The Indian Institute of Technology Mandi has ordered an inquiry into a Bhagavad Gita-themed poster displayed on its campus that said Shudras should "serve higher classes", a row that has forced Director Laxmidhar Behera to distance the institute from its contents and blame students' interpretation of the scripture.
- The poster, titled "Bhagavad Gita - The Timeless Wisdom", was displayed outside the institute's auditorium during Janmashtami celebrations on September 4.
- It divided society into four varnas and described the role of Shudras as to "serve higher classes".
- Behera said he was "shocked" and stressed the poster had not been endorsed by the institute "in any manner".
- An enquiry committee of faculty members and representatives from different social categories, including Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Classes, has been constituted.
What the poster said
The poster split society into Brahmanas, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras, assigning each a role. Brahmanas were to "spread God's message", Kshatriyas to "protect society and spirituality", and Vaishyas to "drive economy, support others". For Shudras, it said: "serve higher classes".
It also carried a verse from the Bhagavad Gita stating that the four divisions of human society were created according to the "three modes of material nature and the work associated with them".
'It was a student-based event'
Speaking to PTI on Sunday (September 6, 2026), Behera said: "Some students have interpreted the Gita in some way. I have instituted an enquiry committee. It was a student-based event." He asserted that he and the institute stood against caste discrimination.
In an email to the campus community titled "Outright condemnation of recent poster display within campus", Behera said he was "shocked" to learn of the poster and that it had not been endorsed "in any manner".
"I have personally fought against caste-based discrimination in any form in every forum. I have instituted an enquiry committee in this matter such that the institute campus is never used for any such violation of social harmony. I fully empathise with members of our community who have been hurt by this incident," he wrote.
"The institute strongly condemns any form of caste-based discrimination," he said, urging the campus to "stand together against such biases/discrimination in any form". He added that IIT Mandi remained committed to "the values of equality, social justice, scientific temper" and other principles enshrined in the Constitution.
Behera said he had been away, returned to campus on Saturday (September 5, 2026), and learnt of the controversy on Sunday morning. "I have not seen the poster. I don't want to take a side here and let the panel decide," he told PTI.
How the controversy unfolded
| Date | Development |
|---|---|
| September 4 | Poster displayed outside the auditorium during Janmashtami celebrations |
| September 5 | Behera returns to campus after being away |
| September 6 | Behera learns of the row, emails the campus community and announces an enquiry committee |
Director's Gita links and past rows
Behera has a longstanding association with the teaching of the Bhagavad Gita and the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). He teaches a three-credit Gita course at IIT Mandi, and his official profile says he has taught the "universal principles of peace through the Bhagavad Gita" to young people for 27 years. Also identified as "HG Lila Purushottam Das", he is the founder of the proposed Bhaktivedanta University, which describes itself as an ISKCON initiative.
"ISKCON is the only organisation that strictly and strongly speaks against caste-based discrimination. In ISKCON, pujaris are also from the Shudra community. Muslims are also pujaris," he claimed, adding: "We are against casteism in all forms. All occupational duties are according to guna and karma."
He also claimed that when he joined IIT Mandi there were no faculty members from the OBC, SC and ST communities, and that their numbers had since increased substantially.
An electrical engineering professor specialising in robotics and artificial intelligence, Behera has courted controversy before. In 2023, he asked students to pledge not to eat meat, claiming landslides and cloudbursts in Himachal Pradesh were occurring because of cruelty to animals. A year earlier, a video surfaced in which he claimed to have helped rid a friend's family of "evil spirits" by chanting holy mantras. In June, IIT Mandi's Indian Knowledge System and Mental Health Applications Centre organised a conference on the Gita, Ayurveda and reincarnation, with Behera co-organising a session titled "Reincarnation, OBEs and afterlife communication".
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