1. THE SETTING:

Nashik city is situated in the Maharashtra, India. Nashik is a place that is sacred to the Hindus, both because of its situation on the banks of the river Godavari, and because of its association with many events and incidents in the lives of Lord Rama, his wife Sita and his brother Laxman.  One account traces the name Nashik to a story in the Ramayana, according to which Laxman cut off the nose (nashika) of the demoness Suprankha.  Nashik is one of the four places in India where a large religious gathering known as the Kumbha Mela takes place every twelve years.  There are several holy places around Nashik too, such as the Pandavleni (which are really Buddhist caves) The Chambarlene or Jain temple, Trimbakeshwar (the source of the holy river Godavari and a very holy place for the Hindus because of a temple containing one of the twelve Jyotirlingas in the country).  The present Divyadaan institute is situated on Don Bosco Marg, in a residential area of Nashik.

 2. THE HISTORY OF THE INSTITUTION:    

Divyadaan: Salesian Institute of Philosophy was erected in June 1980, within the already existing Don Bosco Youth Centre, 4 Koregaon Road, Pune 411 001, as a community for immediate post-novitiate formation in the Province of Mumbai.

Fr. Joaquim D’Souza, sdb the first Principal of Divyadaan, immediately initiated procedures for affiliating the Institute to the Salesian Pontifical University in Rome.  The decree granting affiliation ad experimentum for a period of 5 years was obtained in 1982 (cf. decree of the Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education, prot. n. 130/82, dated February 6, 1982).  It was renewed in 1987 for a further period of 5 years, and in 1992 for 10 years.

In the meantime number of students was increasing, and the community of Don Bosco Youth Centre had become complex (besides those doing BPh in Divyadaan, there were also MPh students frequenting Jnana Deepa Vidyapeeth and college students). Hence the need was felt to shift the BPh course elsewhere.  Accordingly on May 24, 1984, Divyadaan was shifted to its present site on Don Bosco Marg, Nashik 422 005.  The novitiate shifted to a new building on the same campus, while Divyadaan moved into the existing building.  The library, so meticulously built up in Pune by Fr. Chrys Saldanha, sdb was transferred to Nashik and housed temporarily in the Hall, till the new library wing was completed in January 1987.

In 1991 the need was felt for an additional dormitory and rooms.  Construction began in 1992, but was completed only in 1996. 

As of March 21, 1996, permission was obtained from the Faculty of Philosophy of the Salesian Pontifical University, Rome, to begin a MPh course on an experimental basis. The course was inaugurated in June 1996, offers a specialization in education and communication, with the hope of encouraging a specifically Salesian contribution in these areas to the Church in India and to the country at large. 

Simultaneously, the BPh course has also been opened up to externs, ecclesiastical and lay, Christian as well as non-Christian. 

In March 2000, the Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education [vide decree no: 1035/98] granted Divyadaan Aggregation to the Faculty of Philosophy of the Salesian Pontifical University for a period of five years. With this Aggregation, Divyadaan is able to offer a Master of Philosophy Degree Course, specializing in the fields of Education and Social Communication. 

As per the recommendation of the governing body a new residential block for the Salesian MPh students with twenty individual rooms, chapel and common room as well as four staff offices and rooms was completed in June 2004.  

To open up better prospects for students pursuing their philosophical studies, and give them more opportunities for their academic research the new academic block was built and inaugurated on 11 June 2007 by of Rev. Fr Ivo Coelho, the then provincial of Mumbai.

From June 2007 Divyadaan has shifted from a ‘two year  BPh course’ to  a ‘three year BPh course’ with the hope that  it would enable the students acquire a more reflective and integrated approach to life and ministry and help them take personal responsibility for their human and intellectual growth.  This has created space for the students to complete their university studies (BA/MA etc) as external students during the holidays. 

3. INTELLECTUAL AMBIENT:

Divyadaan Library:  

The Divyadaan library building was blessed and inaugurated in January, 1987 by Rev. Paul Natali, sdb, General Councillor for Formation.  Subsequently, over the years, the need was felt to expand the library to cater to the needs of the clerics in formation. In the year 2007 an extension was built as an attachment to the existing library block.  

Currently the library has 33,000 volumes in Philosophy, Psychology, Education, Sociology, Religion, Science, the Arts, Literature and Salesiana. It mainly serves the staff and students of Divyadaan in their academic research and study. The Master of Philosophy students who are doing specialized study in education and communication use it extensively. The library is also open to outsiders on a limited basis. Every year our library also receives 160 journals/periodicals and magazines from all over the world. Most of them are in English while some are in French, German and Italian.  The vernacular section is being strengthened (Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil). 

The latest acquisition of the library is a complete set of ‘Encyclopedia of History and Culture’.  The Library has begun collecting CDs (audio and video) as part of its multi-media section.  A section on Environmental and Ecological studies has been started. 

The Library is computerized.  The books are classified according to the Dewey Decimal system.  The reference section has a valuable collection of encyclopedias and periodicals. This section is a veritable storehouse of information and knowledge.

Symposiums/Seminars:

The students of Divyadaan have led the confreres and the neighboring communities of Nashik to a wider awareness on different topics over the years. This enriching exercise helps students especially to come a better understanding of relevant topics that face the post-modern world. This helps the students to blend theoretical philosophizing with daily praxis.

Last year, through a highly informative seminar on “THE ETHICS AND POLITICS OF CLIMATE CHANGE” on September 11-12, 2009, the students enlightened the gathering on the various problems that plague the world. The seminar not only projected the urgency of the problem of climate change but also gave the participants an opportunity to personalize the global issue and come up with tangible means to deal with it.

On December 12, 2009, the Second year BPh students, as part of their annual academic activity organized a symposium on the latest encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI CARITAS IN VERITATE (Charity in truth). On 16^th January, 2010 a symposium based on the “Political Philosophy of Hannah Arendt: the Political Thinker of our times” was organized by the first year MPh brothers.

Divyadaan Journal:  

The Institute publishes a journal, Divyadaan: Journal of Philosophy and Education. Currently this journal is being published thrice a year. It provides a forum for philosophical reflection with a special emphasis on education, Pedagogy and Social Communication.

Divyadaan Website and Blog:

For some years now, Divyadaan has its own website, www.divyadaan.org. Besides the regular academic information it now has two special sections: Current News from the Institute as well as Divyadaan Journal Updates.  The Divyadaan blog   www.divyadaanews.blogspot.com provides current news from the institute and expresses views of some of the staff and students while the blog  www.divyadaan.blogspot.com contains exotic natural surroundings of the institute.