The State Board of Education approved hundreds of changes to history textbooks Wednesday, in an attempt to find a compromise amid clashing demands about how ancient Hinduism should be taught in California public schools.

The decision - and the hours of emotional public testimony that preceded it at several hearings over six months - demonstrated how tricky it can be to teach students the harsh facts of their heritage without compromising their sense of identity.

The changes the board accepted represent "our best efforts," said member Ruth Green, acknowledging that the decision was unlikely to make everyone happy.

One group, the Hindu American Foundation, has already threatened the board with a lawsuit. Other Hindu groups on both sides of the fierce debate said they had reservations about some of the changes but thought the board had been fair.

"I think we made significant progress on Hindu issues," said Khanderao Kand of the Hindu Education Foundation, one of the two groups that presented the board with hundreds of proposed corrections last year.

Anu Mandavilli of Friends of South Asia, a group that has fought the Hindu groups' proposed corrections, thanked the board for "rejecting the ideologically motivated edits" suggested by the two groups.

The decision caps a long and complicated series of public hearings on the matter. The state board adopts new history textbooks every six years. California public school students learn about ancient civilizations - including the origins of Hinduism - in the sixth grade.

Last September, the Hindu Education Foundation and the Vedic Foundation of Austin, Texas, told the board they wanted to see changes in the new history textbooks that the state will introduce this fall.

The requests touched off a stormy debate within the Hindu community and among scholars of the religion.

Supporters of the edits said the textbooks' descriptions of caste and gender discrimination unfairly singled out Hinduism for practices common in the ancient world. Opponents said the proposed changes would whitewash oppression that persists today.

The changes the board accepted Wednesday were recommended by the Department of Education.

About the writer:
The Bee's Deepa Ranganathan can be reached at (916) 321-1962 or dranganathan@sacbee.com.