Center brings Hindu traditions to UF classrooms

November 21, 2006

At the University of Florida, the Center for the Study of Hindu Traditions is working to change the way people view the third-largest religion in the world.

“People aren’t really clear about what the word Hindu means,” said Vasudha Narayanan, director of the center and distinguished professor of religion. “This is a global and multidisciplinary study of Hindu culture.”

Narayanan worked to establish the center in 2005 after speaking with scholars at Oxford University in England. She said the center hopes to serve two audiences: the larger student population in the university community and Hindu-American students who are eager to see their cultural traditions recognized in an educational setting.

“Hindu has a world influence, including here in America,” Narayanan said, adding that to broaden the understanding of Hindu culture, the center aims to look beyond India.

Commonly referred to as ChiTra, the Sanskrit word for “beautiful work of art,” the center is the first of its kind in the United States and only the second in the world. The center focuses on the study of Hindu traditions from global perspectives and also emphasizes interdisciplinary ways of understanding the culture.

ChiTra funds part of the Sanskrit curriculum, regularly hosts scholars and performing artists from around the globe, and offers guest lectures on Hindu art and culture.

“The scholarly reaction has been very warm and receptive,” Narayanan said.

Besides international partnerships, ChiTra collaborates with many centers and units across the UF campus, especially the College of Fine Arts’ School of Theatre and Dance and the Harn Museum of Art.

Internationally acclaimed dancers also have held dance workshops and discussed the relationship of dance to aesthetics and culture.

“To look at dances in an academic light is a very important part of this program,” Narayanan said.

Amy Bard, an assistant professor in the department of African and Asian languages and literatures, said her students benefited from attending a recent ChiTra sponsored interpretative dance performance.

“It’s not Hinduism narrowly defined,” Bard said of the center. “It has broken down the barriers of literature just being text on a page.”

Shreena Gandhi, a doctoral candidate in the department of religion who is writing her dissertation on the history of yoga in the United States, said the center creates opportunities for all students. For Gandhi, ChiTra helped her access scholars outside the UF community.

“ChiTra is allowing for the understanding of Hinduism to create global and economic ties in the future,” Gandhi said. “It’s not just going to a classroom to hear a lecture.”