Winter: Rutgers- Hinduism in India

Vrindavan, India

Program Overview

Term Start Date End Date Application Deadline
Winter 2024
Dec 29, 2023
Jan 14, 2024
Oct 01, 2023
Language(s) of Instruction
English
Yes
No
No
Class Standing
Sophomore
Junior
Senior
Graduate
Good Academic Standing
Credits

3

Program Advisor

The Program

Gain a better understanding of Hinduism through a socio-cultural immersion in the historical city of Vrindavan in North India.

Learn about the living traditions and sacred history of Vrindavan, a significant Hindu religious site. Explore the history and tradition of Hinduism through cultural immersion and textual study with local Hindu scholars and guides in addition to American faculty.   Eat meals and safely reside at the  at the Vraja Institute, a dynamic and diverse environment.     

 

Program Location

Image
CIty of Vrindavan

India

Vrindavan

Students reside in Vrindavan and the course provides an immersive exposure to its socio-cultural world, where devotion to Krishna is prominent. The course will provide encounters with the lived aspects of Hindu devotionalism by including tours to Vrindavan devotional sites, and exposure to a variety of Vrindavan cultural forms such as music, drama, pilgrimage, architecture, ritual, and meditative practices.  Students visit pre-modern and modern temples, walking tours to prominent places of pilgrimage, the sacred Yamuna river, the local manuscript and iconography preservation center, and a cow sanctuary.  They also attend cultural performances in music, dance, and drama and participate in a traditional festival taking place at that time.  

 

Image
Agra

India

Agra

Students take a guided trip to the famous Taj Mahal in Agra.

Image
mathura

India

Mathura

Students see the extensive collection of the Mathura museum and visit the site celebrated as Krishna’s birthplace.  

Academics

This program will run December 29, 2023- January 14, 2024.

 

This immersive study abroad program is a three-credit course conducted for 2+ weeks during the Winter Session.  This course cuts across disciplines, so students from different backgrounds should feel free to apply!

Eileen Goddard leads the classroom discussion sessions and teaches the introductory Hinduism lecture. Dr. Satyanarayana Dasa teaches the Bhagavad Gita and Bhagavata Purana: two texts which are central to the Krishna tradition. Altogether, the classroom component of this course will provide an introduction to the panoramic worlds of Hinduism in order to examine presentations of sacred history, ultimate reality, and self-transformation.  

The field experience is led by Eileen Goddard with the support of local guides. This cultural component offers immersive exposure to the socio-cultural world of Vrindavan, sacred to Krishna, where the course takes place.  Careful attention is directed to considering the contextual socio-cultural and ideological world which inform these texts, and which they in turn inform, with a focus on how such traditions are reconfigured and manifest in the real life present-day religious landscape of Vrindavan. Outside of the classroom, this course provides encounters with the lived aspects of Hindu devotionalism in Vrindavan and beyond. These encounters include tours to Vrindavan devotional sites and exposure to a variety of Vrindavan cultural forms such as music, drama, pilgrimage, architecture, ritual, meditative practices and Ayurvedic health principles and practices. Devotional sites include Krishna’s birthplace, the sacred Yamuna river, walking tours to prominent places of pilgrimage, and numerous visits to pre-modern and modern temples. Students tour a modern art gallery, the extensive collections of the Mathura museum, the local manuscript and iconography preservation center, and a cow sanctuary. They also attend a variety of cultural performances.

To read the syllabus for this course, click here.

The Vraja Institute is an educational organization centered around Sanskrit and Sanskrit derived cultural, philosophical, and religious traditions.  It focuses particularly on the diverse cultural expressions that are representative of the region.  www.vrajainstitute.org

Important Information:

*All dates are subject to change. Do not book your flight until you have been accepted by the university and the academic dates have been confirmed.

There will be an information session with Professor Eileen Goddard, faculty leader for this program on September 18th, 6 pm. Link: https://ucsb.zoom.us/j/82750698090

 

Housing and Meals

Students will stay at the Jiva Institute, where they will also attend classes and receive three vegetarian meals daily plus snacks and purified water.  The Jiva Institute is gated and offers 24-hour security. There is a library and garden on-site. Housing and all student meals are included in the program fee. 

 

Financial Information

Program Costs

This is the billed amount that will appear on your Rutgers term bill during the term you study abroad.
NJ Resident non-NJ Resident
Undergraduate $3,370 $3,790
Graduate $3,630 $4,020
Program Cost includes:
  • Tuition
  • Housing
  • All meals
  • Excursions
  • Administrative Fees
  • Emergency Medical Access Abroad

* The winter session student fee is not included in the program cost above.

Out-of-Pocket Costs

These are estimated expenses that are not part of your term bill. Students will need to pay for these expenses out-of-pocket.
Airfare $2,000
Meals $20
E-visa $60
Personal Expenses $100
Total $2,180.00
Out-of-Pocket Cost includes:

The above costs are estimations and represent the known out-of-pocket costs students encounter during their time abroad.

Some of these expenses will be paid for prior to going abroad, such as an airline ticket, while some of these expenses, such as meals and personal expenses, will be paid in-country as part of your daily expenses. As you plan, you will need to budget these costs and spend wisely throughout your time abroad.

Scholarships

Available to all Rutgers students participating in a Rutgers Global–Study Abroad program. For more information please visit the Scholarship section of our website.

Faculty Leaders

Professor Satyanarayana Dasa

Dr. Satyanarayana Dasa is an Indian Gaudiya Vaisnava scholar and practitioner. 

Edwin Bryant

Bryant received his Ph.D in Indic languages and Cultures from Columbia University and taught Hinduism at Harvard University for three years.  He has received numerous awards and fellowships, published eight books and authored a number of articles on Vedic history, yoga, and the Krishna tradition. As a personal practitioner of yoga for 40 years, a number of them spent in India studying with traditional teachers, where he returns yearly, Edwin strives to combine academic scholarship and rigor with sensitivity towards traditional knowledge systems.

 

Eileen Goddard, M.A.

Eileen Goddard co-teaches Rutgers’ Hinduism In India Winter Session Study Abroad Program. She is a Religious Studies Ph.D. student at the University of California, Santa Barbara who specializes in Hindu traditions. She received her M.A. in Religion from Rutgers University and B.A. in Philosophy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has traveled to Vrindavan numerous times, and her research interests include bhakti or devotional traditions, comparative Indian philosophy, and gender and sexuality. For more information, visit her website eileengoddard.com.

Emily Zarych

“To this day, one of the most impactful, transformative and memorable experiences in my life was the two and a half weeks I spent in Vrindavan, India. When I think back to my experiences, I really was fortunate to be a part of a group of students who supported each other and a professor whose patience was incredible. This trip was both academically intriguing and experientially fulfilling.” 

Jai Shahani

"Studying abroad through the Hinduism In India program during the winter semester of 2018 was one of the greatest experiences of my life. As a freshman, I was offered the unique opportunity to immerse myself into a foreign culture and learn about the vast history of Hinduism. The study abroad programs were some of the primary reasons why I chose to come to Rutgers. Through this program, I was thrust into a unique environment where I developed better cultural competence interacting with new people living different lifestyles."