SARASWATI DALMIA GRADUATE STUDENT SUPPORT FUND FOR SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIAN STUDIES
BACKGROUND
The Saraswati Dalmia Graduate Student Support Fund for South and Southeast Asian Studies was established in 2010 with a gift from Professor Vasudha Dalmia in honor of her mother, Saraswati Dalmia (1915-2010). A scholar and a poet, she belonged to the generation of women who pioneered entry into public life in the 1930s, in service both of a nation struggling for independence and of Hindi as national language. After her marriage to industrialist R. Dalmia she continued to encourage and support education at large and Hindi literature in particular.
Professor Dalmia is a Professor Emerita of Hindi and Modern South Asian Studies in the Department of South & Southeast Asian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. She has researched and published widely on Hinduism, colonial and post-colonial Hindi literature, medieval Indian religiosity, and modern Indian theater. Among her many works, her monograph, The Nationalization of Hindu Traditions: Bharatendu Harischandra and Nineteenth Century Benaras (1997), studies the life and writings of a major Hindi writer of the nineteenth century as the focal point for an examination of the intricate links between politics, language, culture, religion and nationality. She is on the Advisory Committee of the Group in Religious Studies, of which she has also been Director, and is a member of the core faculty of the PhD Program in Performance Studies. Professor Dalmia is interested in providing support to students who have first-hand experience with Indian culture.
PURPOSE
The payout from the Saraswati Dalmia Graduate Student Support Fund for South and Southeast Asian Studies will be used to support high-achieving graduate students within the Department of South & Southeast Asian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.
CRITERIA
Recipients of the Saraswati Dalmia Graduate Student Support Fund for South and Southeast Asian Studies shall be graduate students in the Hindi graduate studies program, both incoming as well as those already enrolled in the Department of South & Southeast Asian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.
SELECTION
Prospective recipients will be identified, screened, and selected by the Professor of Hindi and the Chair of the Department of South & Southeast Asian Studies or his/her designees (such as a faculty selection committee). The amount of the awards will be flexible and dependent upon available funds.