Winter: Rutgers- Hinduism in India
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

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.
India
Agra
Students take a guided trip to the famous Taj Mahal in Agra.
India
Mathura
Students see the extensive collection of the Mathura museum and visit the site celebrated as Krishna’s birthplace.
Academics
This program will in December 2022.
This immersive study abroad program is a three-credit course conducted for 2+ weeks during the Winter Session. This course cuts across disciplines. Students from different backgrounds should consider applying!
The classroom aspect of the course is taught by Dr. Satyanarayana Dasa. It involves the study of two general texts on Hinduism intended to provide a panoramic glimpse at some of its variegatedness, and two texts central to the Krishna tradition, one philosophical, and one Epic. In class, emphasis will be directed both to examining the philosophy and world-view of the course texts, and to considering their presentations of sacred history, ultimate reality, and self-transformation.
The field experience is led by Robert Lindsey with the support of local guides. The cultural component will consist of an immersive exposure to the socio-cultural world of Vrindavan, sacred to Krishna, where the course takes place. Careful attention will be 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. Fieldwork 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, 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, a cow sanctuary, and participate in a traditional festival taking place at that time. They will also attend cultural performances in music, dance, and drama.
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
For information about study abroad credit transfer, registration, and transcripts please visit the Academics section of our website.
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.