Universities in India / Hindu Studies

I have now completed 60 hours of higher education in the United States. I am interested in the opportunity to study Sanatan Dharma at a University in India.

I would also like to study Sanskrit and Hindi.

After obtaining a degree or certification (I am very vague on what to expect at the moment or whether there is even such a degree/cert. offered in India) I hope to be able to offer something to society as well as establish myself in India and work towards sannyas.

I am just beginning to search out Universities who offer such a degree program. Before getting too far into the process I was hoping that some of you might have something to offer in terms of certain colleges I might want to contact and personal experiences with trying to study in India at an institute of higher learning as a westerner.

Any advice/information would be useful and welcomed.

hi,
Varanasi is the right place.

There is the famous "Benaras Hindu University", and an equally reputed "sanskrit university".

hello

I think this is a decent enough place to learn sanskrit...
But I do not know if they confer a degree and if the course
is recognised by an authoritative sanskrit body?
http://www.samskrita-bharati.org/new...s.php#aksharam

Their webpage
http://www.samskrita-bharati.org/newsite/index.php


Another place where you can learn sanskrit and get an official degree is
at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi

The centre for sanskrit studies is pretty neat and Jawaharlal Nehru University has a large crowd of foreigners and you might fit in easily.....

http://www.jnu.ac.in/main.asp?sendval=CSSAboutUs

Hoped that helped....

Regards

Abhay

I studied at BHU in 2003-04 I did a certificate course in Hindi. I was rather fluent at that stage and needed to be in a more advanced class however I thought the poetry classes were wonderful. Supplementing classes with tuition is a really good idea for both Hindi and Sanskrit. I can give you some names if you need.

There are some tricky rules if you want to study more than one thing at BHU, so it's important to enrol in the correct way. I thought I would be able to sign up for a sanskrit course but it turned out that you can't do 2 certificate courses at once- or something like this.

Varanasi can be a tough place to live but i value the time I spent there greatly. If you want to live somewhere tranquil I would suggest trying to get yourself into the on-campus hostels. I could also recommend the private of campus one I lived in.

The Hindu University of Benaras teaches (academic) Yoga studies at both certificate and diploma level. Varanasi is not an easy place to live . Suggest one lives on campus .

Hinduism is far more than academia. If that is what you're interested in, then that's fine. But all in all Hinduism is pretty non-intellectual. The great debaters and pundits of old were proficient, but the other side is faith, mysticism, and bhakti, which is not found in books or the area of the mind we like to term the intellect.

Yes, but it seems only for Indian nationals

http://www.imsbhu.nic.in/ayurveda/ayurcourse.htm

I wrote to the University regarding the diploma course in Yoga , they replied almost immediatly and invited an application .
I believe there are a number of spots kept for non Indian nationals in each course .

Hari OM! Are you going to study at BHU next year? I wuld like to study yoga there but now I'm thinking about this...do you know some details maybe? do foreigners need to pass exams...there was written smth about chemistry, biology//////hm...

I also wish to study at BHU next year (Sanskrit certificate), and also joined this info-space to learn more about individual experiences studying there.

What I do know from virtual research is that an oft cited requirement is an "XII or higher degree" which is approximately equal to Western high school/ secondary school/ gymnasium etc.

except for some very specific programs with additional prerequisites(i.e. Ayurvedic drug standardization certificate, etc.), if you have a secondary school degree or BA/BSc it should suffice. I THINK this means foreigners don't usually have to go through some of the more basic subject exams they tend to list.

As I currently understand it, the application to the university and enrollment in a specific program are two different steps. So maybe its best to email the international office and see if after the application process, you would indeed qualify for the specific program in which you wish to enroll.

Hope this is vaguely helpful as I'm pretty much in the same boat as you

Thaydene, thank you for reply, sister!
have you already connected with BHU?
I've written an email to them but still don't have enough information,
i think maybe possible to go to hindi courses of BHU first, and they will give a student visa for this,
i also wo learn sanskrit, already i have a master of psyhology diploma but not sure that its recognized in India.
my email melissa_666@hotbox.ru, woul be very glad to comuicate with you

Hey, everyone,
Have somebody done the Bachelor's Degree in Hindi
at Banaras Hindu University?
I want to apply for this course this year but not sure if its possible,
maybe its necessary to know hindi good already before
application