For decades, the Indian government has encouraged pilgrims to come to one of India’s holiest locations, the ancient city of Bodh Gaya. Now there is an effort to revive the Buddhist university that once flourished there long before universities like Cambridge and Oxford were founded in the West. More →

September 6, 2013

Many young Jains are finding that living in the modern world requires more flexibility than the anti-materialistic rules of their religion allow. “My grandparents said they don’t eat food at night. But going out with friends, having a social circle, we can’t be as strict as our grandparents,” says twenty-year-old Geetika Jain. More →

August 30, 2013

In a country where the expectation to marry is high, is a shortage of females fueling the trafficking of young women to fill the need for brides? More →

August 16, 2013

The preference for male children in India dates back centuries, driven by religious custom, and the widespread abortion of female fetuses has led to an increasing gender gap. Will a rising and urbanizing middle class change this? More →

April 5, 2013

Maha Kumba Mela or Big Pitcher festival commemorates a story that describes the god Vishnu’s fight with demons to gain possession of a golden pitcher containing the nectar of immortality. During the battle, some drops fell to the earth on the pilgrimage sites. More →

January 18, 2013

“The contracts are usually written to protect the wealthy people who are commissioning the baby,” says University of Pennsylvania ethicist Dr. Arthur Caplan. More →

August 17, 2012

“I am a human being, I’m a Buddhist monk, I am a Westerner,” says this sophisticated photographer, and the Dalai Lama has also asked him to lead one of Tibetan Buddhism’s most important monasteries. More →

June 15, 2012

In this territorial dispute between India and Pakistan in what may be the world’s most militarized region, there are direct links between water availability, rising terrorism, and religious extremism among Hindus and Muslims. More →

May 4, 2012

Working with communities of faith means “helping millions of Americans connect to the opportunity to serve vulnerable populations abroad.” More →

February 17, 2012

“Now we have only 5,000 Jews all over India, and in Delhi we have only five, six Indian Jewish families. We are like a drop in the ocean,” says Ezekiel Malekar, keeper of Delhi’s tiny synagogue. More →

October 7, 2011