News

Friends Golf Day, 26 October

29 September 2012

The Friends of OCHS brings you another chance to take part in a fantastic day of golf at Kilworth Springs Golf Club, the premier golfing venue overlooking the beautiful Avon Valley in South Leicestershire.

This follows the enormous success of last year’s event, when fifty golfing enthusiasts from all over England battled it out for The Friends Cup and The Friends Sheild.

The event, on Friday 26 October, aims to raise awareness and much needed funds for the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies.

For more information about the event please email us at lf@ochs.org.uk.

Friends Event: Why we are Hindus

Birmingham Friends Event
Saturday, 6 October 2012 - 6:30pm to 9:00pm

A talk by Dr Nick Sutton of the Oxford Centre For Hindu Studies.

In this talk we will consider specific reasons one might have for displaying a commitment to the Hindu religious tradition and the motivations for seeking to ensure the preservation and wider understanding of the ideals of Hinduism.  Most of those who adhere to the Hindu tradition and consider themselves Hindus were born into the religion but in this talk we will discuss whether this is enough and consider reasons why a person should seek to play an active role in the propagation of Hindu values. 

New intern for the OCHS

24 September 2012

This month OCHS welcomed Raam Chauhan as an intern at the Centre for two weeks. His family are well known to the OCHS as his parents, Raj and Ramila Chauhan, are key members of the Leicester Friends group and strong supporters of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies. Raam is currently in his fourth year, studying Chemistry at Oxford University and donated some of his time to the Centre before starting his term in September.

Raam mainly worked alongside Judit Bajusz, the Centre’s Administrative Secretary and helped organise filing of the Centre’s historical records.

Hindus in Africa launch plans for environmental change

20 September 2012

Hindus in Africa have launched a long-term plan to address some of the most pressing environmental concerns in the continent.

Their nine-year plan was launched at an event in Nairobi, Kenya, along with similar plans from other faith groups in Africa. The plan is part of The Bhumi Project, an international initiative that works with Hindus to address environmental concerns. The event was hosted by the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC).

Over the next nine years the Hindu community plans to green religious and cultural centres, promote green economy, develop educational resources

Nehru Centre talk: Creation or Evolution: Indian Perspectives?

Nehru Centre Event
Thursday, 20 September 2012 - 6:30pm

A talk by Dr Nick Sutton of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies

Modern debates over religion and science have frequently focused on the dissonance between the understanding of creation revealed in religious texts and the ideas based on the scientific method. This debate has centred overwhelmingly on Christian and to some extent Islamic teachings but in this talk we will consider how it affects Indian religious thought and the contribution that Indian ideas have to offer.

Friends Event: Who is the Real Krishna?

Birmingham Friends Event
Saturday, 1 September 2012 - 6:30pm to 9:00pm

A talk by Dr Nick Sutton of the Oxford Centre For Hindu Studies.

Krishna is perhaps the most widely revered of Hindu deities whose image is worshipped in temples throughout India. However, Krishna appears to have something of a dual identity, firstly as the sagacious teacher familiar from the Mahabharata and Bhagavad-gita and then as the playful child and lover who sports in the forests around Vrindaban.  In this talk we will consider the identity of Krishna as the Supreme Deity and explore the ways in which this dual identity provides an important insight into the nature of the divine.

Friends Event: Beyond Multiculturalism

Leicester Friends Event
Saturday, 25 August 2012 - 6:30pm to 9:00pm

Learning from Aurobindo’s Indian and British identities

A talk by Brainerd Prince of the Oxford Centre For Hindu Studies

Not only are our societies becoming multicultural, but their members are themselves increasingly products of multicultural societies with multicultural identities. So what does it mean to be multicultural? How do we live together in solidarity with difference? How do we negotiate our identity in a multicultural society? A hundred years ago Aurobindo addressed these very issues as he himself had to negotiate between his own Indian and British identities.

Nehru Centre talk: Religion and Conflict in Indian History

Nehru Centre Event
Thursday, 30 August 2012 - 6:30pm

A talk by Dr Nick Sutton of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies

In recent decades much has been written about the role of religion in the making of Indian history.  From one side it has been claimed that religious differences were the main motivation for invasion and persecution whilst others reject this perspective arguing that religion was of no real significance in these events.  In this talk we will look carefully at both points of view and seek, if possible, some form of viable reconciliation.

Friends Event: Tirtha Yatra

Leicester Friends Event
Saturday, 28 July 2012 - 6:30pm to 9:00pm

A talk by Shaunaka Rishi Das of the Oxford Centre For Hindu Studies

The purpose, practice and pitfalls of pilgrimage in Hindu tradition

Friends Event: Understanding the Bhagavad-gita

Dr Nick Sutton
Birmingham Friends Event
Saturday, 14 July 2012 - 6:30pm to 9:00pm

A talk by Dr Nick sutton of the Oxford Centre For Hindu Studies.

The Bhagavad-gita is one of the best known and most important of all Hindu texts; it is written in a relatively simple style of Sanskrit and contains only 700 verses, yet it has an incredible depth of meaning and its thought displays a profound complexity.  In this talk we will try to establish exactly what the Bhagavad-gita is saying and how it is able to reconcile divergent strands of thought based on the concepts of karma, dharma, bhakti, moksha and yoga.

Jolly good fellows

1 July 2012

Academic year 2011–2012 gave us one OCHS fellow and three Shivdasani Fellows. The Shivdasani Fellowship exists to enable outstanding scholars of Indian nationality to come and study, write, and teach at Oxford University.

Shivdasani Fellows

Purushottama Bilimoria

Professor Bilimoria is a highly engaging and cheerful individual and it was inspiring to see the amount of ground he covered in six short weeks. He tutored eleven students on a wide range of topics and took full advantage of the facilities Oxford offers.

Bursaries

30 June 2012

We were happy to award £8,000 worth of scholarships and bursaries to OCHS students this year. These scholarships provide an opportunity for students to travel and pursue their research and they make a big difference to their morale and material needs.

The scholarships awarded are as follows:

 

The Pandit Abaji Scholarship sponsored by Raj and Ramila Chauhan, the founders of the Leicester Friends Group, was awarded to Ionut Moise.

The Jiva Goswami Scholarship sponsored by Dr Ravi Gupta, an alumnus of the Centre, was awarded to Lucian Wong.

The Gupta Dan Bursary, sponsored anonymously, is