varanasi banaras hindu university bhu has become the first university in the country to introduce hindu dharma in its regular curriculum the university has started a postgraduate course in hindu studies university authorities said on tuesday claiming that this is the first such course offered by any university in the countrythe course offered by bhus faculty of arts will be conducted at bharat adhyayan kendra a centre established in the centenary year of the university in collaboration with the departments of philosophy and religion sanskrit and ancient indian history culture and archaeology bharat adhyayan kendra coordinator professor sadashiv kumar dwivedi said 45 students including a foreigner have been enrolled in the first batch of this twoyear course the course is of four semesters with 16 papers it took more than a century to begin such a course in the university after its establishment in 1914 dwivedi saidthe course was inaugurated on tuesday by the rector professor vk shukla the course is an interdisciplinary programme which is in line with the new education policy 2020 shukla said adding that the beginning of this course symbolises innovation addressing the programme the indira gandhi national centre for arts director vijay shankar shukla underlined the need for such courses on hindu studies the idea behind this goes back to the 18th century scholar pt ganganath jha and travels through time to mahamana madan mohan malaviya however the link was broken for some reason but with this course the goal appears to have been achievedchancellor mahatma gandhi antarrashtriya hindi vishwavidyalaya wardha and centenary chair professor at bharat adhyayan kendra kamlesh dutt tripathi who chaired the programme highlighted the values and mantra of unity that are core to the hindu dharma he added that one cannot separate hindu dharma from being constantly logical and scientificthe speakers at the function called upon scholars to come forward and preserve the sanatana parampara they said that the course is important for building sanatana life values they also spoke about what they saw as the scientific aspect of the gayatri mantra