A Muslim Girl From Mumbai Wins A Gita Competition, sets an example of communal Harmony

The 12 year old Maryam Asif Siddiqui  from Cosmopolitan High School, Mira Road, Mumbai, recently won the GCL – Gita Champions League.

She competed against more than 4000 participants in the Gita Champions League which was organized by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Iskcon) in January.

The 100 mark multiple choice questions based test, evaluated children on their knowledge of the Gita. Maryam studied material that was provided by Iskcon for almost a month before giving the test in English.

 When asked what had fascinated her most about the Geeta she said, “Lord Krishna.” “He was so knowledgeable and cool. He taught so many nice and good things to Arjun.”

When asked what motivated her to participate in the competition she said, “I have always been inquisitive about religions and I often read up on them during my free time. So when my teacher told me about this contest I thought it would be a good chance to understand what the book is about. My parents too supported my idea of participating in the contest”


She recieved her prize on March 15th and was pretty surprised when leading daily Mid-day covered her story. She asked, “Why should I be any different? Why treat me differently just because I am from another religion? Even in school, we have never treated each other differently on the basis of caste or religion.”

Maryam Siddiqui: a Muslim & winner of an ISKCON contest on the Bhagavad Gita. The Indian way: Respect for all faiths. pic.twitter.com/KsU0wAoFze
— Amish Tripathi (@authoramish) April 3, 2015