Dear Ms. Glee Johnson,
We, the Hindu women of California are writing to express our deep anguish about unfair treatment of Hinduism in California text books for 6th grade students and the discriminatory procedures carried out in handling the edits proposed by the Hindu Education Foundation and the Vedic Foundation, both of which are Hindu groups.

First of all, we would like to bring to your attention that we are frustrated with the amount of negativity on Hinduism in these textbooks. Our children get conflicting information about Hinduism at home and in schools. While we teach them the good values that our culture has taught us, they learn that Hindus worship "blood thirsty goddesses", divide the society based on castes, and follow abhorring practices such as "untouchability" and "sati" - widow burning. We understand that one of the State's goals is to " instill a sense of pride in every child". But we feel that Hinduism is singled out when it comes to instilling pride in students.

We are especially concerned about statements such as "Hindu women had lower rights than men". In fact, in the ancient days where other societies treated women as inferior, Hinduism was the only culture in the world where women were worshipped as the feminine form of God. The ancient saying in Sanskrit states, "Where women are respected, there the Gods are happy". There are innumerable examples of exemplary women scholars, saints, warriors, and administrators continuously from the Vedic period until today in India. Hindu scholars such as Gargi and Maitreyi in the Vedic period, women saints such as Meera Bai, Akkamahadevi in the medieval period, women police such as Kiran Bedi and the woman Prime Minister Indira Gandhi glaringly prove that if women were treated at par with men anywhere in the world, it is in India, and in the Hindu society.

Negative portrayal of Hinduism and India impacts thousands of Hindu students and breeds intolerance about Hinduism in non-Hindu students.

Please approve the pending changes proposed by the Hindu Community and endorse the Curriculum Committee's decision.

Yours Sincerely,
Hindu Women of California