News

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.

This year the Centre launched its 'Friends ' programme. It is an invitation, by Lord Dholakia of our Patrons Council, for the public to join our 'Friends of the OCHS' campaign. The Centre has achieved great academic success. But to ensure that the OCHS achieves its full potential we need the generous support of private and corporate sponsorship.

This is a great opportunity for those who are passionate about the education of young people, and the preservation and promotion of the culture. Together we can help define and develop the subject of Hindu Studies.

Over the last twelve months the work of our Continuing Education Department has again focused on offering the Certificate in Hindu Studies at new locations across the country. Classes have continued in Harrow, Ilford and Leicester, and in January 2005 the course started in a new venue in Birmingham. At present we have over eighty students registered on the Certificate Course, engaged in university level study of Hindu traditions and culture.

On Thursday, the 26 of May, Sir Mark Tully, formerly the BBC's longstanding correspondent in India, addressed an audience of 450 at an evening dinner organised by the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies.

Scholars, students, and community leaders from across the country came together last Thursday for the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies (OCHS) 7th annual Board of Governors dinner. The event, which took place at Oxford Town Hall, was an occasion for friends and well-wishers to learn and reflect upon the diverse and rewarding activities of the OCHS over the past year.

Following in the footsteps of senior scholars like Prof.Frank Clooney (Harvard University, USA)and Prof.Pratap Kumar (KwaZulu Natal,South Africa),from October 2005 the new Academic Director of OCHS will be Prof.Gavin Flood,who is currently the senior lecturer in Religious Studies at the University of Stirling, Scotland.

This term sees Gopal Gupta from Boise Idaho, USA, arriving at OCHS to pursue an MSt in Science and Religion. In recognition of his excellent work to date, the University of Oxford have awarded him a full Clarendon Fund Scholarship to support his studies at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies. The highly sought-after Clarendon Scholarship, which is given to encourage scholarship in important and often ground-breaking fields, covers the fees for Gopal's Masters and Doctoral degrees in the emergent field of Science and Hinduism.

On Friday 18th of November at the Leicester Stage Hotel the OCHS held "An Evening with Ranjit Sondhi CBE". The impetus for the dinner, prompted by the Sir Mark Tully Dinner held in London, in May, came from Mr Vijay Thakrar. A team of our Leicester friends organised, managed and executed the evening wonderfully.