News

A talk by Dr Brainerd Prince of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies

We live in religiously diverse societies. One way to gain recognition and create space is to resort to name calling, violence, and conflict. But Hindu communities have always lived with diversity. So, how can contemporary Hindus engage with other religious traditions even as they strive to hold their own in our multicultural societies.

Rev Tom Wilson, Director of St Philips Centre, and Shaunaka Rishi Das of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies

A public conversation to explore the issues and promote an open discussion. Leicester is one of the most diverse cities in Britain. How could people with such different cultural, religious, and culinary habits ever be truly British? Can British people really support Indian cricket? Three generations later and we ask similar questions of Eastern Europeans, Russians, and Somalians. How deep is our multiculturalism? Where does diversity start? What are the barriers?

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

The Bhagavad-gita is a conversation that takes place on a battlefield, just prior to a conflict that ends in death and misery for most of the participants. Its a strange text therefore in which to find humility emerging as one of its important principles. In fact humility is the basis on which Arjuna, one of the most valiant of the warriors present, finally decides to participate.

A talk by Silje Lyngar Einarsen of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies

The emphasis placed on goddesses and the divine feminine makes Hinduism truly unique among the world religions. Not only does the feminine dimension permeate Hinduism in various forms—from the concept of prakṛti in Sāṃkhya philosophy to rural village goddesses—but the Goddess is also proclaimed as the highest reality in the monistic Śākta traditions. This talk will examine ways in which the divine feminine has been viewed in Hindu traditions.

A talk by Brainerd prince of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies and Saloni Patel

With the global effort to protect the rights of children, have we lost a healthy understanding of the role of the family as the centre of a child's social structure? How can Hindu approaches to children and particularly their relationship to parents offer a corrective to other modern notions – is there a Hindu contribution to the current debate on child rights?