Dr. Chamanlal Raina Highly respected Indologist and Scholar, esteemed for more than 50 years of research of the religions of India, Dr. Chamanlal Raina was born in Kashmir. At the age of five he was initiated into Tripura Sundari Raja Rajeshwari Mantra sadhana by Swami Madhava nanda Saraswati at Shrinagar. Dr. Chaman Lal Raina is a Mathematics and Sanskrit graduate with Honors in Urdu. He earned his Masters in English and Hindi, with Ph.D on the Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo, from the University of Kashmir. Dr Raina taught a Research Methodology course for M.Phil students at the University of Kashmir, before joining the Department of Religious Studies at FIU, where he introduced Sanskrit. He also taught classes for the South Asian Studies Program. Dr Raina has written 34 books, which includes the Agamic Shakti Chandi, which is related to the ritualistic Yagnik pattern of the Shri Chandi Nava Durga and has written commentary for Sri Lalita Sahsranama and the Indrakshi and the Shiva-Sutras. His most recent book Shakti Upasana Rahasyam was released last year. As part of his Sadhanaa, besides working on the sacred texts, he presents the concepts of Shaktivaad and the manifestation of Shiva through paint and brush. Dr Raina writes and lectures in English, Sanskrit, Hindi, Urdu and Kashmiri. He has authored major sacred texts with annotation and translation in English, Hindi and Sanskrit. His Advanced research based books on the Shakti tradition, includes the Shri Ragnya Sahsranama, Kashmir Shaaktaa Darshan and Bhavani Sahasranam by the Shree Somnath Sanskrit University and the University of Rajasthan. International Hindu University is especially grateful to him for writing the Kula Geetam, our University Anthem, in Sanskrit. Dr. Raina is an expert on the culture, heritage, traditions and religion of the Kashmiri Pandits. Between 1989-1991 during the ethnic cleansing of Kashmir nearly 400,000 Kashmiri Pandits were murdered in the Genocide or expelled from their ancestral homeland. Dr. Raina escaped with his family and has dedicated his life to preserving his rich spiritual and cultural heritage in the diaspora. He is one of the pillars of contemporary Kashmiri literature.
