A youth killed himself by slitting his throat at the Neemsar’s Lalita Devi temple, 95 kilometers, north west of Lucknow on Sunday.

Narendra Kumar left a letter for his family in which he said, “What I am doing is not suicide. I am sacrificing my life to propitiate the Goddess.” He cut his throat in front of thousands of devotees who had gathered, at Neemsar, also popularly known as Naimisharanya, on the occasion of Amavasya (the new moon day).

Neemsar, is a famous pilgrimage center of Hindus under Misrikh police area in Sitapur district.

An Indian born seer has announced the construction of a $14 million temple at Trinidad and Tobago’s Freeport city.

‘The Laksmi Narayan Mandir will reflect the ancient Vedic tradition dating back to between 5,000 and 10,000 years. It will be patterned along the Vashti Shastri tradition reminiscient of the spirituality, moral and ethical values of that period,’ said Jyoti Shacharya Sri Sri Gajendra Kumar.

Nepal has increased the monthly stipend it gives its “living goddess” by a quarter, a top official said on Thursday, to help the schoolgirl revered by thousands of Hindus and Buddhists beat double-digit inflation.

The girl called Kumari is considered holy and is an attraction for the many tourists who visit the Himalayan nation every year, Reuters reports.

Critics of the centuries-old Kumari tradition say the girl is denied basic human rights as she cannot lead a normal life during the time she serves as the “goddess.”

With 16 tiers of Hindu script inscribed into its concrete ceiling, the ornate, cream-colored temple is an incongruous structure at the end of a winding road near Brandon, a growing bedroom community just outside Mississippi’s capital city, AP reports.

Members of the Hindu Temple Society of Mississippi hope the new 3,500-square-foot structure, built according to ancient rules of temple design called “agama sastra,” will draw throngs of worshippers and tourists to the site in the heart of the Bible Belt.

Sagarsen Haldar, 30, leader of the Hindu sect Gaudiya Vaisnava Society in Milwaukee has been charged with illegally bringing people into the U.S. purportedly as religious workers and then extracting money from them in exchange for his help, according to federal court documents.

Hindus are upset over religion author-commentator Stephen Prothero describing their rebirth tenet as ‘horrible’ in a recent ‘The Colbert Report’ television show.

Priya Tanna, editor of Vogue India, on Friday apologised to the country's Hindus over her remarks that "neither the rains nor the Hindu gods could stop the shoppers from coming to Fashion's Night Out last year."

Four Christians, including three evangelists and a police officer, have been jailed in India’s central state of Chhattisgarh for “converting” Hindus to Christianity, after they were injured in an attack by Hindu militants, Christian officials confirmed Saturday April 17.

In statements, Hindu militants defended their actions saying they were also attacked by Christians and suffering injuries.

Karnataka – once a symbol of India’s economic progress and of freedom – has now become a hub of right-wing Hindu extremism, according to the Evangelical Fellowship of India.

Christian investigators say Christian persecution increased after the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) became Karnataka’s main ruling party in 2008.

U.S.-based International Christian Concern said the January 17 violence in the city of Udaipur in Rajastha beganwhen members of the radical Hindu group Rashtriya Swayamsavak Sangh raided the Faith Calvary Church prayer meeting armed with machetes, axes and sticks “and proceeded to beat Pastor Surajth Bhagari and church members of the church.”

Christians comprise just over two percent of India’s mainly Hindu population of nearly 1.2 billion people, according tothe United States Central Intelligence Service.

There have been increased anti-Christian attacks reported by Hindu radical groups who oppose the spread of Christianity in India.

Up to a million Hindu devotees have gathered in a village in Nepal to witness the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of animals in a mass sacrifice that has drawn widespread criticism.

Worshippers travelled long distances, many coming from India, to attend the two-day Gadhimai festival, which honours the Hindu goddess of power and takes place once every five years in southern Nepal.

Yoga practitioners are criticizing a Missouri sales tax that applies to yoga classes, claiming they should be exempt because the lessons include spiritual elements.

Some practitioners think such a tax is unconstitutional. They argue that yoga, with roots in ancient Indian meditation, is as much a spiritual practice as an exercise routine and should be exempt from taxation.

After the recent arrests of numerous Hindu terrorists for exploding bombs, authorities increasingly view Hindu rightwing extremists as a threat not only to Muslim and Christian minorities but also to national security.

Historically Hindu terrorist groups have traded blows with India’s Muslim extremists, but because of a perceived threat from Christianity many analysts believe Hindu terrorists increasingly pose dangers to Christians as well.

Citizens in the Dutch town of Amstelveen have condemned plans by local authorities to support a controversial Hindu festival that would involve praying to a Hindu goddess from India, in the heart of the town.

Local officials said the ‘India Diwali Festival’, or ‘Festival of Lights’, is part of a policy to accommodate the Indian community in Amstelveen, a European gateway for international companies due to its location near Schiphol Airport and key highways.

A dancing elephant statue at the Calgary Zoo has kicked up controversy after a Christian group condemned the figure as an inappropriate religious icon.

Zoo officials say they have no plans to replace the Ganesh statue — which has stood near the elephant enclosure for at least two years — despite calls for its removal from Concerned Christians Canada.

Grahame Newton, the zoo’s director of corporate services, says the Ganesh statue isn’t a religious icon, rather a cultural symbol that shows the tie between the elephants and Asian culture.

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