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Hindus, Muslims burn Valentine's Day cards in India
Reuters ^
Posted on 02/14/2006 5:26:56 AM PST by Alex Marko
NEW DELHI, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Hardline Hindu groups and radical Muslims burned Valentine's Day greeting cards on Tuesday and held protests across India against celebrating the festival of love, saying it was a Western import that spread immorality.
Saint Valentine's Day has become increasingly popular in India in recent years, a trend led by retailers who do healthy business selling heart-shaped balloons and fluffy teddy bears.
But the growing popularity of the day in officially secular, but mainly Hindu India has also sparked protests which have sometimes turned violent.
On Tuesday, protests were held in the capital New Delhi, some towns in the country's south and the only Muslim state of Jammu and Kashmir, where an Islamic insurgency has raged since 1989.
About two dozen women separatists, veiled in black from head to toe, rummaged shops and burnt Valentine's Day cards in Srinagar, Kashmir's summer capital, witnesses said.
"Valentine's Day spreads immorality among the youth," Asiya Andrabi of the Dukhtaran-e-Milat (Daughters of the Muslim Faith), a group of women separatists, said in a statement.
"We appeal to our children to stay away from this western culture."
In Bangalore, India's technology capital, as well as Hubli town, both located in the southern state of Karnataka, groups of Hindu nationalists burnt a big heart-shaped card.
About 50 Hindu activists wearing holy saffron-coloured scarves held a noisy protest in a popular market near the Delhi University campus, a Reuters photographer said.
They burnt greeting cards which they were carrying and shouted "Down with Valentine's Day". (Additional reporting by Sheikh Mushtaq in SRINAGAR)
TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: hindu; india; muslims; terrorist; valentinesday
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To: Alex Marko
"Valentine's Day spreads immorality among the youth," Well, just the boys. The girls are mere possesions to be raped and killed at will.
41
posted on
02/14/2006 6:31:06 AM PST
by
airborne
To: Alex Marko
Finally I agree with the infidels about something. Valentine's Day sucks!
To: CarrotAndStick; JoeSixPack1
Not a bad place to be.
Lucky blue-skinned so-and-so.
Comment #44 Removed by Moderator
To: Constitution Day
45
posted on
02/14/2006 6:33:05 AM PST
by
airborne
To: RolandBurnam; voice of india
"Imported" tradtions? The Shiv-Sena is more like impotent bunglers
Kamadeva
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For other meanings, see kama.
Kâmadeva is the Hindu god of love. His other names include Ananga (incorporeal), Kandarpa ("God of amour"), Manmatha (churner of hearts), Madana (intoxicating), Ratikânta (lord of the seasons), Pushpavân or just Kâma ("desire").
Kâmadeva is represented as a young and handsome winged man who wields a bow and arrows. His bow is made of sugarcane with honeybees on it and his arrows are decorated with five kinds of fragrant flowers. His companions are a cuckoo, a parrot, hummingbees, the season of spring and the gentle breeze. All of these are symbols of spring season.
According to the Shiva purânam, Kâmadeva is a son (actually a creation) of Brahma, creator of the universe. According to other sources including the Skanda purânam, Kâmadeva is a brother of Prasuti; they are both the children of Shatarupa, a creation of Brahmâ. All sources concur on the fact that Kâmadeva is wed to Ratî, a daughter of Prasuti and Daksha (another son/creation of Brahmâ). According to some beliefs, Kâmadeva was also once reincarnated as Pradyumna, the son of Krishna and Rukminî.
Legends
Perhaps the best-known legend concerning Kâmadeva pertains to his annihilation and subsequent resurrection at the hands of Shiva. As related in the Kumârasâmbhavam, Kandarpa (Kâmadeva) resolved to aid the maiden Pârvatî in gaining the favour of Shiva. Kandarpa shot his arrows-of-desire at Shiva in order to disrupt the latter's meditation and help Pârvati gain the attention of the lord. The ploy backfired badly; Shiva was momentarily distracted but immediately realised what had happened. He was enraged, opened his dreadful third eye, and annihilated Kandarpa with a single fiery glance. Kandarpa's body was instantly reduced to ashes. The calamity was more than merely personal, since with the annihilation of Kâma (desire), the world became barren and unregenerative. Eventually, the marriage of Shiva and Pârvatî nevertheless came to be held. Later, at the behest of the gods and upon the intercession made by Parvati in favour of Kâmadeva's lamenting wife Rati, Shiva resurrected him to life, thus ensuring the procreative continuity of the world. Shiva resurrected Kandarpa, but only as a mental image, representing the true emotional and mental state of love rather than physical lust. Holi, the Indian festival of colours, and especially the bonfire traditionally lit on that day, are believed by some to commeration this legend.
See also
46
posted on
02/14/2006 6:34:06 AM PST
by
CarrotAndStick
(The articles posted by me needn't necessarily reflect my opinion.)
To: martin_fierro
To: Lazamataz
"So *THAT'S* why I didn't get one this year!" Well, I woke up with a warm body laying next to me, and another between my legs...long before the alarm clock would shatter the morning calm, I felt a warm breath against my neck and a tongue in my ear...
...d@mn dogs needed to go pee about 4:00 a.m....
48
posted on
02/14/2006 6:40:05 AM PST
by
Joe 6-pack
(Que me amat, amet et canem meum.)
To: RolandBurnam
I think it is pathetic and pitiful. And so are they.
To: Alex Marko
Hmmmm, isn't the greatest monument to love ever constructed, the Taj Mahal, located in India?
Next thing we know, the radical fundamentalists will be picketing in front of that beautiful edifice.
Or do they outsource their picketing jobs to those in lower castes?
Leni
50
posted on
02/14/2006 6:45:29 AM PST
by
MinuteGal
(Sail the Bounding Main to the Balmy, Palmy Caribbean on FReeps Ahoy 4. Register Now!)
To: martin_fierro
51
posted on
02/14/2006 6:46:31 AM PST
by
CarrotAndStick
(The articles posted by me needn't necessarily reflect my opinion.)
To: Alex Marko
Back in the 70's, a Baptist Church, in Myrtle beach S. Carolina, had a Simon and Garfunkle record burning party. It affected my life about as much as these guys burning Valentine's day cards. I would expect that their actions will cause a shortage and the cards will go up from astronomical, to just plain too much. Might be a good thing - buy the wife a nice dinner and get some good lovin' for cheaper than the "traditional" missives.
52
posted on
02/14/2006 6:47:39 AM PST
by
trebb
("I am the way... no one comes to the Father, but by me..." - Jesus in John 14:6 (RSV))
To: Alex Marko
I sympathize with wanting to trash V-Day cards, and break just about everything else today. F%^&ing women. Okay, I'm done pouting now.
53
posted on
02/14/2006 6:49:20 AM PST
by
DarkSavant
("Life is hilariously cruel" - Bender)
To: RolandBurnam; Brian Allen
" They should be more tolerant. We should bomb the hell out of this country."
Oh, how tolerant of you indeed!
To: Gengis Khan; CarrotAndStick; Raj13008
Happy valentines day !!!!!!
:-)
55
posted on
02/14/2006 6:59:51 AM PST
by
voice of india
(Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall i fear ?)
To: martin_fierro
BOYCOTT IMMORALITY! LOL!
56
posted on
02/14/2006 7:01:16 AM PST
by
CarrotAndStick
(The articles posted by me needn't necessarily reflect my opinion.)
To: Brian Allen
I had been busy with my GF all day.
Hadn't much time to catch up with all the anti-India nonsense piling up at FR.
To: CarrotAndStick
Death to those who mock SAINT Valentine!
58
posted on
02/14/2006 7:05:41 AM PST
by
massgopguy
(massgopguy)
To: MinuteGal
Or do they outsource their picketing jobs to those in lower castes?
No. Jobless low-life loser-thugs from every walk of Indian life are paid to do that. When the money stops, so does the picketing.
59
posted on
02/14/2006 7:05:43 AM PST
by
CarrotAndStick
(The articles posted by me needn't necessarily reflect my opinion.)
To: Brian Allen
Never too old to make love eh?
Happy V-Day to you too!
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