News

The 'Friends of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies' has been launched in the United States of America.

The Centre's first two Doctoral students graduated from Oxford University this year – Ravi Gupta and Kenneth Valpey. As scholars and practitioners of Hinduism, both focused their studies on various aspects of the Hindu tradition.

By providing qualified tutors and academic supervisors to the University and by giving practitioners of Hinduism somewhere to study and live without compromising their practice, the Centre has successfully facilitated these two and many others' stays in Oxford.

Is Hinduism monotheistic? Does Hinduism have something in common with Judaism, Christianity, and Islam who all hold a strong belief in one God? How can a religion that seems teeming with various gods of colourful descriptions have a belief in one Supreme?

This is the text of a presentation delivered by Mr Ranjit Sondhi CBE, at the OCHS Board of Governors annual dinner, held in the Oxford Town Hall, on the 23rd June 2004. Mr Sondhi is a member of the BBC Board of Governors as the chairman of the English National Forum. He also serves as a member of the Patrons Council of the OCHS.

Hilary Term (Jan - Mar 05)

Shivdasani Visiting Fellow

K. Maheswaran Nair hails from Kerala (Southern India) and is currently Professor, Department of Sanskrit, University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram. He is also Hon. Director of the Centre for Vedanta Studies of the University of Kerala. Previously he worked at Govt. Sanskrit College, Thiruvananthapuram and Thrippunithura, and also as Editor of the Dept. of Cultural Publications, Kerala. He has been teaching Sanskrit and Indian Philosophy for over three decades.

On a lovely mid-summer's day last August, the London Chapter of the Indian Institute of Technology organised a trip of association members, their families and friends to OCHS. After a tour of the Centre and a satisfying lunch the group walked to Worcester College, where Dr Ranjit Sondhi CBE, a member of the governing board of the BBC and the OCHS Patrons Council gave a thought provoking and entertaining talk on issues facing Asian Britons. This was followed by a lively discussion.

Ashiyana Nariani is a visiting student from the USA,now based at OCHS and Wadham College as one of our first two Bachelors Degree students.Her studies combine Hindu Studies,Hindi and Mathematics,and she will be studying these subjects here for the rest of the academic year.

The Centre has been fortunate to host two distinguished scholars this academic year. In autumn 2004,Vasudha Narayanan, Professor of Religion at the University of Florida and past president of the American Academy of Religion, came to the OCHS as the Tamil Krishna Goswami Visiting Fellow. She delivered the Wahlstrom Lecture, providing insight into the breadth of Hindu cultural expansion beyond the borders of modern India, with examples from Angkor Wat and other Cambodian sacred sites.

We recently had the great pleasure of Senior Indian scholars visit OCHS entertaining the High Commissioner of India,Mr Kamlesh Sharma,accompanied by his wife Mrs Babli Sharma and Special Assistant Mrs Kulkarna,for lunch in Oxford on our OCHS premises.On 17 February, scholars,students,staff and the Oxford Hindu Student Society gathered to meet the High Commissioner,who took the time to discuss Hindu Studies with those present.

Francis X. Clooney, one of the world's leading comparative-theology scholars, will become the Parkman Professor of Divinity and Professor of Comparative Theology at Harvard Divinity School, effective July 1, 2005, Dean William A. Graham has announced.

Clooney, a Roman Catholic priest and a member of the Society of Jesus, is currently Professor of Comparative Theology at Boston College, where he has taught since 1984.