Dr. Damal Kandadai Hari, hailing from a traditional Indian family rooted in the ancient town of Kancheepuram, known for its silk heritage and rich cultural history, has always been deeply connected to India’s heritage. He completed his schooling at Rishi Valley School, earned his undergraduate degree from Madras Christian College, and pursued his post graduation in Business Administration from P.S.G College of Technology in Coimbatore.
He has had a career spanning 20 years as a management professional across family-owned businesses in oil and gas and FMCG supply chains as well as heading Marketing and successfully establishing the brand and sales network both in India and internationally for a building product.
He has travelled extensively to over 40 countries across the globe to explore other cultures.
He has followed his true calling—pursuing knowledge through questioning, a passion shaped during his time at Rishi Valley School. This path led him and his wife, Dr. DK Hema Hari, to co-found the Bharath Gyan initiative in 2000, focused on Civilizational Studies. Bharath Gyan takes an interdisciplinary approach to researching India from an Indian perspective and offers a holistic, Indic narrative of the Indian civilization showcasing the Scientific, Industrial and Social aspects of the Bharatiya civilization besides highlighting its Spiritual aspects. It shows how it is the ethos of their twinning which had sustained flourish for this civilization across millennia.
It highlights the contributions made by the Indian civilization to the world across millennia, in the realm of Matter and Mind and how they have been Game Changers for shaping the world to what it is today.
As of 2025, Dr. Hari, along with his wife, has co-authored over 100 books on Indian civilization as the Autobiography of India collection, along with their translations in Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Gujarati, and Tamil. Their multimedia content spans more than 500 hours across 108+ subjects. They have produced 5 Documentaries, 1000 short films and 1000 articles.
Dr. Hari has delivered over 1000 joint multimedia talks with his wife, addressing wide audiences in India and abroad. These talks have been presented at prestigious international conferences, such as World Sanskrit Conferences, KAICIID Interfaith Conferences, and several others on subjects such as the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Vedas, cosmology, science, spirituality, and women’s issues.
Some of the key contributions at a National level include:
- Member of delegation for CIVIL BRICS, Moscow, Russia in 2015
- Delivered Key Session for Youth in Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, 2015
- Authoring book and Designing, Curating and Setting up “Knowing New India” Pavilion for Ministry of External Affairs at Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, Varanasi in 2019
- Knowledge Partner for Bharat Ko Janiye Quiz of Ministry Of External Affairs
- Mentoring NGOs across India on water harnessing and river rejuvenation projects for applying Indic wisdom in their projects
- Authoring and Publishing of books for Ek Bharat Sreshta Bharat events in 2022, 2023 as well as for the inauguration of Sri Ram Janmabhoomi temple in 2024
- Kasi Tamilagam – A Traditional Connect
- Saurashtra Tamilagam – Millennia Of Connect
- Sri Rama In Tamilagam, An Inseparable Bond
Dr.Hari has been disseminating this knowledge to the youth and students through lectures, talks, films, writings, expos and social media. He has trained close to 2000 Indian and International students on Indian Civilization Knowledge Studies in the last 4 years.
Dr. DK Hari is also actively involved in social work and serves on the boards of several organizations, including:
- Hindu Mission Hospital, Chennai – A multidisciplinary, charity-based hospital
- Valluvar Gurukulam, Chennai – A school for first-generation learners
- Dakshina Chitra, Chennai – A heritage village
- Sri Dev Kunwar Nanalal Bhat Vaishnava College, Chennai
- Bala Vidya Mandir, Adyar, Chennai
- Prof. K.V. Sarma Research Foundation, Chennai – Focused on Indian sciences
- Bodhidharma Dojo Foundation – For the Bodhidharma Memorial Park in Kanchipuram
Awards and Recognitions:
- Utkarsh Samman Award – Prachya Vidya Bhushanam, by Central Sanskrit University, Min. of Education, Aug 2024
- Gaurav Patra Samman by Pujya Swami GovindDev Giri ji Maharaj at Gita Bhakti Amrut Mahotsav, Feb 2024
- Rukmini & Viswanathan Memorial Life Time Achievement Award in the field of Bharatiya Civilization Knowledge by Rukmini Arts and Music Trust on 9th September, 2023.
- Grateful to Guru award by Indica on 29th July, 2023.
- Honoris Causa Doctorate (Ph.D.) from Sri Sri University in 2019 for two decades of research in Civilizational Studies and his contributions to literature, films, and writings.
- Shri B.R. Haran Memorial Award in 2019.
- Visalakshi Award from the Art of Living in 2018 for pioneering efforts to adapt ancient knowledge for the modern age.
Dr. Hari’s work has garnered widespread recognition from influential figures, including Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Mr. Amitabh Bachchan, Pujya Sri Pramukh Swami Ji, Swami Dayananda Saraswathi, Pujya Gurudev Sri Sri RaviShankar, Hon’ble Governor of Tamil Nadu Sri. R.N.Ravi etc. validating the impact of Bharath Gyan in the field of Civilizational Studies.
Their compilation and dissemination work has led Bharath Gyan to be recognized as a Knowledge partner to the Indian Knowledge Systems Division, Division of Ministry of Education.
View our whole team