Chandigarh, March 26
The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, will be the first recipient of Hofstra’s Guru Nanak Interfaith Prize. The award, to be presented to the Dalai Lama in New Delhi on November 18, is the first international award of its kind that recognises efforts at dialogue between different religions. On the jury of the award committee were former Indian Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral and Rajya Sabha member Tarlochan Singh.

The award carries a cash prize of $50,000. A US-based NRI Ishar Singh Bindra in collaboration with Hofstra University has instituted it. Dalai Lama may be visiting Hofstra University soon.

Stuart Rabinowitz, president of Hofstra University, said that besides Ishar Singh Bindra and his family, a team from his university would visit Delhi for the award presentation.

“There are few missions as important for a university as the advancement of understanding among all peoples,” he said holding that “this prize allows us to recognise those who bring together people of all faiths, which now, more than ever, is important for the peace and prosperity of our world. We are pleased to bestow Hofstra’s inaugural Guru Nanak Interfaith Prize on a person as worthy and renowned as the Dalai Lama.”

T.J. Bindra, son of Ishar Bindra, said, “We are immensely pleased with the selection. There could be no more deserving candidate than His Holiness, and to me what stands out most is that Guru Nanak stood for brotherhood, peace and wonderful relations between communities, and I think the Dalai Lama personifies that the best.”

The prize, to be once in two years, was established in 2006 through an endowment from the family of Ishar Singh Bindra to be given by Hofstra University to individuals or organisations that have worked to facilitate religious dialogue that is indispensable to reducing religious conflict.

It has been named after the first Sikh Guru in an attempt to encourage understanding of various religions and to build bridges between communities.

Seventy-five nominations, including those of individuals and organisations were received for the inaugural award. Nominations came from Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East, as well as throughout the United States and Canada.

The Bindras had earlier funded the setting up of Hofstra’s Department of Religion in 2005 and the endowment of chairs in Sikh, Catholic and Jewish studies. The Sardarni Kuljit Kaur Bindra Chair in Sikh Studies was also established through an endowment from Bindra’s family. Both gifts are intended to increase understanding of different religions, including Sikhism, a world religion with more than 20 million adherents.

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