HOUSTON, TEXAS, July 9, 2012 (artha R. Sarathy): There is a growing circle of Houstonian Sanskrit-lovers who are determined to play a decisive role in bolstering the prodigious efforts of a Sanskrit Institute in faraway Chennai. Their passion and commitment were palpable at a recent presentation in Sugarland by Dr. Sita Sundar Ram of Kuppuswami Sastri Research Institute (KSRI), to an interested audience of Arsha Vidya Satsanga (AVS) devotees, on the Institute’s remarkable contribution and plans to preserve its treasures of ancient knowledge and culture for future generations.
With its vision to re-establish the cultural self-identity of Sanatana Dharma, AVS aims to help KSRI’s growth via ideas and tangible support with an ongoing fundraising campaign.
In her lucid presentation, Dr. Sita explained that, since 1945, KSRI is highly respected for its impressive library and research work, awarding graduate degrees, and recognized as Adarsha Shodh Samstha (Ideal Research Institute) by India Government. KSRI is sustained principally by ad-hoc financial assistance from philanthropists from India and the USA, plus non-regular Government grants.
Current KSRI research activities include Literature, Language, Grammar, Yoga, Psychology, Law and Jurisprudence, Philosophy, etc.. A recent example is the book publication “Bijapallava of Krsna Daivajna – A critical study”, resulting from the highly commended doctorate research study of a 16th century algebra text in Sanskrit. Sanskrit Literature offers abundant material for new research avenues, like Women’s Legal Rights in ancient Dharma-shastra texts, Dream Motif, Nephology (scientific study of clouds), Chaturyuga calendar, Svarodaya (breath control) science, Town Planning, etc..
KSRI has also hosted scholars from the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Australia; organized over 300 lectures and several national/international seminars/conferences; and will conduct Sanskrit classes for Oslo University graduate students on alternate semesters.
The commitment of a small, dedicated staff has enabled concurrent doctoral research by up to 24 scholars, plus the strong reputation of its library for its impressive, and growing, collection of 50,000 books, research journals and periodicals related to Sanskrit and Indological studies. The Institutes also maintains an large collection of ancient palm-leaf manuscripts written in Grantha, Telugu, Malayalam, Tamil, Nandinagari and Devanagari – containing material on Vedas, Epics, Shrauta Sutras, Dharma Sutras, Philosophy, and Literature.
For more information email prsarathy@gmail.com