Krishna

Taking his hand, the teacher gently guided 5-year-old Krishna to the sidewalk. Once there, she walked away. "Follow my voice, Krishna," the teacher said firmly as the boy stiffened at the sensation of a passing car. "Tap the cane left and right and walk toward my voice." Clutching a red stick that is longer than he is tall, Krishna hesitated only a second before tapping it on the ground and walking toward that voice somewhere in the darkness. "I'm getting better at this," Krishna said.

Lalita Goswami was married only a few years when her husband, a Hindu priest who beat her and abused drugs, died of an apparent overdose. She was left with three young children. Still, she said, being married was better than being a widow. That ordeal has lasted for decades. After her husband died, the brother-in-law who took her in kicked her out, forcing her back to her parents' home in Kolkata. Her brother saw her as a financial burden and neighbors ostracized her. In a bid to keep peace, her mother exiled her and her two youngest children to Vrindavan in central India, a sacred town known as the City of Widows.

Chants of ancient Sanskrit hymns, the clanging of temple bells and the scent of incense filled the worship hall of a half-constructed Hindu temple in the Malibu hills Saturday as Indian immigrant devotees enacted a ritual rich with the flavor of their homeland. Brahman priests presented offerings of coconut, banana and rice, then sprinkled holy water on new marble statues of Krishna and his wife, Radha.

SWAMI BHAKTIPADA Built huge Hare Krishna community in West Virginia Swami Bhaktipada, 74, who built a massive farm community in West Virginia and a Palace of Gold that became the crown jewel of the U.S. Hare Krishna movement before scandals and criminal charges led to his downfall, died Monday in India. Bhaktipada had been hospitalized in July in Thane, India, with various ailments, said spokesman, former disciple and biographer Henry Doktorski. Under Bhaktipada's leadership, the New Vrindaban community near Moundsville, W.Va., grew into what at one time was the nation's largest Hare Krishna community with more than 600 followers.

In this poor, sleepy town of 45,000 the roads are unpaved, and camels, donkeys and cows share the narrow streets with Jeeps and buses that raise dust so thick the pedestrians cough. Bur Mandawa has a distinction that makes it a gem among cities. In this town and surrounding villages in the state of Rajasthan in northwest India is a treasure that has been seen by few in the West and is in danger of disappearing.

The two forces have assembled, ready to engage in battle. The sides are split, bitter, but they are also linked by blood. Brother prepares to kill brother. Surveying the field, Prince Arjuna is stricken with doubt and sadness. He cries out, "No good can come from killing my own kinsmen in battle," and then he flees. But his charioteer, who is the god Krishna in disguise, comes to his side. "Although you mean well, Arjuna / your sorrow is sheer delusion.

Lalita Goswami was married only a few years when her husband, a Hindu priest who beat her and abused drugs, died of an apparent overdose. She was left with three young children. Still, she said, being married was better than being a widow. That ordeal has lasted for decades. After her husband died, the brother-in-law who took her in kicked her out, forcing her back to her parents' home in Kolkata. Her brother saw her as a financial burden and neighbors ostracized her. In a bid to keep peace, her mother exiled her and her two youngest children to Vrindavan in central India, a sacred town known as the City of Widows.

NARIYAL BABA SHOWED UP WITH A COCONUT on his head. It's the same one that's been balanced there for the past six months or so, thanks, he explains, to the power of his god, Lord Rama. And that coconut is going to stay there until Lord Rama gets his temple back, Baba insists, dancing a little jig in the afternoon sun to prove that his coconut does, indeed, defy gravity. Uma Bharati, a member of the Indian Parliament, stood nearby.

The exotic spiritualism of the current exhibit of "Hindu Art in South and Southeast Asia" at Cal State Fullerton is hard to ignore. The show, after all, is a collection of ritualistic objects documenting both the beauty and strangeness of a Far Eastern religion. But curator James Santucci hopes visitors will put aside notions of arcane gods with their tangle of arms and extravagant costumes. Less fascination with mysticism and more appreciation of craftsmanship is what he's after.

Brit­ish roots mu­sic band Mum­ford & Sons took the top hon­or for its album "Ba­bel" at the 55th Grammy Awards ce­re­mony Sunday. The night mostly dis­trib­uted hon­ors broadly to an ar­ray of young­er gen­er­a­tion acts in­clud­ing New York in­die trio Fun., Aus­trali­an elec­tron­ic pop artist Gotye, rap­per-R&B sing­er Frank Ocean and Ak­ron, Ohio, rock group the Black Keys. See the complete list of 2013 Grammy winners and nominees below. #story-body-text h2 { font-weight: bold !

The foreign ministers of India and Pakistan met Wednesday for the first time in a year in a fresh attempt to reduce tension and reverse the slide in relations that followed a terrorist attack on this city in 2008. The meeting in New Delhi between Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar and Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna saw no breakthroughs, although both sides framed the session as a step on the road to enhancing trust between the two longtime rival nations. "While being fully cognizant of the challenges that lie ahead, I can confidently say that our relations are on the right track," Krishna told reporters after the meeting.

Johnny Preston Singer had No. 1 hit with 'Running Bear' Johnny Preston, 71, who had a No. 1 pop single in 1960 with "Running Bear," died Friday at a hospital in Beaumont, Texas, his son Scott told the Associated Press. The elder Preston had bypass surgery last year. "Running Bear," a love song about an "Indian brave" named Running Bear and his "Indian maid," Little White Dove, reached No. 1 on Billboard magazine's charts in 1960. The song was written by disc jockey and singer J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, who died in the 1959 plane crash in which Ritchie Valens and Buddy Holly also were killed.

Los Angeles and other California cities and counties may bar the Hare Krishnas and other groups from panhandling at airports, the California Supreme Court unanimously ruled Thursday. The state high court, reviving a 1997 Los Angeles ordinance aimed at LAX, ruled that bans on soliciting at airports do not violate state constitutional guarantees of free speech. Lawyers for Los Angeles said that about 100 individuals representing at least 15 groups solicit money regularly at LAX. Thursday's ruling is expected to lead other airports to consider ordinances similar to L.A.'s law, which would ban solicitations in the interior terminals, parking lots and adjacent sidewalks.

Krishna Das Where: Wilshire Ebell Theatre, 4401 W. 8th St., L.A. When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday Price: $35 Contact: (323) 939-1128; www.ebellla.com

In houses and apartments across L.A., people are gathering together to practice a little-known, but growing, devotional ritual called kirtan. Somewhere between a singalong and a group meditation, kirtan (KEER-tan) is a call-and-response spiritual practice that has roots in Indian religions, including Buddhism, Hinduism and Sikhism. It was introduced to America in 1923, at a performance in Carnegie Hall. Since then, it has transitioned from an exotic performance to a common practice.

PETER HANDKE is controversial. There is no getting around this, and sadly there is a danger that it may distract attention from the fact that "Crossing the Sierra de Gredos" is one of the most emotionally rewarding and intellectually demanding novels of the year.

Krishna Das Where: Wilshire Ebell Theatre, 4401 W. 8th St., L.A. When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday Price: $35 Contact: (323) 939-1128; www.ebellla.com

A federal jury found the leader of the nation's largest Hare Krishna community innocent of arson and fraud charges today but convicted a follower of burning an apartment building in a scheme to collect $40,000 in insurance. The 11-woman, one-man U.S. District Court jury deliberated about three hours over two days before clearing Kirtanananda Swami Bhaktipada of conspiracy, arson and mail-fraud charges.

Six-year-old Ishika Muchhal trembles with excitement as she hides near the park's picnic benches, her face smeared with powdered paints: green, pink and red, with a splotch of blue on her forehead and a hint of yellow on her nose. Earlier, she had been hit directly between the shoulders by a boy she calls "an enemy of mine." There's even a yellow and green drenched spot as proof. She tells her tale gleefully, reenacting the scene with a smile and a hint of the dramatic.

AT a moment in pop musical history when hip-hop's foremost MC (Eminem) is white, reggae's most high-profile performer, Matisyahu, is a Hasidic Jew -- and musical genres are defined by color and creed less and less -- it was probably only a matter of time before the pop canon opened to include a Hare Krishna rapper. Enter Jason Fladlien, 23, out of small-town Iowa, a sexually abstinent, teetotaling vegetarian better known by his misleading nom de rap, Straiht Wikid Crew.