Week 316: Hindu Parents Network Annual Report, Chinese Kavadi Bearer, Aesthetic!

01/03/2026 - Modern Hindu Content

Jan 03, 2026

Welcome to Eternal Path! This week we feature: The Hindu Parents Network (HPN) 2025 Annual Report, a Chinese kavadi bearer, and an aesthetic!

Resource Highlight: Hindu Parents Network Annual Report

Hindu Parents Network (HPN) is a great organization that we encourage all our readers with children, and their peers to join. They are laser focused on ensuring that the next generations of Hindus in the diaspora have a stronger grounding in Hinduism than previous generations and we have featured a lot of their classes in previous issues.

They recently released their annual report for 2025, available here: https://www.hinduparentsnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/HPN-Annual-Report-%E2%80%93-2025.pdf

Their 2025 achievements include:

Running 14 different workshops for parents
Running 8 educational camps for children
Establishing a helpline for parents

Wishing them all the best for 2026 and beyond and we strongly encourage our readers to get involved with HPN and to read the report.

Community Highlight: Chinese Kavadi Bearer

When people think of the Hindu community in Singapore and Malaysia, they are likely to think of Tamils. Maybe they will think of other subcontinental communities like Gurkhas, Malayalis, Telugus, or Sindhis. If they are real ones, real ones being people that read Eternal Path issues word-for-word, they may know about the Peranakan Chitty, a Malay-speaking Hindu group of medieval Tamil origins, who we covered in Week 3, almost exactly six years ago!

But no, we are talking about the Chinese Hindu community of Malaysia and Singapore, which in recent years has gained some interest from Indian media. In our issue for Week 255, we highlighted a Malaysian temple run by a Chinese Hindu devotee. This week, we are sharing a video from a Chinese Hindu in Singapore, from a woman who bears kavadi (structures that people carry on their heads in a sign of devotion to Lord Muruga, largely practiced as a tradition by Tamil Hindus).

@thesmartlocalsg

thesmartlocal.com on Instagram: "What have you always wanted to…

We hope to be able to feature more on Chinese Hindus in the coming years, and its great to see Hinduism be embraced by more and more folks of Chinese origin.

Aesthetic: A Brazilian Carrying Kavadi

Week 315: American castes, Bangladesh, Paintings

12/27/2025 - Modern Hindu Content

Dec 27, 2025

Welcome to Eternal Path! This week we feature: America reinventing caste on its own, Hinduphobia in Bangladesh, and an Aesthetic!

Sociology Highlight: America has already differentiated into castes

Given that the Hindu diaspora is always targeted with false claims of “importing the caste system” into wherever they go, often by other folks of South Asian origin willing to lie to tarnish Hindus, caste unsurprisingly becomes something we cover rather frequently.

One easy way to respond to people accusing Hindus of “importing caste” is to ask your interlocutor if they spend any time fraternizing with the: urban poor, migrant farmers, hillbillies, or the homeless, and highlighting to them that you essentially have created “untouchable” groups in America too, functionally kept 6 feet (or more) away from normative middle-class American life.

In Week 152 we covered the concept of “Elite Persistence”, and how elites across societies from as far off as Italy and China have maintained economic and social power even after major upheavals, political changes, and pogroms. We delved into why understanding this concept is useful for Hindus answering bad-faith arguments about caste. In Week 217, we introduced the idea of how the West itself may have castes of their own.

This week we feature a fantastic essay titled “America has already differentiated into castes” which we encourage reading in full.

Performative Bafflement

America has already differentiated into castes

I’m writing this because we’ve obviously been differentiating into castes in the USA - much like all good things (height, attractiveness, reaction time, life satisfaction, etc) end up being positively correlated with “g,” there is a cluster of people who are the exception to the “80% of Americans are overweight or obese” rule because they exercise and w…

a month ago · 162 likes · 52 comments · Performative Bafflement

The piece provides a plethora of statistics, across topics like divorce rate, obesity, income, parent’s level of education and more to show quantitatively that America has differentiated into multiple caste-like groups that basically do not intermarry. One of the most sobering stats here was:

Amazingly, you have to climb past 95%+ of people in the US to reach a tranche of people with reasonable, non-obese (but still overweight) BMI’s, non-overweight spouses, and to reach ~40% of people having grad degrees and ~80% having college degrees overall.

So essentially, America created a caste of people that actually resembles the stereotypes that people lying about Indian caste ascribe to Brahmins. A literal super-race of people with outsize economic and political power. Absolutely a must-read piece for American Hindus and people interested in disassembling leftist and Hinduphobic lies with clear facts.

Hinduphobia Highlight: Bangladesh

Aesthetic: Mumbai Temple Painting

Week 314: Is Hinduism universal?, Japanese Lakshmi, Aesthetic!

Modern Hindu Content - 12/20/2025

Dec 20, 2025

Welcome to Eternal Path! This week we feature: quotations showing the universality of Hinduism, a Japanese version ofGoddess Lakshmi, and an aesthetic!

Religion Highlight: Is Hinduism Universal?

Adapted in full from a post by @Saatvata on Twitter/X, permalink here.

Many when discussing Hinduism will argue that it is only for Indians and compare religions like Christianity, Islam, and even Buddhism favorably to Hinduism, alleging that the latter are more universal. Saatvata provides a number of references from the Mahapuranas that help refute these accusations. See the list below for the quotations that show that Hinduism is for all groups of people.

Kirāta-Hūṇāndhra-Pulinda-Pulkaśā Ābhīra-Kaṅkā Yavanāḥ Khaśādayaḥ। ye 'nye ca pāpā yad-apāśrayāśrayāḥ śudhyanti tasmai prabhaviṣṇave namaḥ॥ "I bow to that preeminent Lord Viṣṇu, in whose devotees even the Kirātas, Hūṇas, Āndhras, Pulindas, Pulkaśas, Ābhīras, Kaṅkas, Yavanas, Khaśas, and others fallen people attain purification."
Viṣṇupurāṇa even assumes that Viṣṇu is worshipped in different forms in all continents. In regard to Plakṣadvīpa, it states: ijyate tatra bhagavāṃs tair varṇair āryakādibhiḥ। Somarūpī jagatsraṣṭā sarvaḥ sarveśvaro Hariḥ॥ “There, the adorable one (Bhagavān) is worshipped by those inhabitants (varṇaiḥ) such as the Aryakas; He who has the form of Soma (the moon/nectar), the creator of the universe, the all-pervading, the lord of all, Hari”
With regard to Śālmaladvīpa, it states: bhagavantaṃ samastasya Viṣṇum ātmānam avyayam। Vāyubhūtaṃ makha-śreṣṭhair yajvino yajña-saṃsthitam॥ “The glorious Viṣṇu, who is the imperishable Self of all (beings), exists as Vāyu (the wind-god) among the best of sacrifices (or those who perform sacrifices), and as the sacrifice itself among the sacrificers.”
With regard to Kuśadvīpa, it states: tatra te tu Kuśadvīpe Brahmarūpaṃ Janārdanam। yajantaḥ kṣapayanty ugram adhikāraphalapradam॥ “There, in that Kuśadvīpa (one of the mythical seven islands/continents of the world), they worship Janārdana (a name for the deity Viṣṇu/Krishna) in the form of Brahmā, and by so doing, they mitigate the terrible results of their actions/karma which grant them authoritative positions”
With regard to Kuśadvīpa, it states: atrāpi varṇair bhagavān puṣkarādyair Janārdanaḥ। yāgai Rudrasvarūpastha ijyate yajña-sannidhau॥ “Here also, the worshipful Janārdana (Vishnu) is worshipped through sacrifices by the various classes (varnas) with offerings of lotuses and the like, as the one situated in the form of Rudra (Shiva) in the proximity of the sacrifice”
api vā cāṇḍālaḥ śiva iti vācaṃ vadet tena saha saṃvaset || “If a Caṇḍāla recites the name of Śiva, one should dwell with him.”
aho bata śvapaco 'to garīyān yaj-jihvāgre vartate nāma tubhyam। tepus tapas te juhuvuḥ sasnur āryā brahmānūcur nāma gṛṇanti ye te॥ “Ah! How exalted indeed is even a dog-eater on whose tongue Your name abides! Those noble men who utter Your name are [i.e. should be regarded as] those who have performed austerities, offered oblations, bathed in sacred waters, and studied the Veda.”
brāhmaṇāḥ kṣatriyā vaiśyāḥ striyaḥ śūdrāntyajādayaḥ। yatra tatrānukurvanto Viṣṇor nāmānukīrtanam॥ sarvapāpavinirmuktās te yānti paramāṃ gatim || “Brāhmaṇas, Kṣatriyas, Vaiśyas, women, Śūdras, antyajas, etc., wherever they may be, are freed from all sins and attain the supreme goal by chanting of Viṣṇu’s names.“
Svapaca Sabara Khasa Jamana jaḍa pāṁvara Kola Kirāta। Rāmu kahata pāvana parama hota bhuvana bikhyāta॥ "Even the Caṇḍāla, the Śavara, the Khaśa, the Yavana, the dull-minded, the debased, the Kola, and the Kirata, through uttering the Name of Rāma. becomes wholly pure and renowned through the worlds.“
nindita-cāṇḍālādi-yoni-paryantaṃ bhaktāv adhikriyate, saṃsāra-duḥkha-jihāsāyā aviseṣāt. || Even down the most condemned birth, i.e. cāṇḍāla, all are eligible for devotion, since the longing to be free of saṃsāric suffering is common to all.