Diana L. Eck, the professor of Comparative Religion and Indian Studies at Harvard University, holds a special interest in Indian culture, especially its pilgrimage sites, particularly Varanasi.
Diana L. Eck, the professor of Comparative Religion and Indian Studies at Harvard University, holds a special interest in Indian culture, especially its pilgrimage sites, particularly Varanasi. On a crispy Tuesday evening, professor Eck delivered the 18th Vasant J Sheth Memorial Lecture titled Sacred Rivers, the Lifelines of India. Eck is the founder of The Pluralism Project, a web-based resource for various Indian communities in the United States.
Eck started by pointing out her early fascination with India and India’s pilgrimage. “It was in the 60s when a lot of Indians started to emigrate to the US — doctors and engineers,” a time when she was introduced to other religions. Over the years, her interest brought her to Varanasi where she enrolled in Banaras Hindu University for a year-long course.
Eck spoke on the rising decadence of the rivers, especially the Yamuna and the Ganga. She touched upon the Ganga River Basin Environment Management Plan submitted by a consortium of seven IITs, which the government “not only shelved but decided to build even more hydel power plants.”
The professor brushed aside anything controversial and reiterated the importance of the Ganga in the lives of Indians. “The river Ganga is theatre where the people live their daily lives through their daily rituals.”
She spoke on how the “Yamuna is a dead river now waiting to be officially cremated” and warned how the Ganga is choking with flowers, ashes, and toxic wastes reaching towards its death as well.
