On Friday, 24th November 2000, H. E. Nareshwar Dayal, High Commissioner for India, visited Oxford at the joint invitation of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies and the Interfaculty Committee for South Asian Studies of Oxford University.
The Commissioner first paid a visit to the offices of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, of which he is Chief Patron, where he was warmly welcomed by Shaunaka Rishi Das, the Centre's Director. After a tour of the Centre's facilities, the His Excellency was introduced to the Centre's students and Dr. Narasimhachary from Madras University in India, who is the Centre's current Academic Director. At the conclusion of his visit the High Commissioner was presented with a book on Oxford that had been inscribed with Sanskrit verses specially composed for the occasion by Dr. Narasimhachary.
The Commissioner then made his way to Balliol College where he gave a forty-five minute lecture entitled 'India Today', which was extremely well received. Following the lecture a private dinner was held in the Commissioner's honour, attended by members of OCVHS and a number of scholars from the faculty of South Asian studies.
The High Commissioner's visit was hailed as an enormous success both by the Interfaculty Committee for South Asian Studies and the Oxford Centre for Vaishnava and Hindu Studies. The Centre was particularly delighted to receive the Commissioner on his first visit as Chief Patron and looks forward to welcoming him back to Oxford some time in the future.
On Wednesday, 15th December, the Oxford Centre, and Lord Navnit Dholakia organised its first meeting in the House of Lords. The meeting was very successful and well attended by the select group of invited guests who braved the wind, rain and London's rush hour traffic to add their voices and support. It was very successful in achieving its aim of informal and broad dialogue on subjects touching the future of Hinduism, the preservation and interpretation of culture, and its transmission to a younger generation.
The meeting was chaired by Lord Dholakia and short addresses were given by Prof. David Patterson, (Founder of the Oxford Centre for Jewish and Hebrew Studies), Dr. Gillian Evison, (Librarian of the Indian Institute Library, Oxford), Ravi Gupta and Rishi Shonpal, (students), and Shaunaka Rishi Das (on behalf of the Oxford Centre).
The presentations were very well received, especially those of the two students. They outlined the struggle of their peers, both in the USA and UK, to feel pride in their culture, and the inability of many Hindus to represent their culture with confidence. They made a heartfelt appeal to their elders to support the Centre in Oxford to help them pursue their vocation of scholarly studies in order to personally understand their tradition and be able to explain it to others.
After these presentations, the meeting opened up a lively discussion from the floor in which some interesting points were made, including the following:
The Indian community is the only community in the UK to
parade its wealth more than its values
Lord Dholakia
The intellectual tradition in Hinduism is presently in a
fossilised state and has been so for at least sixty years. A
Centre such as the one proposed is the most positive and
practical proposal I've heard to help solve this
crisis.
Dr. Gopal Krishna, Oxford
Although many Indians have developed an inferiority
complex about their culture and tradition, we must remember that
there is presently a great interest in Indian affairs in the
Western world
Mark Tully, Journalist and Broadcaster
It is important that the Oxford Centre belongs to the
Hindu community and not just the academic community and that the
members of the community have access to education in their own
tradition
Veena Bahl, Department of Health
I am sure that the Centre has considered this but I would
consider it very important that the ethos of the Centre works on
the lines of interfaith principles so that it's theological and
cultural studies can remain as broad as possible, which would
greatly help the issues of integration and understanding in the
indigenous community
Rev, Canon Michael Ipgrave, representing the Archbishop
of Canterbury
Without access to education about their culture, conducted
in an environment that they can relate to and which carries the
credibility of the Oxford institutions, it will be very difficult
for our Hindu youth to relate to its own culture. The importance
of the Centre cannot be over-estimated, especially at this
time
Meena Pathak, Pathak Spices
In a pyramid of culture it is the apex that is
important.The intellectual head of society must be nourished and
sustained if a culture is to survive
Prof. David Patterson
The support from those present was unanimous. In his concluding remarks Prof. Patterson, who developed a similar study Centre for the Jewish community, reminded everyone that such a bold initiative required the committed support of both community leaders and businessmen. The future of the initiative will depend on the generosity of the community. Lord Dholakia also emphasised this point and that everyone, whatever their capacity, could support the Centre from their own strength.
One of the most striking impressions the meeting left on me was the enthusiasm of those present to support this initiative. It highlighted the fact that the Oxford Centre is presently the only initiative developing an academic strategy through consultation and dialogue to rekindle a thoughtful non-sectarian and non-political approach to the study of Hinduism.