Established in 2004, the Chakra Endowed Fund encourages the study of South Asia at Rutgers University by enhancing the Rutgers Library holdings in this area. The fund supports the acquisition of books, periodicals, films, microfilms, DVDs, and other media.
Additionally, the Chakra Fund supports the Chakra Student Paper Prize, an annual student paper competition that includes a cash award to encourage further study of South Asia. Undergraduate papers are expected to be approximately ten to twenty-five double-spaced pages in length, and graduate papers should be approximately twenty to forty pages in length. Submissions may include, but are not limited to, course term papers, chapters from honors theses, or papers produced during independent study or study abroad. The paper can be on any topic in any discipline (or combination of disciplines) related to one or more countries in South Asia or the South Asian diaspora.
Students interested in submitting a paper should download this application form and email the completed application with your paper to Prof. Preetha Mani (
We are deeply grateful to the generous anonymous donors who have established the Chakra Endowed Fund to support the Rutgers South Asian Studies Program and to fund this student paper prize. Individuals who would like to contribute to The Chakra Endowed Fund or to support SASP in some other way are encouraged to contact Prof. Preetha Mani, Director, South Asian Studies Program.
The 2025 Chakra Prize was awarded to:
Arpita Biswas - On itinerant ideologies and gendered subjectivities: Hindu-nationalism as transnationalism
Khyam Arain - Classification and Canonization in the Study of Bulleh Shāh
Ashiyana Ahamed - Historic Indian Ministry: Rebuilding India Post-Partition Through the Decades