Priyadarshini Sen
Priyadarshini Sen is an author at Religion News Service.
All Stories by Priyadarshini Sen
Making his kitchen his pulpit, Indian priest highlights the pandemic’s hungry
By Priyadarshini Sen — May 21, 2020
(RNS) — D’Souza’s ‘Food for the Soul’ show has gained over 6,000 subscribers across India since Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered a nationwide lockdown.
Woman Sufi saint inspires Badr Baabou, an LGBTQ activist in Tunisia
By Priyadarshini Sen — January 8, 2020
(RNS) — Badr Baabou, a Muslim LGBT activist and head of the Tunisian Association for Justice and Equality, draws inspiration from the 13th century Sufi saint Aisha Al-Manoubya.
Hindu nationalists open self-styled religious courts as a rebuke to Sharia law
By Priyadarshini Sen — October 4, 2019
ALIGARH, India (RNS) — Last year, the right-wing Hindu Mahasabha Party demanded the closure of all Muslim Sharia courts in India. When their petition was denied, the party set up its own unsanctioned courts across Uttar Pradesh, based on Hindu principles of justice.
A school where Muslims and Hindus pray together stirs strife in divided India
By Priyadarshini Sen — September 11, 2019
ALIGARH, India (RNS) — Founded to help poor children of both of India's predominant faiths, the Chacha Nehru's inclusivity has irked Muslim and Hindu leaders alike.
Pollution of a sacred river becomes a symbol for India’s environmental challenges
By Priyadarshini Sen — August 15, 2019
BANGALORE, India (RNS) — This city's early 1990s tech boom outstripped its waste management plans, leaving its Vrishabhavathi River choked with industrial waste.
In Kashmir’s war-torn landscape, imams take up the environmental cause
By Priyadarshini Sen — July 8, 2019
SRINAGAR, India (RNS) — After years of conflict that have harmed the Kashmir Valley’s natural beauty, locals here have more faith in religious leaders to protect their heritage than they do the government.
Atheist ashram on Lord Krishna’s home turf roils India’s Hindu nationalists
By Priyadarshini Sen — June 19, 2019
(RNS) — Two brothers who once devoutly supported the Hindu nationalist agenda have turned to rationalism, attracting attacks from religious leaders and politicians.
Refurbishing holy site, India’s Modi levels ancient spiritual landscape
By Priyadarshini Sen — April 22, 2019
VARANASI, India (RNS) — Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 'dream project' at an 18th-century shrine to Lord Shiva has swept up monasteries, old-age homes and shops that had existed for generations.
India’s Hindu prime minister touts hometown’s Buddhist links as vote nears
By Priyadarshini Sen — April 11, 2019
VADNAGAR, India (RNS) — Is Indian Prime Minister Modi's interest in Buddhist antiquities genuine, or just a play for votes among his country's dispossessed?
India’s Hindu nationalists vow to restore deity’s birthplace to former glory
By Priyadarshini Sen — February 26, 2019
AYODHYA, India (RNS) — Local politicians are attempting to remake a town whose name is synonymous with anti-Muslim violence into a tourist destination for Hindus from India and around the world.
India’s Supreme Court threatens hereditary priesthood at Jagannath temple
By Priyadarshini Sen — December 21, 2018
PURI, India (RNS) — Replacing their hereditary rights to perform temple rituals with salaried, merit-based priests, say the workers at the Jagannath Temple here, would corrupt a centuries-old practice.
Neglect and paradoxical rules on preservation threaten India’s historic Hindu Sun Temple
By Priyadarshini Sen — December 12, 2018
BHUBANESWAR, India (RNS) — The uncertain fate of a 13th-century temple to the Hindu sun god has many demanding that the government re-examine its approach to cultural preservation.
India’s Durga Puja celebrates divine feminine with modern takes on ancient ritual
By Priyadarshini Sen — October 19, 2018
KOLKATA, India (RNS) — Elaborately designed bamboo pandals have serious themes, from the trafficking of women to child labor at tea shops to the plastic surgery obsession among young adults.
Indian court raises LGBT hopes of finding home in traditional faiths
By Priyadarshini Sen — September 11, 2018
NEW DELHI (RNS) — Fearing censure, gay and transgender Indians have long kept away from mainstream religious spaces. But a Supreme Court ruling striking down a ban on homosexuality has galvanized many to practice their faith more openly.
India’s Bnei Menashe community sets sights on immigrating to Israel
By Priyadarshini Sen — August 30, 2018
MANIPUR, India (RNS) — So far in 2018, more than 430 Bnei Menashe have immigrated to Israel, making it one of their largest exoduses from India since 1989.
