 Ishar Singh Bindra with his late wife Sardarni Kuljit Kaur Bindra.
While work on the World Sikh University project at historic Fatehgarh Sahib, near here, is yet to begin, Hofstra University in Washington may soon be the top centre for study of Sikhism, Sikh religious music and interfaith studies.
Sponsored by an NRI Sikh Bindra family of Long Islands, Hofstra University had earlier this year decided to confer the first Guru Nanak Inter-Faith award to Tibetan leader Dalai Lama.
It also runs Bindra chair in Sikh studies.
Now, another eminent Sikh NRI and retired technocrat Hakam Singh has announced that he will set up an endowed chair in the study of Sikh religious music at Hofstra. This will be the first chair of its type in the world where classical ragas, associated with singing of Gurbani, especially “Asa Di Vaar”, will be a major subject of research
and study.
Earlier this week, the auditorium of Hofstra University reverberated with the beat of “dhol” and Punjabi music as its students celebrated Baisakhi.
As many as 400 elite guests, including Indian Member of Parliament Tarlochan Singh, enjoyed Punjabi music and folk dances performed by students of the university and the guests of the Bindra family.
Hofstra president Stuart Rabinowitz traced the history and importance of Hofstra’s Bindra Chair in Sikh Studies and Guru Nanak Interfaith Prize. He said the university was very proud of this partnership with the local Sikh community whose initiatives had helped the university to expand its horizons.
This association, he said, had contributed to the establishment and growth of its Department of Religions.
At the Baisakhi celebrations, the university introduced Sikh scholar Balbinder Singh Bhogal as an associate professor of religion and the new Bindra Chair in Sikh Studies. Bhogal reiterated his resolve to promote the academic study of the Sikh religion.
Tarlochan Singh spoke about the historical significance of the religious and cultural Baisakhi festival. He congratulated the Bindra family and Hofstra University authorities for the choice of the Dalai Lama as the first recipient of the Guru Nanak Interfaith Prize, endowed by the Sardarni Kuljit Kaur Bindra Charitable Foundation.
Tejinder Bindra, who is also a trustee of the university, reiterated his family’s commitment in furthering Sikh religious studies.
The university is a dynamic private institution where students can choose from around 145 undergraduate and 155 graduate programmes in liberal arts and sciences, business, communication, education and allied human services, honours studies as well as a school of law.
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