Twenty years of Hindu studies
When Concordia established the Endowed Chair in Hindu Studies in the Department of Religion in 1989, it was the first endowed chair of its kind in North America and one of the very few devoted exclusively to the academic study of Hinduism.
The creation of the Chair in Hindu Studies has allowed Concordia students, such as Diaspora Hindus, to learn about the world’s oldest religion in an academic setting. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of that milestone, the department and Chair in Hindu Studies’ steering committee organized a number of public lectures at the university and a yoga camp at one of the Hindu temples in Montreal.
All events were well attended by faculty and members of the community. And on October 18, the department and steering committee members welcomed about 100 Concordia faculty members, students, alumni, donors and others for a reception at the Hall Building to celebrate 20th anniversary of the Chair in Hindu Studies.
Several Concordia representatives spoke at the event: David Graham, Provost and Vice-President, Academic Affairs; Catherine Bolton, Associate Dean, Arts and Science; Lynda Clarke, chair of the Department of Religion; Umanath Tiwari, steering committee member; and M.N.S. Swamy, Electrical and Computer Engineering research professor and steering committee member, who had been instrumental in originally raising funds for the Chair.
Clarke pointed out how the establishment of the Chair had resulted in other gains in Hindu studies at Concordia, including the building of a library collection and the recent hiring of another tenure-track professor of Hinduism, Shaman Hatley.
Several of the speakers discussed the Chair’s goals for the next decades, pointing particularly to the need to create scholarships to attract and support top-level graduate students. Professor of Religion and current Chair in Hindu Studies T.S. Rukmani delivered a lecture entitled, “The five vows which a practising Hindu observes in his/her daily life called the five panca-yajnas.”
Related link:
• Concordia Chair in Hindu Studies