Since the recent RTI "incident" with regards to lack of sources in the assertions of NCERT books, I decided to do some research.
Some initial findings:

In the VIII class text-book, chapter 8 titled "Women, Caste and Reform" the chapter starts with a section on Sati. 🙄
(1/9)

I have said this before: Sati was not widely practiced in India. Don't take my word for it, read up Meenakshi Jain's seminal work on this topic: "Sati: Evangelicals, Baptist Missionaries, and the Changing Colonial Discourse."
Or do this, ask people around you about their
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experiences with caste & you will observe that you will get multiple examples (while assertions of caste-based discrimination may be debated, almost everyone will acknowledge caste-consciousness). However, ask folks if they have heard stories of Sati within their own
(3/9)
family history or in the histories of friends, acquaintances, & you will draw a blank.
NOTE1: Sati did exist, & women were (are) discriminated against. But wasn't the main challenge women faced. Or even the 10th on the list!
NOTE2: Hindu scriptures don't really celebrate
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Sati; in the Mahabharat, there's a reference to Sati - Madri immolates herself after Pandu's death in the forest - but neither is Madri an important character in the narrative neither is her sacrifice referred to in popular discourse on the two epics.
The point is, this
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could have been a footnote but colonized that we are, NCERT gives it the same (undue) emphasis that the British did.

Later in the chapter, there's a reference to Muslim Begums in Bengal opening schools for girls, while in contrast, Pandita Ramabai's (a Sanskrit scholar)
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assertion about Hinduism's oppressiveness toward women. Sigh.
Also, the language on page 99 is telling: it says both "Hindu nationalists" and "orthodox Muslims" were worried about women adoption western ways.
Look at the equivalence.

Rest of the chapter is about
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the caste system, though only in the Hindu context. Casteism in other religions is completely ignored. The chapter ends with three blurbs.
One on Sir Syed Ahmad Khan - founder of Aligarh Muslim University.
One on the Singh Sabha Movement.
And finally, curiously,
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about Slavery in the US!

Now you know why young Indian minds always
conflate the two (racism & casteism); that's what they've been taught.
This was exhausting & frustrating.
Sigh. (9/9)

Source: https://t.co/gs5ksTCOYI
#Observations

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॥ॐ॥
अस्य श्री गायत्री ध्यान श्लोक:
(gAyatri dhyAna shlOka)
• This shloka to meditate personified form of वेदमाता गायत्री was given by Bhagwaan Brahma to Sage yAgnavalkya (याज्ञवल्क्य).

• 14th shloka of गायत्री कवचम् which is taken from वशिष्ठ संहिता, goes as follows..


• मुक्ता-विद्रुम-हेम-नील धवलच्छायैर्मुखस्त्रीक्षणै:।
muktA vidruma hEma nIla dhavalachhAyaiH mukhaistrlkShaNaiH.

• युक्तामिन्दुकला-निबद्धमुकुटां तत्वार्थवर्णात्मिकाम्॥
yuktAmindukalA nibaddha makutAm tatvArtha varNAtmikam.

• गायत्रीं वरदाभयाङ्कुश कशां शुभ्रं कपालं गदाम्।
gAyatrIm vardAbhayANkusha kashAm shubhram kapAlam gadAm.

• शंखं चक्रमथारविन्दयुगलं हस्तैर्वहन्ती भजै॥
shankham chakramathArvinda yugalam hastairvahantIm bhajE.

This shloka describes the form of वेदमाता गायत्री.

• It says, "She has five faces which shine with the colours of a Pearl 'मुक्ता', Coral 'विद्रुम', Gold 'हेम्', Sapphire 'नील्', & a Diamond 'धवलम्'.

• These five faces are symbolic of the five primordial elements called पञ्चमहाभूत:' which makes up the entire existence.

• These are the elements of SPACE, FIRE, WIND, EARTH & WATER.

• All these five faces shine with three eyes 'त्रिक्षणै:'.

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The first ever world map was sketched thousands of years ago by Indian saint
“Ramanujacharya” who simply translated the following verse from Mahabharat and gave the world its real face

In Mahabharat,it is described how 'Maharishi Ved Vyasa' gave away his divine vision to Sanjay


Dhritarashtra's charioteer so that he could describe him the events of the upcoming war.

But, even before questions of war could begin, Dhritarashtra asked him to describe how the world looks like from space.

This is how he described the face of the world:

सुदर्शनं प्रवक्ष्यामि द्वीपं तु कुरुनन्दन। परिमण्डलो महाराज द्वीपोऽसौ चक्रसंस्थितः॥
यथा हि पुरुषः पश्येदादर्शे मुखमात्मनः। एवं सुदर्शनद्वीपो दृश्यते चन्द्रमण्डले॥ द्विरंशे पिप्पलस्तत्र द्विरंशे च शशो महान्।

—वेद व्यास, भीष्म पर्व, महाभारत


Meaning:-

हे कुरुनन्दन ! सुदर्शन नामक यह द्वीप चक्र की भाँति गोलाकार स्थित है, जैसे पुरुष दर्पण में अपना मुख देखता है, उसी प्रकार यह द्वीप चन्द्रमण्डल में दिखायी देता है। इसके दो अंशो मे पीपल और दो अंशो मे विशाल शश (खरगोश) दिखायी देता है।


Meaning: "Just like a man sees his face in the mirror, so does the Earth appears in the Universe. In the first part you see leaves of the Peepal Tree, and in the next part you see a Rabbit."

Based on this shloka, Saint Ramanujacharya sketched out the map, but the world laughed