Performing unfamiliar scenes from Ramayana is not how most people think an 18–30-year-old South Asian Australian would spend a Sunday evening – yet it’s exactly the kind of novel and inspiring activity Dharma Down Under like to host.
Challenging the idea our generation are losing touch with our culture, Dharma Down Under (DDU) is a non-profit run by youth from all Dharmic traditions, who come together for ‘spiritual, social and seva’ events.
The group has grown to almost 200 members in just over a year; their latest event, a Ram Navami showcase, was their biggest undertaking since their inception in 2024. Held at Kew High School’s Theatre on April 27, the showcase included dinner from A2B, Bharatanatyam and Kathak dancing, and the centrepiece, lesser-known moments from the Ramayana, all organised and performed by DDU members.
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Rajas Satija, who co-founded Dharma Down Under with Kahaan Jani, says they hope to challenge conventional expectations on how Dharma can be practiced through their work.
“There’s a very stereotypical image of what a religious person looks like – you wear a tilak, you got to temple twice a week, you’re a vegetarian – we’ve just tried to redefine that, and [our Ram Navami showcase] was a huge step in that direction,” he says.
Besides activities like run clubs, trivia and homeless outreaches, the group offers a welcoming space for spiritual growth, with Satsang sessions held every Sunday on topics such as the relevance of gurus, South Asian parenting, vegetarianism and the caste system.
Satija says DDU affords young Dharmics a rare space to explore their roots and inquire freely.
“A lot of youth feel like the spaces that do exist are overcrowded by people one or two generations older, who think and view the world a little bit different – that was kind of the inspiration behind why I started DDU,” he says.
Shivani Swathi Krishna joined the organisation after seeing a TikTok video of DDU’s trivia night event.
“Everyone was having fun, and it looked like such a good, positive space to be in…I was looking for a group like this – a youth led organisation where we were able to question and learn together,” she says.
Now a DDU committee member, she says joining the group has given her a deeper understanding of Dharmic practices.
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“I came from a family that did traditions – we went to the temple, we had our poojas, our rituals but we never questioned why we did them. I went from [being] a very passive person spiritually to someone who does everything with intention… It’s no longer something we’re doing because we’re told to do it. We’re doing it because we realise there is an importance. There’s a reason and there’s an intention.”
Though questioning and reinventing the ways in which Dharma can take shape, the group have a strong respect for the sacred. Tejas Srinivas, DDU Events committee member, feels strongly about honouring lineage.
“While we have room to question [in DDU], we also show respect to the traditions and the culture that’s been passed down before us,” he explains. “I think sometimes people look at youth groups and think ‘you guys are just radicalising everything and not paying respect to your elders, and it’s just all your way’.”
“The joy of building a community and working with like-minded people, spreading the message of Dharma is special… Our ancestors literally fought for this, and I think it’s our duty and our privilege to be in a community where we can share this ideology and some of this knowledge.”
A RAMAYANA OFF THE BEATEN TRAIL
DDU’s Ramayana play dramatized rarely discussed moments of the epic – how Jatayu’s brother Sampati loses his wings, how Laxman’s wife slept 14 years for her husband, and how Ravana, a devotee of Lord Shiva, can’t be misunderstood as simply an antagonist.
Shivani Swathi Krishna, who co-directed the Ramayana scenes with committee member Samyuktha Sriganesh, says they chose to focus on the questions that interested them as youth.
“[Ramayana is] something we’d seen a lot of adult groups do before really well … we’re excited youth got the responsibility to stand up and organise [it] themselves,” she explains. “As kids we were always asking [our parents] ‘Why did this happen?’… we were hoping to answer those questions and explain that everything has a purpose and a reason, there’s a divine order.”
Utilising traditional cultural elements, they choreographed a Bharatanatyam style dance to the Shiva Tandava mantra, and a Kathak inspired sequence to represent the war between Lord Ram and Ravana. Notably, most of the youth involved in the project had no prior experience in dancing or acting.
Tejas Srinivas says the showcase, attended by almost 200 people, took six months to prepare. The audience response has been extremely heartening, and they hope to run a similar event each year.
“I had people who were 10 years old coming up to me saying this was just incredible, and then I had people who were over 70 coming up to me and saying this is incredible – I think that the fact that we were able to garner the attention of that age range was just incredible,” he recounts.
He says the group feel inspired to keep sharing Dharmic traditions and uncovering their relevance to young and old.
“There’s no use to all this stuff if it’s just within you and you’re not able to share it with anybody else,” Srinivas explains.
“Dharma and the way of living is very important in our current lifestyle as well…I’ve always been told whatever you know is like a pebble or a speck in a massive ocean of knowledge – even if you learn a bit, there’s just lifetimes of knowledge to be learned. So, I think it’s all about sharing with community.”
