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Oxford and India have a long and close relationship. It is hardly
surprising that India, a country famed for its love of learning,
would have such regard for Oxford. What may be surprising is
that the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies is the first Centre in
the world to explore all Hindu traditions, and in so many disci-
plines. The OCHS embodies the academic rigour and practical
innovation we encourage at Oxford.
The OCHS is one in a growing list of positive initiatives in Ox-
ford that are forging links with a new and dynamic India. The
Centre will help this new India ref lect on its heritage in contem-
porary terms, explore what Indias unique gifts are for a global
community, and build bridges of understanding between cul-
tures and worldviews.
The Rt Hon Lord Patten of Barnes, CH
Chancel lor of the University of Oxford
I was delighted to find scholars in Oxford exploring Indian
tradition and bringing it to the attention of the modern world in
meaningful ways.
I was equally delighted to learn that there is no other compara-
ble centre in the world, not even in India, that brings together a
galaxy of talent in Hindu Studies and applies their efforts to the
betterment of the world.
The Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies clearly champions the
value of scholarship with integrity in a world that often prefers
sound-bites and easy answers.
This place is an encouragement for Indian scholars and educa-
tors, all Indians in fact, to ref lect on the value of their cultures
and traditions and their relevance to modern life.
The work of the OCHS perfectly complements the continuing
development of Indian culture and I am proud to be a patron of
this Centre.
Amitabh Bachchan
OCHS Patrons Council
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The OCHS is the worlds leading institution for the research
and dissemination of Hindu Studies. It is the only centre in the
world with a systematic and strategic approach to Indian tradi-
tions and cultures. It is a model of Hindu Studies for the 21st
century a centre of excellence that is shaping conversations,
promoting dialogue, and inf luencing the thinking of a genera-
tion.
Society always benefits from education. Education based on
scholarly integrity supports good thinking it promotes under-
standing, it helps build bridges, it cultivates character, and it
develops social cohesion. Central to the culture of the OCHS is
the principle of working to improve the communities we serve
through education.
Society today faces profound challenges. Extremism, climate-
change, pollution, trust in public figures and institutions, and
poverty are concerns for us all. Albert Einstein once said, We
cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that
created them.
The OCHS makes good thinking accessible to media, government,
private enterprise, and communities.
The OCHS is helping a generation of students the decision-
makers of the future to develop a credible and authoritative
voice for their traditions; more than that, the OCHS aims to give
the same opportunity to future generations to represent Indian
thought and culture in times and circumstances we cant begin
to imagine.
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Courtesy Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
Te OCHS is unique,
being characterised by an
approach to Hindu Studies
that beautifully combines the
rigorous academic standards
and rened intellectual
environment of Oxford with
the human warmth and
pluralistic attitude of India.
Dr Andrea Acri,
OCHS Visiting Fellow
Te Oxford Centre for
Hindu Studies is important
because it isnt pushing an
agenda. It is looking at the
broader questions of Hindu
identity and culture today.
Tis helps inform not only
the Hindu community but
also the various communities
that make up our diverse
society.
Ranjit Sondhi CBE
I am delighted that young
Hindus are working to
preserve and develop their
traditions at the same time as
learning about other cultures
from the environment in
which you live.
It is heartening to see
your vision, concern and
commitment to building a
strong sense of your Hindu
community within the
context of British society
and I am so glad your
Hindu Youth Initiative has
produced good results and I
pray it will go from strength
to strength.
HRH Prince Charles,
Te Prince of Wales at the
launch of the OCHS Hindu
Youth Initiative
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We live in a global community with vastly increased opportuni-
ties for communication and mis-communication. The Oxford
Centre for Hindu Studies brings Indian culture to this new
global community and its enormous and divergent market-place
of ideas.
The OCHS works to create cohesion within society by providing
an informed, non-sectarian, and non-political voice for Indias
traditions a voice that makes extremism difficult to sustain.
The OCHS encourages its faculty and students to speak on con-
temporary issues through television, print, radio, and the web.
OCHS staff and students have contributed to Time, the Wash-
ington Post, the Times, the Times of India, the New York Times,
the BBC, and National Geographic, to name a very few.
The OCHS has a cradle-to-pyre strategy for education making
Oxford standards available to all. This is done through Hindu
Studies courses for the general public, including online courses,
and through executive-training programmes that help shape
future leaders and managers.
The OCHS has become a trusted voice for public and private
sector bodies. It has entered into partnerships with the BBC,
dealing with issues of public education; Dow Jones, providing
dharmic perspectives on ethical investment; and, through the
OCHS Bhumi project, initiated by the UN, co-ordinating Hindu
responses to environmental change and greening pilgrimage
sites including Tirupati, Rishikesh, Puri and Ujjain.
Te OCHS has been
instrumental in providing
advice on the methodology
of the Dow Jones Dharma
Indexes. As a global index
provider we rely on the
expertise of independent
academic bodies.
Sumeet Nihalani,
Dow Jones Senior Director
of Sales (Asia Pacic and
Middle East)
With globalisation and the spread of multifaith societies
there has never been a greater need for understanding of the
dierent world traditions. Te Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies
is encouraging the spread of knowledge about a great culture
which the West has found dicult to understand because of its
unique diversity and philosophical breadth.
Sir Mark Tully, writer and broadcaster
Te OCHS has a
tremendous role to play in
bringing the best of Indian
thought to the media, to
government, to business
and, at the same time,
ensuring that all traditions
and communities are
included in the process.
Lord Navnit Dholakia, OBE,
DL, Chairman of OCHS
Board of Governors
S1tor1s x Scno:nns
As India develops politically, industrially, and economically
it is absorbing world cultures and philosophies, often uncrit-
ically. To help discover a practical balance between tradition
and modernity the OCHS is creating a culture of thinking
that includes Indias indigenous perspectives. It is producing
a new and wholistic approach to Indias past, present, and
future.
To do this, the OCHS is bringing together the best thinkers
in its field, building new understandings of the relationship
between ancient traditions and the modern world.
Students
The OCHSs students are our best ambassadors. Our stu-
dents are taking degrees in faculties such as Politics,
Philosophy, Economics, Oriental Studies, Theology, Anthro-
pology, Literature, and History. Graduates have gone on to
accept academic positions in the USA, Oxford, Cambridge,
Israel, and Hong Kong, becoming leaders in their field and
infusing their own students with a balance of academic rig-
our and service to society.
Scholars
The OCHS attracts internationally renowned scholars to
its academic community, joining worlds of scholarship and
re-invigorating ways of looking at Indias civilisation and
contributions.
Te OCHS is unique in
that it studies all traditions
of Hinduism in all periods,
and in all parts of the world.
Te scholarly approach of
the OCHS is a basis for
excellent education and
informed debate. My time as
an OCHS student gave me
the perspectives I needed to
launch my career.
Prof. Ravi Gupta,
William and Mary College,
USA, and OCHS alumnus
Te OCHS plays an important part in the life of the
University, as the forum in which the great traditions of
Hinduism, and their contemporary living forms, can be
studied, taught, and discussed. Tere is great potential
for the future as new resources expand still further the
possibilities of OCHS.
Francis X. Clooney, SJ, Parkman Professor of Divinity,
Harvard University, OCHS Academic Director (2002-4)
Academic life at the
OCHS is the full package
academic excellence
combined with a personally
nourishing environment and
lasting friendships.
Devika Jina,
OCHS Alumna
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The OCHS has 60 students from countries all over the world,
including, the UK, India, US, Canada, Australia, Croatia, Swit-
zerland, China, Germany, France, Italy, Romania, Sri Lanka,
Israel, Pakistan, Ireland, Greece, Belgium, South Africa, Japan,
Denmark, Sweden, Russia, and Singapore.
The OCHS has hosted more than 800 lectures, of which 400 are
available for download.
The OCHS has hosted 35 scholars, mostly from India under the
Shivdasani Visiting Fellowship scheme.
The OCHS gives ten named annual bursaries, through the gen-
erosity of our supporters.
The OCHS is engaged in collaborative research with the Uni-
versity of Jadavpur (India), MS University of Baroda (India),
University of Aarhus (Denmark), University of Florida, and Chi-
nese University of Hong Kong.
The OCHS has had more than 2,000 enrolments over seven
years through its Continuing Education Department, including
its pioneering online courses.
The OCHS has hosted three international conferences on Hindu
Studies: Archeology and Text (2007), Category in Indian Philos-
ophy (2009), and Shakta Traditions (2011). Three more are being
planned: Hindu Approaches to the Environment, Bhagavata
Purana, and Modern Bengal Vaishnavism. The proceedings of all
our conferences are to be published.
The OCHS is publishing the Journal of Hindu Studies in part-
nership with Oxford University Press three times a year.
The OCHS publishes, with Routledge, the Hindu Studies Book
Series. To date nineteen titles have been produced.
As well as Oxfords unparalleled Bodleian Library with the
worlds largest collection of Sanskrit manuscripts outside of In-
dia, the OCHS has its own well-regarded library of 20,000 titles,
a significant number of which are not available at the Bodleian.
Te Centre oers a warm
and dedicated community. It
caters for individual interests
and works to develop student
potential in a wholistic way.
Moreover, it actively encour-
ages values of service and
integrity, so well articulated
in traditional Hindu scrip-
tures, a living expression in
contemporary life.
Meijia Ling,
OCHS alumna
It was truly like being in a
family, and everyone was
always so kind, courteous,
caring, and going out of their
way to assist an academic
caught up in his own work.
I learnt so much, and was
able to share so much. Te
students I tutored and
mentored were simply great.
Prof. Purshottam Bilimoria,
OCHS Visiting Fellow
Brrvnc1ons
Benefactors of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies comprise
an informed network of people united by a concern for Indian
culture and its study at the highest level.
They give of their time and money, they lend their reputation
to the work of the Centre, and they give freely of their valuable
expertise. Our benefactors ensure that the work of the Centre
retains a global focus, serving the communities it engages with
for generations to come.
In turn the OCHS is proud to acknowledge its benefactors
through naming opportunities for scholarships and lectureships,
by inviting them to special Governors and Patrons events, and
by inviting them to a seat on the OCHS Benefactors Council.
Te work being done at the
OCHS is opening a door
to knowledge and culture
that until recently, was only
slightly ajar. By facilitating
young intellectuals we help
to simultaneously preserve
and develop understanding
of Indic culture for modern
times and between
traditions.
Alfred Ford, Philanthropist
I think the OCHS is a very
exciting development for the
future of Indian culture. It is
certainly helping the world
reect on Indian identity and
perspectives. Any successful
initiative is a team eort, so
we should all get behind this
centre giving it every support
we can.
Amitabh Bachchan
OCHS Patrons Council
In previous centuries,
benefactors invested in
the universities that my
children and I studied at
and beneted from. Now,
our family is investing
in the OCHS to give
our grandchildren and
their grandchildren the
opportunity to study and
benet from this unique
centre. We are certain that
the future of Indias cultural
traditions is in safe hands at
the OCHS.
Kamlesh Patel,
OCHS Benefactors Council
Govrnncr
Director
Mr Shaunaka Rishi Das
Academic Director
Prof. Gavin Flood
Board of Governors
Mr Shaunaka Rishi Das
Lord Dholakia, OBE, DL
Dr S. Bhattacharya-Ford
Prof. Richard Gombrich
Prof. Edmund Herzig
Peggy Morgan
Dr John Muddiman
Prof. Polly OHanlon
Mr Harish I. K. Patel
Mrs Neerja Sethi
Mr Pramod Thakkar
Prof. Keith Ward, FBA
Patrons Council
Mr Amitabh Bachchan
Dr Karan Singh
HE The Indian High
Commissioner
Fund Management Committee
Mr Dev Bahl
Mr Akbar Moawalla
Dr Prashun Popat
Mr Ramesh Venkataraman
Fellows
Prof. John Brockington
Dr Gillian Evison
Prof. Gavin Flood
Dr Sanjukta Gupta
Dr Rembert Lutjeharms
Peggy Morgan
Senior Associate Fellows
Prof. Francis X. Clooney, SJ
Prof. Thomas Hopkins
Prof. Dermott Killingley
Prof. M. N. Narasimhachary
Prof. Patrick Olivelle
Research Fellows
Dr Jessica Frazier
Dr Bjarne Wernicke Olesen
Dr Brainerd Prince
Dr Ferdinando Sardella
Dr Kenneth Valpey
Dr Katherine Wharton
Academic Council
Prof. Gavin Flood (Chair)
Dr Gillian Evison
Dr Jessica Frazier
Dr Sondra Hausner
Dr Rembert Lutjeharms
Peggy Morgan
Prof. Polly OHanlon
Prof. George Pattison
Shaunaka Rishi Das
Academic Advisory Council
Dr N. J. Allen
Dr Rohit Barot
Prof. John Brockington
Prof. Judith Brown
Prof. F. X. Clooney, SJ
Dr Gillian Evison
Prof. Bob Jackson
Dr Dermot Killingley
Prof. Ursula King
Prof. Kim Knott
Prof. Julius Lipner
Prof. Eleanor Nesbitt
Prof. Malory Nye
Prof. Ceri Peach
Prof. Lord Bikhu Parekh
Prof. Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad
Dr David Smith
Continuing Education
Dr Nicholas Sutton
Ms Anuradha Dooney
Journal of Hindu Studies
Prof. Gavin Flood
Dr Jessica Frazier
Mr Rembert Lutjeharms
Te key to the OCHS success story is the dedication and
qualication of our people academics of true genius and
governance that encourages creativity. Tis special group has
combined to establish the worlds leading centre for Hindu
Studies; they have provided a solid foundation for the future.
Shaunaka Rishi Das, Director
Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies
13-15 Magdalen St
Oxford OX1 3AE
www.ochs.org.uk
info@ochs.org.uk
01865-304300
Regd. Charity No. 1074458
Partnerships
Chinese University Hong Kong
Maharaja Sayajirao
University of Baroda