Our Bureau
Morrisville, NC
The Hindu Society of North Carolina (HSNC) on August 24th, 2024, organized the second Annual Gītā Pariksha which witnessed enthusiastic participation by 51 students from North Carolina, primarily from the Triangle Area. The 2024 edition of the Bhagavad Gītā Pariksha (BGP) competition was attended by more than 200 members of the community to cheer the students.
In the Elementary Section, Srikeerthi Tirumalapeddinti (age 7) and Renusri Palemkota (age 9) tied for First Place with Riaan Patel (age 9) Winning Third Place. In the Junior Section, Jayanth Avula (age 13) was the First Place winner, with his twin brother Jathin Avula (age 13) the Second Place finisher, and Akshaj Vemuri (age 12) the Third Place winner. In the Senior Section, Maithili Kulkarni (age 20) was the First Place finisher with Amishi Gupta (age 14) in Second Place and Ayush Tripathi (age 14) in Third Place. A prize pool of $10,000 was awarded to the winners who showed exemplary knowledge and understanding of the Bhagavad Gītā. The prize distribution, participatory certificates and medals were awarded by Dr. Raj Polavaram and Dr. Kishor Trivedi in the end of the competition.
Apart from the competition, families had lunch and students participated in the unique game of Gītā Shloka Antakshari.
As per Manoj Pandya, President of HSNC they wanted to emphasize the meaning of shlokas from Gītā. Dr. Raj Polavaram, Chair of Friends of Hindu University of America, NC Chapter, said “People these days glamorize temporary, transient things, but what if we make the good things like Gītā more fun? So that’s why we came up with this idea of the Gītā Pariksha.”
Dr. Kalika Uttarkar, HUA Faculty who judged and wrote tests, said “We are trying to inculcate into the students that knowledge without application is redundant, so the philosophy of Gītā needs behavioral application.
Kalyan Viswanathan, President of Hindu University, said, “We hope this pilot program catches on and more Hindu Temples in North America come forward to create this competition in their communities in partnership with HUA.”
Hindu University of America provides education in knowledge systems based in Hindu thought involving critical inquiry, ethics, and self-reflection.
