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The past can be painful Wayne Gretzky Oilers Jersey , but in California, it can be rewritten. At issue is what sixth graders will learn about Hinduism in their ancient history textbooks.

Claiming that eight social studieshistory textbooks under review by the California Board of Education misrepresent Hinduism, two Hindu groups have approached the board with edits during its public review process last year.?

The textbooks are ?inaccurate and demeaning? said Janeshwari Devi, director of programs at the Vedic Foundation, which she described as a Hindu educational group with no political affiliations. She pointed to specific references in the history textbooks proposed for 6th-graders, that describe Hinduism's voluntary class system, 'the varna system of social structure Connor McDavid Oilers Jersey ,? with the discrimination associated with casteism. (See ?What's at stake? for a look at controversial passages.)

As per state law, the textbooks slated for inclusion in the state curriculum in 2006 can be reviewed by the board of education before adoption. The board is similarly bound to invite public opinion. In October, armed with several proposed edits and thousands of signatures gathered online, the Vedic Foundation and the Hindu Educational Foundation challenged the eight history textbooks being evaluated.

?Hinduism and its origins are, on the whole, not portrayed inaccurately, but there are quite a number of individual mistakes Leon Draisaitl Oilers Jersey , infelicities and insensitivities, which have been recognized and addressed by all committees involved,? said Michael Witzel, the Wales Professor of Sanskrit at Harvard University.

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