Hinduism in South Africa - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Hinduism in South Africa has a following primarily in KwaZulu-Natal

KwaZulu-Natal

KwaZulu-Natal is a province of South Africa. Prior to 1994, the territory now known as KwaZulu-Natal was made up of the province of Natal and the homeland of KwaZulu....

, due to historical patterns of migration to the region from India

Indian South Africans

Indian South Africans are people of Indian descent living in South Africa and mostly live in and around the city of Durban, making it 'the largest 'Indian' city outside India'. Most Indians in South Africa are descendents of migrants from colonial India during late 19th-century through early...

. But now a significant population exists also in Gauteng

Gauteng

Gauteng is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. It was formed from part of the old Transvaal Province after South Africa's first all-race elections on 27 April 1994...

, especially around Lenasia. Approximately 1.22% or 551,669 of the South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

n population identifies as Hindu

Hindu

Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...

, according to the 2001 census.

Indentured labourers

After slavery

Slavery

Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...

was abolished throughout the British Empire

British Empire

The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...

in the early 19th century, farmers found themselves with a shortage of cheap skilled labour. A unique British solution to this problem was to allow indentured labourers to move around throughout the Empire, where they were needed. These indentured labourers were mostly made up of marginal farmers. Indentured labourers usually had four year contracts after which they could reside in their adopted country or return to India. Not surprisingly, owing to the prohibitive costs for transport as well as no assurance for the future in their home land, most of them chose to settle, mostly as distinct cultural communities.

Indentured Labourers traveled far and wide, and indeed today many Indians spread out around the world have their connections to India through this system. Jamaica

Jamaica

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

, Trinidad

Trinidad

Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...

and Tobago

Tobago

Tobago is the smaller of the two main islands that make up the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located in the southern Caribbean, northeast of the island of Trinidad and southeast of Grenada. The island lies outside the hurricane belt...

, Mauritius

Mauritius

Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...

and Guyana

Guyana

Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...

are all countries with sizable Indian-descent populations.

In South Africa, indentured labourers worked mostly on the sugar cane farms in Natal

Colony of Natal

The Colony of Natal was a British colony in south-eastern Africa. It was proclaimed a British colony on May 4, 1843 after the British government had annexed the Boer Republic of Natalia, and on 31 May 1910 combined with three other colonies to form the Union of South Africa, as one of its...

. Today, the Kwa-Zulu Natal contains one of the highest Indian populations outside India.

More recently, South Africa has seen waves of expatriate Indians settle down there.

Hindu Temples

1. Shivan Kovil (Shiva Mandir), Lenasia (Lenz), Johannesburg, South Africa

2. Hindu Temple Complex, (en route to) Springfield Park, Durban, South Africa

3. Shree Siva Subramanium Alayam, 122 Sirdar Road, Clairwood, Durban 4052, South Africa

4. Shree Muruga Alayam, 152 Jacobs Road, Clairwood, Durban 4052, South Africa

5. Melrose Temple, 37 2nd Street, Abbotsford, Johannesburg 2000, South Africa

6. Madhya Kailash Temple Midrand

Madhya Kailash Temple Midrand

The Madhya Kailash Temple is a Hindu temple in Midrand, South Africa. The temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva who is the formless, timeless and spaceless Supreme God in Shaivism, one of the major branches of Hinduism....

, 52 Stag Road Glen Austin EXT 3 Midrand

Ashrams in South Africa

1. Divine Life Society of South Africa, Reservoir Hills, Durban

2. Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa, Glen Anil, Durban

Indentured labourers

Hindu Temples

Ashrams in South Africa

See also

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