The Hindu is an Indian English-language daily newspaper founded and continuously published in Chennai since 1878. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, it has a circulation of 1.46 million copies as of December 2009.^[2] The enterprise employed over 1,600 workers and gross income reached $40 million in 2010. According to the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) 2011 The Hindu is the third most widely read English newspaper in India (after the Times of India and Hindustan Times) with a readership of 2.0 million people.^[3] It has its largest base of circulation in Southern India, especially in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. It is the most widely read English daily in Kerala. Headquartered at Chennai (formerly called Madras), The Hindu was published weekly when it was launched in 1878, and started publishing daily in 1889.

The Hindu became, in 1995, the first Indian newspaper to offer an online edition.^[4]

The Hindu is printed at 17 locations^[5]— Chennai, Coimbatore, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Madurai, Noida, Visakhapatnam, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Vijayawada, Mangalore, Tiruchirapalli, Kolkata, Hubli, Mohali, Allahabad, and Kozhikode.

History[link]

The Hindu was founded in Madras on September 20, 1878 as a weekly by four law students (T. T. Rangachariar, P. V. Rangachariar, D. Kesava Rao Pantulu and N. Subba Rao Pantulu) led by G. Subramania Iyer, a school teacher from Tanjore district and M. Veeraraghavachariar, a lecturer at Pachaiyappa's College. The Hindu was started to support the campaign of Sir T. Muthuswamy Iyer for a judgeship at the Madras High Court and to counterbalance the propaganda against him carried out by the Anglo-Indian press. The Hindu was one of the many newspapers of the period established to protest against the discriminatory policies of the British government in India. About 80 copies of the inaugural issue were printed at Srinidhi Press, Georgetown on one rupee and twelves annas of borrowed money. Subramania Iyer became the first editor and Veeraraghavachariar, the first Managing Director of the newspaper.

The paper was initially liberal in its outlook and supported the continuation of British rule in India. The paper initially printed from Srinidhi Press but later moved on Scottish Press, then, The Hindu Press, Mylapore, and finally to the National Press on Mount Road. Started as a weekly newspaper, the paper became a tri-weekly in 1883 and an evening daily in 1889. A single copy of the newspaper was priced at four annas.

The offices moved to rented premises at 100 Mount Road on December 3, 1883. The newspaper started printing at its own press there, named "The National Press," which was established on borrowed capital as public subscriptions were not forthcoming. The building itself became The Hindu's in 1892, after the Maharaja of Vizianagaram, Pusapati Ananda Gajapati Raju, gave The National Press a loan both for the building and to carry out needed expansion.

Its editorial stances have earned The Hindu the nickname, the Maha Vishnu of Mount Road.^[6][7] "From the new address, 100 Mount Road, which to remain The Hindu's home till 1939, there issued a quarto-size paper with a front-page full of advertisements—a practice that came to an end only in 1958 when it followed the lead of its idol, the pre-Thomson Times—and three back pages also at the service of the advertiser. In between, there were more views than news."^[8] After 1887, when the annual session of Indian National Congress was held in Madras, the paper's coverage of national news increased significantly, and led to the paper becoming an evening daily starting April 1, 1889.

The partnership between Veeraraghavachariar and Subramania Aiyer was dissolved in October 1898. Aiyer quit the paper and Veeraraghavachariar became the sole owner and appointed C. Karunakara Menon as editor. However, The Hindu's adventurousness began to decline in the 1900s and so did its circulation, which was down to 800 copies when the sole proprietor decided to sell out. The purchaser was The Hindu's Legal Adviser from 1895, S. Kasturi Ranga Iyengar, a politically ambitious lawyer who had migrated from a Kumbakonam village to practise in Coimbatore and from thence to Madras. Kasturi Ranga Iyengar's ancestors had served the courts of Vijayanagar and Mahratta Tanjore. He traded law, in which his success was middling but his interest minimal, for journalism, pursuing his penchant for politics honed in Coimbatore and by his association with the `Egmore Group' led by C. Sankaran Nair and Dr T.M. Nair.

Modern History[link]

In the late 1980s when its ownership passed into the hands of the family's younger members, a change^{[citation needed]} in political leaning was observed. Worldpress.org lists The Hindu as a left-leaning independent newspaper.^[9] Joint Managing Director N. Murali said in July 2003, "It is true that our readers have been complaining that some of our reports are partial and lack objectivity. But it also depends on reader beliefs." ^[10] N. Ram was appointed on June 27, 2003 as its editor-in-chief with a mandate to "improve the structures and other mechanisms to uphold and strengthen quality and objectivity in news reports and opinion pieces", authorised to "restructure the editorial framework and functions in line with the competitive environment".^[11] On September 3 and 23, 2003, the reader's letters column carried responses from readers saying the editorial was biased.^[12][13] An editorial in August 2003 observed that the newspaper was affected by the 'editorialising as news reporting' virus, and expressed a determination to buck the trend, restore the professionally sound lines of demarcation, and strengthen objectivity and factuality in its coverage.^[14]

In 1987–88 The Hindu's coverage of the Bofors arms deal scandal, a series of document-backed exclusives set the terms of the national political discourse on this subject. The Bofors scandal broke in April 1987 with Swedish Radio alleging that bribes had been paid to top Indian political leaders, officials and Army officers in return for the Swedish arms manufacturing company winning a hefty contract with the Government of India for the purchase of 155 mm howitzers. During a six-month period the newspaper published scores of copies of original papers that documented the secret payments, amounting to $50 million, into Swiss bank accounts, the agreements behind the payments, communications relating to the payments and the crisis response, and other material. The investigation was led by part-time correspondent of The Hindu, Chitra Subramaniam reporting from Geneva, and was supported by Ram in Chennai. The scandal was a major embarrassment to the party in power at the centre, the Indian National Congress, and its leader Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. The paper's editorial accused the Prime Minister of being party to massive fraud and cover up.^[15]

In 1991, Deputy Editor N. Ravi, Ram's younger brother replaced G. Kasturi as Editor. Nirmala Lakshman, Kasturi Srinivasan's granddaughter, became Joint Editor of The Hindu and her sister, Malini Parthasarathy, Executive Editor.

In 2003, the Jayalalitha Government of the state of Tamil Nadu, of which Chennai is the capital, filed cases against the paper for "breach of privilege" of the state legislative body. The move was widely perceived as a government's assault on freedom of the press. However, The Hindu emerged unscathed from the ordeal, scoring both political and legal victories, as it instantly commanded the support of the journalistic community throughout the country.^[16]

The younger generation of The Hindu's editors have also contributed much to its commercial success. They built a modern infrastructure for news-gathering, printing and distribution. On the look of the newspaper, editor-in-chief Ram writes, "The Hindu has been through many evolutionary changes in layout and design, for instance, moving news to the front page that used to be an ad kingdom; adopting modular layout and make-up; using large photographs; introducing colour; transforming the format of the editorial page to make it a purely 'views' page; avoiding carry-over of news stories from one page to another; and introducing boxes, panels, highlights, and briefs." Major layout changes appeared starting <date missing< (redesign by Edwin Taylor) and starting Apr 14, 2005 (redesign by Mario Garcia and Jan Kny). The focus of Garcia's redesign was on "giving pre-eminence to text, including (where appropriate and necessary) long text, but also by enabling photographs, other graphics, and white space to have an enhanced role on the pages; by giving the reader more legible typography, an efficient indexing or 'navigation' system, a clear hierarchy of stories, a new and sophisticated colour palette; and by offering the advertiser better value and new opportunities."^[17]

Management[link]

The Hindu is family-run. It was headed by G. Kasturi from 1965 to 1991, N. Ravi from 1991 to 2003, and by his brother, N. Ram, from June 27, 2003 to 18 January 2012. Other family members, including Nirmala Lakshman, Malini Parthasarathy, Nalini Krishnan, N Murali, K Balaji, K Venugopal and Ramesh Rangarajan are directors of The Hindu and its parent company, Kasturi and Sons. S Rangarajan, former managing director and chairman since April 2006, died on 8 February 2007. Ananth Krishnan, who is the first member of the youngest generation of the family to join the business has been working as a special correspondent in Chennai and Mumbai since 2007. It now conducts very popular "The Hindu Young World Quiz', hosted by noted quizmaster V.V. Ramanan, that has now completed 12 years and is arguably the largest live, middle-school quiz competition.

Managing-directors[link]

A close up view of the entrance to Kasturi Buildings, the head office of The Hindu

• M. Veeraraghavachariar (1878–1904)
• S. Kasturi Ranga Iyengar (1904–1923)
• K. Srinivasan (1923–1959)
• G. Narasimhan (1959–1977)
• N. Ram (1977–2011)
• K. Balaji (2011-Present)

Editors[link]

• G. Subramania Iyer (1878-1898)
• C. Karunakara Menon (1898-1905)
• Kasturi Ranga Iyengar (1905-1923)
• S. Rangaswami Iyengar (1923–1926)
• K. Srinivasan (1926-1928)
• A. Rangaswami Iyengar (1928-1934)
• K. Srinivasan (1934-1959)
• S. Parthasarathy (1959-1965)
• G. Kasturi (1965-1991)
• N. Ravi (1991-2003)
• N. Ram (2003-2012)
• Siddharth Varadarajan (2012-)^[18]

Board of Directors[link]

The Hindu Group is managed by the descendants of Kasturi Ranga Iyengar. As of 2010, there are 12 directors in the board of Kasturi & Sons—N. Ram, N. Ravi and N. Murali (sons of G. Narasimhan); Malini Parthasarathy, Nirmala Lakshman and Nalini Krishnan (daughters of S. Parthasarathy); Ramesh Rangarajan, Vijaya Arun and Akila Iyengar (children of S. Rangarajan); K. Balaji, K. Venugopal and Lakshmi Srinath (children of G. Kasturi).^[19]

Reviews[link]

The Times, London listed The Hindu as one of the world's ten best newspapers in 1965. Discussing each of its choices in separate articles, The Times wrote:

In 1968, the American Newspaper Publishers' Association awarded The Hindu its World Press Achievement Award. An extract from the citation reads:

Achievements[link]

The Hindu has many firsts in India to its credit,^[15][20] which include the following

• 1940: First to introduce colour
• 1963: First to own fleet of aircraft for distribution
• 1969: First to adopt facsimile system of page transmission
• 1980: First to use computer aided photo composing
• 1986: First to use satellite for facsimile transmission
• 1994: First to adopt wholly computerized integration of text and graphics in page make-up and remote imaging
• 1995: First newspaper to go on Internet

Online presence[link]

The Hindu was the first newspaper in India to have a website, launched in 1995.

On 15 August 2009, the 130-year-old newspaper, launched the beta version of its redesigned website at beta.thehindu.com. This was the first redesign of its website since its launch. On June 24, 2010 the beta version of the website went fully live at www.thehindu.com.^[21]

The new website retains its core values of independence, authenticity, and credibility while adopting contemporary web design principles, tools, and features.

The design is by Mario Garcia Jr., of Garcia Media, Tampa, Florida, USA. The workflow solution is by CCI Europe A/S, Denmark. The web publishing system is from Escenic A/S, Norway. The implementation was done in-house.

Controversy[link]

Headquarters of The Hindu in Anna Salai, Chennai

The Hindu has been accused of pro-Sinhalese bias in its writing by many advocates for the rights of Sri Lankan Tamils.^[22] Prominent Sri Lankan political commentator David Jeyaraj claimed he was fired from The Hindu for exposing IPKF atrocities against the Sri Lankan Tamils.^[23] N.Ram was awarded the "Sri Lanka Rathna", the highest civilian award that can be conferred on a foreigner in Sri Lanka in November 2005.

In light of opinion pieces published by the former editor of The Hindu, N. Ram, extolling China's governance of Tibet^[24] and other perceived slights, many commentators, have claimed a Sinophilic bias in the writings of the paper. B. Raman director of the South Asia Analysis Group stated "Its sympathy for China and its policy in recent years of keeping out of its columns any report or article of a negative nature on China is well known." and went on to further claim that "its policy of placing its columns at the disposal of the Xinhua news agency of China" make it a mouthpiece of the Chinese government.^[25]

The Hoot, an Indian media watchdog group claimed that "of late there had been too much editorialising in the news columns of The Hindu".^[26]

In his letter to his colleagues N Ravi, Editor says, "Ram seems bent on taking all the editorial directors into retirement with him with a scorched earth policy to ensure that no one in the family succeeds him".

On July 21, 2011, Siddharth Varadarajan, the national bureau chief of The Hindu, was appointed editor of The Hindu (made effective from July 30, 2011), a move that triggered the resignations of three members of the family from their senior editorial positions: N. Ravi resigned as editor, Malini Parthasarathy as executive editor and Nirmala Lakshman as the joint editor. A fourth member of the family, N. Murali, announced his retirement on attaining the age of 65 on Aug 11, 2011. They remain on the board of directors. Varadarajan was named by N. Ram, the editor-in-chief to succeed him.^[27]

See also[link]

	Chennai portal
	Journalism portal

• The Hindu Business Line

Citations[link]

References[link]

• 125 years of The Hindu
• N. Ram (13 September 2003). "Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow". The Hindu. http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2003091300500100.htm&date=2003/09/13/&prd=th125&. Retrieved 2006-04-20. 
• Looking Back: The history of The Hindu as told by historian S. Muthiah.
  • "Willing to strike and not reluctant to wound". 13 September 2003. http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2003091300770200.htm&date=2003/09/13/&prd=th125&. Retrieved 2006-04-28. 
  • "Making news the family business". 13 September 2003. http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2003091300800200.htm&date=2003/09/13/&prd=th125&. Retrieved 2006-04-28. 
  • "A clarion call against the Raj". 13 September 2003. http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2003091300810200.htm&date=2003/09/13/&prd=th125&. Retrieved 2006-04-28. 
  • "Treading softly - but modernizing apace". 13 September 2003. http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2003091300820400.htm&date=2003/09/13/&prd=th125&. Retrieved 2006-04-28. 
  • "Developing a paper for the new reader". 13 September 2003. http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2003091300830500.htm&date=2003/09/13/&prd=th125&. Retrieved 2006-04-28. 
• N. Murali (13 September 2003). "Core values and high quality standards". The Hindu. http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2003091301020800.htm&date=2003/09/13/&prd=th125&. Retrieved 2006-04-20. 

External links[link]

• Official website (Mobile)
• Online edition (ePaper)

An article related to Hinduism
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Hinduism Portal Hindu Mythology Portal v t e

Hindu ( pronunciation (help·info); Devanagari:हिंदू) refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion (i.e. Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism or Sikhism).^[1] In common use today, it refers to an adherent of Hinduism.

With more than a billion adherents, Hinduism is the world's third largest religion. The vast majority of Hindus, approximately 940 million, live in India.^[2] Other countries with large Hindu populations include Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Suriname, Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago, Fiji and the island of Bali.

Etymology[link]

The swastika in the Hindu decorative form.

The word Hindu is derived from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, first mentioned in the Rig Veda,^[3] was the historic local appellation for the Indus River in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent.^[4]

The Brihaspati Agama says:

The usage of the word Hindu was further popularized for Arabs and further west by the Arabic term al-Hind referring to the land of the people who live across river Indus^[7] and the Persian term Hindū referring to all Indians. By the 13th century, Hindustān emerged as a popular alternative name of India, meaning the "land of Hindus".^[8]

Originally, Hindu was a secular term which was used to describe all inhabitants of the Indian subcontinent (or Hindustan) irrespective of their religious affiliation. It occurs sporadically in some 16th-18th century Bengali Gaudiya Vaishnava texts, including Chaitanya Charitamrita and Chaitanya Bhagavata, usually to contrast Hindus with Yavanas or Mlecchas.^[9] It appears in South Indian and Kashmiri texts from at least 1323 CE,^[10] and increasingly so during British rule. It was only towards the end of the 18th century that the European merchants and colonists referred collectively to the followers of Indian religions as Hindus. Eventually, it came to define a precisely religious identity that includes any person of Indian origin who neither practiced Abrahamic religions nor non-Vedic Indian religions, such as Jainism, Sikhism or Buddhism, thereby encompassing a wide range of religious beliefs and practices related to Sanātana Dharma.^[11]

The term Hinduism was formed around 1830 to denote the culture and religion of the high-caste Brahmans in contrast to other religions. It was soon appropriated by the Hindus in India themselves as they tried to establish a national, social and cultural identity opposed to European colonialism in India.^[11]

History[link]

The notion of grouping the indigenous religions of India under a single umbrella term Hindu emerges as a result of various invasions in India bringing forth non-indigenous religions such as Islam to the Indian Subcontinent^[12] Numerous Muslim invaders, such as Babur and Aurangzeb, destroyed Hindu temples and persecuted non-Muslims; some, such as Akbar, were more tolerant. Hinduism underwent profound changes, in large part due to the influence of the prominent teachers Ramanuja, Madhva and Chaitanya.^[12] Followers of the Bhakti movement moved away from the abstract concept of Brahman, which the philosopher Adi Shankara consolidated a few centuries before, with emotional, passionate devotion towards what they believed as the more accessible Avatars, especially Krishna and Rama.^[13]

The Swaminarayan sect's Akshardham Temple in Delhi, according the Guinness World Records is the World’s Largest Comprehensive Hindu Temple

Indology as an academic discipline of studying Indian culture from a European perspective was established in the 18th century by Sir William Jones and 19th century, by scholars such as Max Müller and John Woodroffe. They brought Vedic, Puranic and Tantric literature and philosophy to Europe and the United States. At the same time, societies such as the Brahmo Samaj and the Theosophical Society attempted to reconcile and fuse Abrahamic and Dharmic philosophies, endeavouring to institute societal reform. This period saw the emergence of movements which, while highly innovative, were rooted in indigenous tradition. They were based on the personalities and teachings of individuals, as with Ramakrishna and Ramana Maharshi. Prominent Hindu philosophers, including Aurobindo and Prabhupada (founder of ISKCON), translated, reformulated and presented Hinduism's foundational texts for contemporary audiences in new iterations, attracting followers and attention in India and abroad.

Others, such as Vivekananda, Paramahansa Yogananda, B.K.S. Iyengar and Swami Rama, have also been instrumental in raising the profiles of Yoga and Vedanta in the West. Today modern movements, such as ISKCON and the Swaminarayan Faith, attract a large amount of followers across the world.^[14]

Definition[link]

The Bhagavad Gītā, a conversation between Lord Krishna and Arjuna before the start of the Kurukshetra war, is one of the foremost Hindu scriptures^[15] and is described as a concise guide to Hindu philosophy and beliefs.^[16]

The diverse set of religious beliefs, traditions and philosophies of the Hindus are the product of an amalgamation process that began with the decline of Buddhism in India (5th-8th Century), where traditions of Vedic Brahmanism and the mystical schools of Vedanta were combined with Shramana traditions and regional cults to give rise to the socio-religious and cultural sphere later described as "Hinduism".

Adi Shankara's commentaries on the Upanishads led to the rise of Advaita Vedanta, the most influential sub-school of Vedanta. Hinduism continues to be divided in numerous several sects and denominations, of which Vaishnavism and Shaivism are by far the most popular.^[17] Other aspects include folk and conservative Vedic Hinduism. Since the 18th century, Hinduism has accommodated a host of new religious and reform movements, with Arya Samaj being one of the most notable Hindu revivalist organizations.

Due to the wide diversity in the beliefs, practices and traditions encompassed by Hinduism, there is no universally accepted definition on who a Hindu is, or even agreement on whether the term Hinduism represents a religious, cultural or socio-political entity. In 1995, Chief Justice P. B. Gajendragadkar was quoted in an Indian Supreme Court ruling:^[18]

When we think of the Hindu religion, unlike other religions in the world, the Hindu religion does not claim any one prophet; it does not worship any one god; it does not subscribe to any one dogma; it does not believe in any one philosophic concept; it does not follow any one set of religious rites or performances; in fact, it does not appear to satisfy the narrow traditional features of any religion or creed. It may broadly be described as a way of life and nothing more.

Thus some scholars argue that the Hinduism is not a religion per se but rather a reification of a diverse set of traditions and practices by scholars who constituted a unified system and arbitrarily labeled it Hinduism.^[19] The usage may also have been necessitated by the desire to distinguish between "Hindus" and followers of other religions during the periodic census undertaken by the colonial British government in India. Other scholars, while seeing Hinduism as a 19th century construct, view Hinduism as a response to British colonialism by Indian nationalists who forged a unified tradition centered on oral and written Sanskrit texts adopted as scriptures.^[20]

While Hinduism contains both "uniting and dispersing tendencies", it also has a common central thread of philosophical concepts (including dharma, moksha and samsara), practices (puja, bhakti etc.) and cultural traditions.^[21] These common elements originating (or being codified within) the Vedic, Upanishad and Puranic scriptures and epics. Thus a Hindu could :

• follow any of the Hindu schools of philosophy, such as Advaita (non-dualism), Vishishtadvaita (non-dualism of the qualified whole), Dvaita (dualism), Dvaitadvaita (dualism with non-dualism), etc.^[22][23]
• follow a tradition centered on any particular form of the Divine, such as Shaivism, Vaishnavism, Shaktism, etc.^[24]
• practice any one of the various forms of yoga systems; including bhakti (Hindu devotional movements) in order to achieve moksha.

A young Nepali Hindu devotee during a traditional prayer ceremony at Kathmandu's Durbar Square.

The Republic of India is in the peculiar situation that the Supreme Court of India has repeatedly been called upon to define "Hinduism" because the Constitution of India, while it prohibits "discrimination of any citizen" on grounds of religion in article 15, article 30 foresees special rights for "All minorities, whether based on religion or language". As a consequence, religious groups have an interest in being recognized as distinct from the Hindu majority in order to qualify as a "religious minority". Thus, the Supreme Court was forced to consider the question whether Jainism is part of Hinduism in 2005 and 2006. In the 2006 verdict, the Supreme Court found that the "Jain Religion is indisputably not a part of the Hindu Religion".^[25] In 1995, while considering the question "who are Hindus and what are the broad features of Hindu religion", the Supreme Court of India highlighted Bal Gangadhar Tilak's formulation of Hinduism's defining features:^[18]

Acceptance of the Vedas with reverence; recognition of the fact that the means or ways to salvation are diverse; and the realization of the truth that the number of gods to be worshipped is large, that indeed is the distinguishing feature of Hindu religion.

Some thinkers have attempted to distinguish between the concept of Hinduism as a religion, and a Hindu as a member of a nationalist or socio-political class. In Hindu nationalism, the term "Hindu" combines notions of geographical unity, common culture and common race. Thus, Veer Savarkar in his influential pamphlet "Hindutva: Who is a Hindu?" defined a Hindu as a person who sees India "as his Fatherland as well as his Holy land, that is, the cradle land of his religion".^[26] This conceptualization of Hinduism, has led to establishment of Hindutva as the dominant force in Hindu nationalism over the last century.^[27]

Ethnic and cultural fabric[link]

See also: Demographics of India, History of India, and Hindutva

The Mother Temple of Besakih in Bali, Indonesia.

Hinduism, its religious doctrines, traditions and observances are very typical and inextricably linked to the culture and demographics of India. Hinduism has one of the most ethnically diverse bodies of adherents in the world. It is hard to classify Hinduism as a religion because the framework, symbols, leaders and books of reference that make up a typical religion are not uniquely identified in the case of Hinduism. Hinduism is almost 4,000 years old. Most commonly it can be seen as a "way of life" which gives rise to many other forms of religions.

Large tribes and communities indigenous to India are closely linked to the synthesis and formation of Hindu civilization. People of East Asian roots living in the states of north eastern India and Nepal were also a part of the earliest Hindu civilization. Immigration and settlement of people from Central Asia and people of Indo-Greek heritage have brought their own influence on Hindu society.

Diwali celebrations in Little India, Singapore.

The roots of Hinduism in southern India, and among tribal and indigenous communities is just as ancient and fundamentally contributive to the foundations of the religious and philosophical system.

Ancient Hindu kingdoms arose and spread the religion and traditions across Southeast Asia, particularly Thailand, Nepal, Burma, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Philippines, and what is now central Vietnam. A form of Hinduism particularly different from Indian roots and traditions is practiced in Bali, Indonesia, where Hindus form 90% of the population. Indian migrants have taken Hinduism and Hindu culture to South Africa, Fiji, Mauritius and other countries in and around the Indian Ocean, and in the nations of the West Indies and the Caribbean.

See also[link]

• Hindu festivals
• Initiation in Hinduism
• Samskaram

Notes[link]

1. ^ India-Constitution:Religious rights Article 25:"Explanation II: In sub-Clause (b) of clause (2), the reference to Hindus shall be construed as including a reference to persons professing the Sikh, Jaina or Buddhist religion"
2. ^ CIA World Factbook - India Demographics 80.5% of 1.166 billion Indians are Hindus
3. ^ "Rig Veda: Rig-Veda, Book 10: HYMN LXXV. The Rivers". Sacred-texts.com. http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rigveda/rv10075.htm. Retrieved 2012-01-21. 
4. ^ "India", Oxford English Dictionary, second edition, 2100a.d. Oxford University Press.
5. ^ "Download Attachment". Sites.google.com. http://sites.google.com/site/sarasvati95/antiquityhindu.pdf?attredirects=0. Retrieved 2012-01-21. 
6. ^ Sharma, Jai Narain (2008-01-01). Encyclopaedia of eminent thinkers. ISBN 978-81-8069-500-1. http://books.google.com/?id=Dz-5B8_jMpEC&pg=PA59&dq=%22Brihaspati+Agama%22#v=onepage&q=%22Brihaspati%20Agama%22&f=false. 
7. ^ Thapar, R. 1993. Interpreting Early India. Delhi: Oxford University Press. p. 77
8. ^ Thompson Platts, John. A dictionary of Urdu , classical Hindī, and English. W.H. Allen & Co., Oxford University 1884 
9. ^ O'Conell, Joseph T. (1973). "The Word 'Hindu' in Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Texts". Journal of the American Oriental Society 93 (3): pp. 340–344. 
10. ^ David Lorenzen, Who Invented Hinduism? New Delhi 2006, pp. 24-33; Rajatarangini of Yonaraja : "Hinduka"
11. ^ ^{a b} Gavin, Flood. "Hare Krishna: Hinduism, Vaisnavism, and ISKCON: Authentic Traditions or Scholarly Constructions?". Cults and Society, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2001. http://www.icsahome.com/infoserv_articles/flood_gavin_hinduismvaisismandiskcon.htm. Retrieved 2008-05-11. 
12. ^ ^{a b} Basham 1999
13. ^ J.T.F. Jordens, "Medieval Hindu Devotionalism" in & Basham 1999
14. ^ Raymond Brady Williams (2004). Williams on South Asian Religions and Immigration: Collected Works. Ashgate Publishing Ltd.. ISBN 0-7546-3856-1. http://books.google.com/?id=nkVBOfE1KkAC&dq=swaminarayan+hare+krishna p.217
15. ^ Pandit, Bansi. Explore Hinduism. p. 27
16. ^ Maharishi Mahesh Yogi; On The Bhagavad Gita; A New Translation and Commentary With Sanskrit Text Chapters 1 to 6, Preface p. 9
17. ^ "Hinduism". Adherents.com. http://www.adherents.com/adh_branches.html#Hinduism. Retrieved 2010-09-01. 
18. ^ ^{a b} Supreme Court of India, "Bramchari Sidheswar Shai and others Versus State of West Bengal", 1995.
19. ^ Frykenberg, Robert. "The emergence of modern 'Hinduism' as a concept and as an Institution: A reappraisal with special reference to South India" in Hinduism reconsidered, Manohar, Delhi, 1989. ISBN 81-7304-385-X
20. ^ Hardy, F. "A radical assessment of the Vedic heritage" in Representing Hinduism: The Construction of Religious and National Identity, Sage Publ., Delhi, 1995.
21. ^ Flood, Gavin, "Establishing the boundaries" in Flood (2003), pp. 1-17.
22. ^ Muller, F. Max. Six Systems of Indian Philosophy; Samkhya and Yoga; Naya and Vaiseshika. 1899. This classic work helped to establish the major classification systems as we know them today. Reprint edition: (Kessinger Publishing: February 2003) ISBN 978-0-7661-4296-1.
23. ^ Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Charles A. Moore. A Source Book in Indian Philosophy. (Princeton University Press; 1957) Princeton paperback 12th edition, 1989. ISBN 0-691-01958-4.
24. ^ Swami Tattwananda. Vaisnava Sects, Saiva Sects, Mother Worship. (Firma KLM Private Ltd.: Calcutta, 1984). This work gives an overview of many different subsets of the three main religious groups in India.
25. ^ para 25, Committee of Management Kanya Junior High School Bal Vidya Mandir, Etah, Uttar Pradesh v. Sachiv, U.P. Basic Shiksha Parishad, Allahabad, U.P. and Ors., Per Dalveer Bhandari J., Civil Appeal No. 9595 of 2003, decided On: 21.08.2006, Supreme Court of India
26. ^ Savarkar, V. K. Hindutva, Hindi Sahitya Sadan, 2003. ISBN 81-88388-25-4
27. ^ Ram-Prasad, C. "Contemporary political Hinduism" in Blackwell companion to Hinduism, Blackwell Publishing, 2003. ISBN 0-631-21535-2

References[link]

• Flood, Gavin (Editor) (2003). The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.. ISBN 1-4051-3251-5. 
• Radhakrishnan, S.; Moore, CA (1967). A Sourcebook in Indian Philosophy. Princeton. ISBN 0-691-01958-4. 
• Tattwananda, Swami (1984). Vaisnava Sects, Saiva Sects, Mother Worship. Calcutta: Firma KLM Private Ltd..  First revised edition.

Further reading[link]

• Dass, Baboo Ishuree (1860). Domestic manners and customs of the Hindoos of northern India, or, more strictly speaking, of the north west provinces of India.. Medical Hall Press, Benares. http://www.archive.org/stream/domesticmanners00dassgoog#page/n5/mode/2up. 

Siddharth Varadarajan (born 1965) is Editor of The Hindu, one of India's leading English language newspapers. He has reported on the NATO war against Yugoslavia, the destruction of the Bamyan Buddhas by the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, the war in Iraq and the crisis in Kashmir. Prior to becoming Editor, he worked as the Hindu's Chief of National Bureau, succeeding Harish Khare, who was named as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's media adviser, in June 2009. In 2007, he was a visiting professor at the Graduate School of Journalism, University of California, Berkeley.^[1] In 2009, he was a Poynter Fellow at Yale University^[2][3]

In May 2011, the shareholders of Kasturi and Sons Ltd. held an extraordinary general meeting and voted to appoint him as The Hindu's editor on the recommendation of the company's board, thus making Varadarajan the first professional editor of the newspaper in its 150 year history.^[4] Prior to his appointment, The Hindu's editors were drawn from the family of the company's owners.

After studying economics at the London School of Economics and Columbia University, he taught at New York University for several years before joining The Times of India as an editorial writer in 1995. In 2004, he joined The Hindu, India's leading English-language newspaper, as Deputy Editor.

In November 2005, the United Nations Correspondents Association awarded him the Elizabeth Neuffer Memorial Prize Silver Medal for Print Journalism for a series of articles, Persian Puzzle on Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency.^[5] In March 2006, he was awarded the Bernardo O'Higgins Order by the President of Chile—that country's highest civilian honor for a foreign citizen—for his contributions to journalism and to the promotion of India's relations with Latin America and Chile.^[6] In July 2010, he received the Ramnath Goenka award for Journalist of the Year (Print).^[7]

He has been described as "one of India's sharpest foreign policy commentators and thinkers",^[8]

The book, Gujarat: The Making of a Tragedy, edited by Varadarajan, contains accounts of the violence against the Muslims of that state in India. The book was published by Penguin Books in 2002.

Varadarajan is a member of the International Founding Committee of The Real News,^[9] a board member of the inter-governmental B.P. Koirala India-Nepal Foundation,^[10] a member of the Indian Council of World Affairs and member of the editorial board of India Quarterly: A Journal of International Affairs ^[11]

Bibliography[link]

• Gujarat: The Making of a Tragedy ISBN 0-14-302901-0
• 'Global threats and India's quest for strategic space' in Great Powers and Strategic Stability in the 21st Century (Ed: Graeme Herd) ISBN 978-0-415-56054-2

References[link]

External links[link]

• Reality, one bite at a time, official blog
• Review of Gujarat: The Making of a Tragedy
• List of essays in the book
• UNCA award for his reports on IAEA
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Siddharth Varadarajan on Charlie Rose
• Works by or about Siddharth Varadarajan in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Charles Glass on Siddharth Varadarajan's argument with the CPJ about Nato bombing in The Spectator
• Interview of Siddharth Varadarajan by Dr. Abbas Edalat of the Campaign against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran
• What's Wrong with Our Afghan War, the Indian Perspective - Interview of Siddharth Varadarajan by Christopher Lydon

Offices held[link]

Shreya Ghoshal
Shreya Ghoshal at X Factor Finalists Introduction
Background information
Birth name	Shreya Ghoshal
Born	(1984-03-12) March 12, 1984 (age 28)
Origin	Durgapur, West Bengal, India
Genres	Ghazal, Filmi, Hindustani classical music
Occupations	Singer
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1998–present
Labels	Sagarika
Website	shreyaghoshal.com

Shreya Ghoshal (born March 12, 1984) is an Indian singer. Best known as a playback singer in Hindi films, she also sings in other Indian languages including Bengali, Assamese, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya,^[1] Gujarati, Tamil and Telugu.

Ghoshal's career began when she won the Sa Re Ga Ma Pa contest as an adult. Her Bollywood playback singing career began with Devdas, for which she received National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer along with Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer and Filmfare RD Burman Award for New Music Talent.^[2] Since then, she has worked in more than 180 films and received four National Film Awards, four Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer and four Filmfare Awards South.

Biography[link]

Early years[link]

Ghoshal was born on March 12, 1984 to a Bengali Hindu family in Durgapur, West Bengal. She grew up in Rawatbhata, a small town near Kota, Rajasthan. Her father, Mr. Biswajeet Ghoshal, works as a nuclear power plant engineer for the Nuclear Power Corporation of India, whereas her mother is a literature post-graduate.^[3]

From the age of four, Ghoshal accompanied her mother on the harmonium. She got training in Hindustani classical music in Kota with Maheshchandra Sharma.^[4]

As a child, she won the children's special episode of the Sa Re Ga Ma (now Sa Re Ga Ma Pa) contest on Zee TV. Kalyanji, who also judged the competition, convinced her parents to move to Mumbai.^[5] She trained with Kalyanji for 18 months and continued her classical music training with Mukta Bhide in Mumbai.^[4]

She studied at Atomic Energy Central School (AECS) at Rawatbhata and Anushaktinagar (Mumbai). After graduation she enrolled at SIES College.^[3]

Career[link]

Shreya Ghoshal caught the attention of director Sanjay Leela Bhansali when she participated in Sa Re Ga Ma Pa for a second time, this time as an adult.^[2] In 2000, he offered her the opportunity to be the voice of Paro, the lead female character of the film Devdas, who was portrayed by Aishwarya Rai.^[2] Ghoshal sang five songs in the film. Her performance won her the Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer, as well as Filmfare's RD Burman Award for New Music Talent. She also won the National Film Award for the song "Bairi Piya".^[6]

She has received Filmfare awards in Hindi, Bengali, Malayalam, Tamil, and Kannada industries and State Film Awards from Malayalam, Tamil industries. She debuted in South through the song "Yen Chellam" in Vasantha Balan's Tamil film Album and got noticed after singing "Munbe Vaa" from Sillunu Oru Kaadhal under composer A. R. Rahman.^[7] She debuted in Malayalam through a studio album of composer Alphons Joseph and later gave voice to his song "Vida Parayukayano" from Big B.^[8] Her songs in Malayalam film Anwar became huge hits in South India and topped many charts for weeks. In 2010, Shreya sang for the English independent film "When Harry Tries to Marry"

She has also been a judge for Star Voice Of India-Chhote Ustaad with singer Kunal Ganjawala and composer Pritam.^[9] Ghoshal was one of the three judges in X Factor (India) with Sonu Nigam and Sanjay Leela Bhansali.^[10]

Discography[link]

• Bendhechhi Beena (1998)
• O Tota Pakhi Re (1998)
• Ekti Katha (1999)
• Mukhor Porag (2000)
• Rupasi Raate (2000)
• Banomali Re (2002)
• Jabo Tepantor (2003)
• Akasher Mukhomukhi (2002)
• Swapner Pakha (2003)
• Thikana (2006)
• Ustad & the Divas (2006)
• Krishna Bina Ache Ke (2007)
• Kanadau Vitthalu (2007)
• Big B (Malayalam,2007)
• Jete Daao Amay (2008)
• Mazhi Gaani – Shreya Ghoshal (2008)
• A Tribute to R. D. Burman (2010)
• Ei Aakash Tomari
• Milan Piyasi
• Rim Jhim
• Tumi Bolo Ami Shuni

Screen[link]

• 2003: Ghoshal made an on-screen appearance in the Saaya film song "Har Taraf"
• 2011: First advertisement for jewellery store Joyalukkas in 5 languages (Hindi,^[11] Kannada,^[12] Malayalam,^[13] Tamil,^[14] Telugu^[15])

Awards, nominations and recognitions[link]

National Film Awards^[16]

• 2003: National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer – "Bairi Piya" (Devdas – Hindi)
• 2006: National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer – "Dheere Jalna" (Paheli – Hindi)
• 2008: National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer – "Yeh Ishq Haaye" (Jab We Met – Hindi)
• 2009: National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer – "Jeev Rangala" (Jogwa – Marathi) & "Pherari Mon" (Antaheen – Bengali)

Filmfare Awards^[16]

Won

• 2003: Filmfare RD Burman Award for New Music Talent
• 2003: Filmfare Best Female Playback Award (shared with Kavita Krishnamurthy) – "Dola Re" (Devdas)
• 2004: Filmfare Best Female Playback Award – "Jaadu Hai Nasha Hai" (Jism)
• 2008: Filmfare Best Female Playback Award – "Barso Re" (Guru)
• 2009: Filmfare Best Female Playback Award – "Teri Ore" (Singh Is Kinng)