, their languages in everyday life,” said Sehgal. “Our kids will learn about their heritage, customs and community through all of these celebrations. All while having fun!”

Her organization’s garba event at New York’s Waterline Park brought together thousands of South Asians, Hindus and people of other faiths, for a family-friendly evening, including two dance circles: one for seasoned experts and one for kids. 

Even as South Asians of all faiths have come to enjoy garba, so too have college students of any faith and none: On campuses across the U.S., competitions have sprung up that go all year long. In April, the University of Texas’ Dirty South Dandiya won the 15th annual Raas All-Stars National Championship in Chicago.

“Garba is not just about feminine power, but it’s also about bringing people together,” said Sehgal. “People were in sync with each other, they were looking at each other, following each other’s cues. Everyone has to dance in unison. How powerful is that?”




People participate in a garba dance during Navaratri festival celebrations in India Square in Jersey City, New Jersey, Oct. 21, 2023. RNS photo by Richa Karmarkar