A History of Hinduism at Harvard
By Vivek Rudrapapatna, '06 (Secretary 2003-2004, Co-President 2004-2005)
With contributions from Dharma's past presidents
Hinduism has long been represented at Harvard College; the Sanskrit and Indian Studies Department-the oldest in the country-dates back to the late 19th century, and Hindus have been represented in the faculty and student population at least since the 60s. Harvard's Hindu Fellowship-a facet of the United Ministry-and its South Asian Association have also played a role in establishing a Hindu presence on campus, yet it was not until the late 90s that Hindu Students at Harvard had a real social, political, and philosophical forum that they could call their own.
Dharma: Harvard's Hindu Students Association was founded in the spring of 1997 with the dedication of a few undergraduates including Maneesh Amancharla '00 and Rohin Malhotra '98 as its first co-presidents, Monica (Shah) Ganatra '99 as Secretary, and Sameer Sheth '98 as Treasurer. Karthik Muralidharan '98, a current economics and resident tutor at Leverett House, was also a founding member of Dharma. It was formed as the new organization that would organize holiday celebrations, Sunday Brunch discussions at Adams House, Pujas, and trips to the Ashland/Framingham Mahalakshmi Temple. In fact, Harvard College's first ever celebration of Holi was performed in the spring of '98 in the MAC Quad as a co-sponsored activity between Dharma and SAA.
Dharma's first major challenge was surviving as an organization beyond its founders. It was Dipti Kandlikar '00 and Vikas Goyal '01 who carried Dharma forward into the year 2000. While maintaining the weekly Gita readings, they made pujas and community discussions on what it means to be a contemporary Hindu the foci of regular Dharma activities. Dipti and Vikas were instrumental in introducing Dharma's two core events. The Navaratri Hungama was a grand success with students in attendance from MIT and Wellesley among other schools. Harvard's first celebration of Deepavali was in Lowell House, and Dharma's old tradition of having host-members host the celebration in their common room began this year.
Aruna Balakrishnan and Vasant Kamath continued the forward momentum into 2001. They continued the traditions of Navaratri Hungama in Lowell Dining Hall and Deepavali in a Senior's Common Room. They held well-attended discussion of what it means to be a Hindu in today's world, and started the tradition of doing Aarti after the Sunday Gita discussions. Aruna and Vasant were the first to hold a complete Ganesha Pujas in the Adams UCR, methodically explained step-by-step and performed by Vasant himself. In the spring, they began a tradition of interfaith activities by holding a dialogue with Harvard Hillel. Most importantly, however, they were the first to organize a panel discussion of Hinduism, inviting speakers from the Boston Vedanta Center, VHP, Hare Krishna, and visiting (Indian) professor from Toronto to talk about their various conceptions of what it means to be Hindu.
Dharma was revamped in 2001-2002 by Nivedita Jerath and Aarti Jerath. They revitalized the membership by starting the Dharma Tradition of subsidized Tanjore Brunches. Nive and Aarti were creative in undergraduate and graduate recruitment using candy door-drops on the first week of class, handmade pamphlets, and over 200 personalized greetings featuring Sanskrit translations of each student's name. They also debuted the first Dharma-SAA joint Hungama and organized a memorable Deepavali.
In 2002-2003, Anita Raghuwanshi '04 and Naresh Ramarajan '04 took Dharma under their wing. They held an outdoors Hungama, and enjoyed a wonderful turnout to the Deepavali celebrations despite being held in the quad that year. A particularly notable feature of their administration was Dharma's weekly emails with inspirational quotes, excerpts from texts, and explanations of Hindu holidays.
The 2003-2004 academic year was truly pivotal in Dharma's history under the leadership of Om Lala '06 and Lakshmi Sridharan '06. They broke with tradition by holding the Deepavali festival in the Eliot Junior Common Room with a very memorable classical music performance. Om and Lakshmi took great care to emphasize the quality of small, spiritual events-like the morning meditations at the beginning of each semester-and the large scale outreach events-beginning a tradition of bi-annual Hungamas as well as bringing speakers to campus like Rajmohan Gandhi. A stronger relationship with Swami Tyagananda and the Harvard Hindu Fellowship, student-led meditations, a major constitutional review to formalize the structure of the board, and a very popular series of forum discussions changed the way Dharma was led in future years.
The following year, Sheel Ganatra '06 and Vivek Rudrapatna '06 were able to extend the progressive culture that was the hallmark of Lakshmi's and Om's term. Vivek and Sheel realized the fruits of the previous spring's constitutional review by emphasizing decentralization on the board and introducing a mid-term board retreat, allowing them to introduce a wider array of events. One major advance of this year was the recruitment of a technical representative (Shantanu Gaur), who masterfully redesigned and restructured the webpage to what you see today. More competitive grant-application management allowed us to put on more events. This board held a number of study breaks, well attended forum-discussions, and began the process of reaching out to the graduate community, HSC boards of other Boston-Area Schools, and the temple community. The three most important events which put Harvard Dharma on the map were 1) the first Deepavali celebration at Professor Diana Eck's Masters Residence, a tradition which has continued ever since; 2) a Tsunami Banquet-Fundraiser for the victims in South Asia, the starting of a strong tradition of Dharma community outreach and action; and 3) a week-long campus-wide celebration known as Hinduism Awareness Week, another hallmark of Dharma.
Under the leadership of Shyam Tanguturi '07 and Vijay Yanamadala '07, Dharma continued to grow as a powerful force on the Harvard College campus. Building on the strong growth of the organization in recent years, Vijay and Shyam led several notable developments during the 2006-2007 year. First, the Dharma prayer space was secured after careful negotiations with the Harvard University officials. Space and architectural plans were developed, with the final construction of the space completed by September 2007. Additionally, Swadharma, Harvard's Hinduism Journal, and the Harvard Garba team were formed under the auspices of Dharma. Swadharma's first issue was published in May 2006, and the Garba Team debuted at Cultural Rhythms in February 2006. With the hope of fostering a strong alumni community, the Dharma Alumni Association was founded. Also, the semiannual lecture series was started with an inaugural presentation by Subhask Kak, an event attended by over 50 students. A strong Hinduism Awareness Week included a Gayatri Yagnam on the steps of Memorial Church, the first in the history of Dharma. In addition to these new accomplishments, Shyam and Vijay continued to develop existing programs, such as the annual Deepavali celebration in Professor Diana Eck's residence, and worked to expand an already strong membership. They were the first board to successfully implement biweekly pujas, one of Dharma's central visions from its founding days, as well as biweekly forum discussions and regular study breaks. They also put together a Charity Art Auction for victims of the South Asia Earthquake of 2005, continuing Dharma's tradition of community action. Additionally, in strengthening bonds with SAA, Harvard Sangeet, as well as the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations, Dharma has been able to extend the size, quality, and impact of its events on the membership.
The current board is under the very capable hands of Simi Bhat '08 and Utpal Sandesara '08. Simi and Utpal have really developed the Dharma prayer space, and their term has seen the development of weekly Sunday aratis as well as regular puja programs in this space. For the first time in the history of Dharma, the community has had this common space. In addition, the biannual Hungamas have grown tremendously, with both Harvard and intercollegiate attendance. The fall Hungama was held in the Malkin Athletic Center for the first time. Similarly, there have been great new developments in all of the traditional programs of Dharma, from Hinduism Awareness Week to Deepavali. Simi and Utpal stand upon the shoulders of a long list of giants who have taken Hinduism from a few Sanskrit Classes in the Sanskrit and Indian Studies Department to a real resource for students, faculty, and members of the greater community to take a part in the never-ending dialogue that is Hinduism. Each of us expresses our heartfelt thanks for the sacrifice, efforts, and inspiration of those who have come before us, and we encourage you to be a part of the tradition of excellence that is Dharma: Harvard's Hindu Students Association.