New Delhi: Roughly a thousand people filled Sanders Theatre for nine consecutive days to hear Indian spiritual leader Morari Bapu recite the life of Lord Ram through a devotional recitation programme. The event was hailed as a landmark moment for Harvard. However, Harvard’s Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute had spent weeks trying to remove the university’s name and affiliation from the event.
The “Ram Katha,” held from 15 to 23 August, was funded by a British charity run by Paavan Popat, son of Conservative House of Lords member Lord Dolar Popat. An accompanying academic conference on the Ramayana was initially organised with the help of the Mittal Institute, which assisted in logistics and marketing of the event.
Faculty raise concerns
According to The Harvard Crimson, faculty members objected to the event. They argued that an academic unit was lending its name and institutional association to a devotional event aimed primarily at a non-Harvard audience, with political implications in India.
Maya R. Jasanoff, a History professor, described it as “preeminently a devotional event.” Her colleague Anurabh Ghosh called it “fundamentally a religious event, and a sectarian one,” arguing that Harvard should not be involved with it.
They argued that Ram’s worship has been central to Indian politics for decades, and linked the event to debates surrounding the demolition of Babri Masjid and the subsequent construction of Ram Mandir in 2024. Morari Bapu had donated at least Rs 11.3 crore towards its construction, according to The Crimson.
Concerns were raised at Harvard’s Office of the General Counsel and Harvard Public Affairs and Communications. Subsequently, by late July, the Institute decided to withdraw its name and affiliation from the event altogether.
Executive director Hitesh Hathi said the event would proceed independently of the Institute, after consulting with faculty and other stakeholders. The Institute removed the conference page from its website, removed Harvard’s name from the Sanders Theatre booking, and took down the promotional website containing “atHarvard” in its URL.
Organisers then contracted directly with Sanders Theatre for the programme, at a higher rate.
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Harvard faculty still attend
Institute leaders Hathi and interim faculty director Diana Eck spoke at the opening session, saying their participation was based on personal academic interest. Some faculty who had helped plan the academic portion stepped back from the religious proceedings.
Student groups and critics continued to question the association. The Casteless Caucus at the Kennedy School raised concerns about the event’s implications regarding caste and gender hierarchies.
“What happens when a globally prestigious institution lends its spaces, reputation, and legitimacy to the celebration of a cultural text that explicitly reinforces hierarchies of caste and gender?” the Caucus wrote to the Office of General Counsel lawyers.
The Institute maintained that it had never intended to host a religious event under Harvard’s banner and had warned organisers against its advertisement.
Edited by Maryam Hassan