Hinduism in the West Indies
Encyclopedia
Hinduism is the leading single religion of the Indo-Caribbean
communities of the West Indies. Hindus are particularly well represented in Trinidad and Tobago
, where they constituted 25 percent of the total population, as of 1995. Smaller groups of Indo-Caribbeans live elsewhere in the Caribbean, especially Guyana
, Suriname
, Jamaica
, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
, Barbados
, Martinique
and Guadeloupe
.
.
n or Tamil
descent. The population of Hindu's in Bermuda is 0.2%
and North India
. Some 30 percent of the East Indians were from agricultural castes and 31 percent were labourers. Brahmin
s, the highest caste, constituted 14 percent of the East Indian immigrants. Vaishnavite Hinduism remains the predominant religion of the Indo-Guyanese, though it was considerably modified.
During the indenture period, the East Indian caste system broke down. Hinduism was redefined, and caste-distinguishing practices were eliminated. Christian
missionaries attempted to convert East Indians during the indenture period, beginning in 1852, but met with little success. The missionaries blamed the Brahmins for their failure: the Brahmins began administering spiritual rites to all Hindus regardless of caste once the Christian missionaries started proselytizing in the villages, hastening the breakdown of the caste system. After the 1930s, Hindu conversions to Christianity slowed because the status of Hinduism improved and the discrimination against Hindus diminished.
In areas where there are large percentage of Indo Guyanese residing together — Mandirs (Hindu temple) of various sizes can be found, according to the population. All main Hindu occasions are observed — Basant Panchami in January to Geeta Jayanti in December.
Since the late 1940s, reform movements caught the attention of many Guyanese Hindus. The most important, the Arya Samaj
movement, arrived in Guyana in 1910. Arya Samaj doctrine rejects the idea of caste and the exclusive role of Brahmins as religious leaders. The movement preaches monotheism and opposition to the use of images in worship as well as many traditional Hindu rituals.
Caste
distinctions are all but forgotten among Guyanese Hindus. Currently the number of Guyanese Hindus is steeply declining because of emigration and conversion to other religions. Approximately between 216,000 and 230,000 identified themselves as Hindus in the 2002 census.
, the population of Hinduism in the Netherlands Antilles is 0.1%. Hinduism is mainly practiced on one of the islands like Saint Martin
.
During the initial decades of Indian indenture, Indian cultural forms were met with either contempt or indifference by the Christian majority. Hindus have made many contributions to Trinidad history and culture even though the state historically regarded Hindus as second class citizens.Hindus in Trinidad struggled over the granting of adult franchise, the Hindu marriage bill, the divorce bill, cremation ordinance, and others. After Trinidad's independence from colonial rule, Hindus were marginalized by the African based People's National Movement. The opposing party, the People's Democratic party, was portrayed as a "Hindu group", and other anti-Hindu
tactics were used against them. Hindus were castigated as a "recalcitrant and hostile minority". Hindus were alienated by such Christian communal groups. The support of the PNM government to creole art forms in Carnivals, while their public rejection and ridicule of Hindu art forms, was a particular source of contention for the Hindu minority. The displacement of PNM from power in 1985 would improve the situation.
There has been persistent discontent among the Hindus with their marginalization. Many Christianized groups portray Hindus as "clannish, backward and miserly". During the General Elections of 1986, the absence of the Bhagvad Gita and the Quran at polling stations for required oath-taking was interpreted as a gross insult to Hindus and Muslims. The absence of any Hindu religious texts at the official residence of the President of Trinidad and Tobago during the swearing in of the new Government in 1986 was perceived as another insult to the minority communities since they were represented in the government. The exclusivist Christian symbolism operative in the country's top national award, the Trinity Cross, has persistently stung Hindu religious sensibility. This was to climax in 1995 with the refusal of the Hindu Dharmaacharya to accept the award, while issuing a statement that his action should be seen as an opportunity for those in authority to create a national award that recognizes the plurality of religious beliefs in this country. The national education system and curriculum have been repeatedly accused of such majority-oriented symbolism. The use of discernibly Christian-oriented prayers at Government schools, the non-representation of Hinduism in approved school textbooks, and the lack of emphasis on Hindu religious observace evoked deep resentment from the Hindu community. Intensified protests over the course of the 1980s led to an improvement in the state's attitudes towards Hindus. The divergence of some of the fundamental aspects of local Hindu culture, the segregation of the Hindu community from Trinidad, and the disinclination to risk erasing the more fundamental aspects of what had been constructed as "Trinidad Hinduism" in which the identity of the group had been rooted, would often generate dissension when certain dimensions of Hindu culture came into contact with the State. While the incongruences continue to generate debate, and often conflict, it is now tempered with growing awareness and consideration on the part of the state to the Hindu minority. Hindus have been also been subjected to persistent proselytization by Christian missionariess, specifically the evangelical and Pentecostal Christians. Such activities reflect racial tensions that at times arise between the Christianized Afro-Trinidadian and Hindu Indo-Trinidadian communities.
As in Guyana
, caste
distinctions are all but forgotten among Trinidadian Hindus. In the plantation
housing, it was not possible to maintain extended households even if the kin were available. Considerations of caste became less important in choosing a spouse largely because there were so few women among the East Indian indentured workers.
The major Hindu organisation in Trinidad and Tobago is the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha
led by Satnarayan Maharaj
. The Hindu festivals of Divali
and Phagwah
are widely celebrated in Trinidad.
V.S. Naipaul is one of the most famous Trinidadian Hindus.
Indo-Caribbean
Indo-Caribbean people or Indo-Caribbeans are Caribbean people with roots in India or the Indian subcontinent. They are mostly descendants of the original indentured workers brought by the British, the Dutch and the French during colonial times...
communities of the West Indies. Hindus are particularly well represented in Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...
, where they constituted 25 percent of the total population, as of 1995. Smaller groups of Indo-Caribbeans live elsewhere in the Caribbean, especially 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...
, Suriname
Suriname
Suriname , officially the Republic of Suriname , is a country in northern South America. It borders French Guiana to the east, Guyana to the west, Brazil to the south, and on the north by the Atlantic Ocean. Suriname was a former colony of the British and of the Dutch, and was previously known as...
, 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...
, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is an island country in the Lesser Antilles chain, namely in the southern portion of the Windward Islands, which lie at the southern end of the eastern border of the Caribbean Sea where the latter meets the Atlantic Ocean....
, Barbados
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
, Martinique
Martinique
Martinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of . Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados...
and Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe is an archipelago located in the Leeward Islands, in the Lesser Antilles, with a land area of 1,628 square kilometres and a population of 400,000. It is the first overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. As with the other overseas departments, Guadeloupe...
.
Hinduism in Anguilla
The total Hindu population of Anguilla is just 45, according to the census of 2001. Virtually all are recent immigrants from India.Hinduism in Antigua and Barbuda
The percentage of Hinduism in Antigua and Barbuda is 0.1%. The population is made up of Indian immigrants, and also a tiny population from PakistanPakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
.
Hinduism in Barbados
Today, Barbados has 2,000 Indians living in the country. They came as recently immigrants from Guyana. Because of the huge Indian population, Hinduism became one of the growing religions of Barbados.Hinduism in Bermuda
Most of the Hindus in Bermuda are of Sri LankaSri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
n or Tamil
Tamil people
Tamil people , also called Tamils or Tamilians, are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, India and the north-eastern region of Sri Lanka. Historic and post 15th century emigrant communities are also found across the world, notably Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, South Africa, Australia, Canada,...
descent. The population of Hindu's in Bermuda is 0.2%
Hinduism in Cayman Islands
Hinduism is probably the smallest religion in Cayman Islands. There were just 98 Hindus in Caymans according to 2000 census (Accounting for 0.25% of the population). Even the Bahá'í community was three times bigger, at 0.77% and the Jews numbered 1.77%.Hinduism in Dominican Republic
Buddhism and Hinduism are both showing expansion of their adherents in The Dominican Republic.Hinduism in Grenada
According to the 2000 census there were 700 Hindus in Grenada making 0.7% of the total population.Hinduism in Guyana
About 84% of the East Indian immigrants were Hindus, and their dominant sect was the Vaishnavite Hinduism of BiharBihar
Bihar is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India....
and North India
North India
North India, known natively as Uttar Bhārat or Shumālī Hindustān , is a loosely defined region in the northern part of India. The exact meaning of the term varies by usage...
. Some 30 percent of the East Indians were from agricultural castes and 31 percent were labourers. Brahmin
Brahmin
Brahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...
s, the highest caste, constituted 14 percent of the East Indian immigrants. Vaishnavite Hinduism remains the predominant religion of the Indo-Guyanese, though it was considerably modified.
During the indenture period, the East Indian caste system broke down. Hinduism was redefined, and caste-distinguishing practices were eliminated. Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
missionaries attempted to convert East Indians during the indenture period, beginning in 1852, but met with little success. The missionaries blamed the Brahmins for their failure: the Brahmins began administering spiritual rites to all Hindus regardless of caste once the Christian missionaries started proselytizing in the villages, hastening the breakdown of the caste system. After the 1930s, Hindu conversions to Christianity slowed because the status of Hinduism improved and the discrimination against Hindus diminished.
In areas where there are large percentage of Indo Guyanese residing together — Mandirs (Hindu temple) of various sizes can be found, according to the population. All main Hindu occasions are observed — Basant Panchami in January to Geeta Jayanti in December.
Since the late 1940s, reform movements caught the attention of many Guyanese Hindus. The most important, the Arya Samaj
Arya Samaj
Arya Samaj is a Hindu reform movement founded by Swami Dayananda on 10 April 1875. He was a sannyasi who believed in the infallible authority of the Vedas. Dayananda emphasized the ideals of brahmacharya...
movement, arrived in Guyana in 1910. Arya Samaj doctrine rejects the idea of caste and the exclusive role of Brahmins as religious leaders. The movement preaches monotheism and opposition to the use of images in worship as well as many traditional Hindu rituals.
Caste
Caste
Caste is an elaborate and complex social system that combines elements of endogamy, occupation, culture, social class, tribal affiliation and political power. It should not be confused with race or social class, e.g. members of different castes in one society may belong to the same race, as in India...
distinctions are all but forgotten among Guyanese Hindus. Currently the number of Guyanese Hindus is steeply declining because of emigration and conversion to other religions. Approximately between 216,000 and 230,000 identified themselves as Hindus in the 2002 census.
Hinduism in Jamaica
Jamaica was once home to 25,000 Hindus (till mid 20th century). However, most of them converted to Christianity. In the last few decades, the population of Hindus in Jamaica decreased steeply. In 1970s, 5,000 identified themselves as Hindus. Since then, the Hindu population of Jamaica has risen and it has become the second largest religion (after Christianity) in Jamaica. Diwali , the festival of lights, is celebrated in Jamaica ever year. There were 1,453 Hindus in Jamaica according to the 2001 census.Hinduism in Montserrat
According to the 2000 census there were 9 Hindus in Montserrat, accounting for 0.1% of the total population and forming the 4th largest religious entity.Hinduism in the Netherlands Antilles
Just like Antigua and BarbudaAntigua and Barbuda
Antigua and Barbuda is a twin-island nation lying between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It consists of two major inhabited islands, Antigua and Barbuda, and a number of smaller islands...
, the population of Hinduism in the Netherlands Antilles is 0.1%. Hinduism is mainly practiced on one of the islands like Saint Martin
Saint Martin
Saint Martin is an island in the northeast Caribbean, approximately east of Puerto Rico. The 87 km2 island is divided roughly 60/40 between France and the Kingdom of the Netherlands ; however, the Dutch side has the larger population. It is one of the smallest sea islands divided between...
.
Hinduism in Puerto Rico
As of 2006, there were 3,482 Hindus in Puerto Rico making 0.09% of the population according to Religious Intelligence.Hinduism in St.Lucia
Most of the Indo-St. Lucian community have converted to Christianity. Only 325 people were reported as Hindus in the 2001 census (0.2% of the total population census). Most of them were recent immigrants. Of the original East Indian community, only 1-2% retains Hinduism.Hinduism in St.Kitts-Nevis
Hindus make up 1.5% of the total population of St.Kitts-Nevis according to the 2000 census. This totals to 600 people. Hinduism is the second largest religion in St.Kitts-Nevis after Christianity.Hinduism in St.Vincent-Grenadines
The 2000 census reported 3700 Hindus in St.V-G making up 3.3% of the total population. After Christianity, Hinduism is the second largest religion here.Hinduism in US Virgin Islands
According to the 2000 census there were more than 400 Hindus in the USVI (0.4% of the population). Most of them were recent immigrants from India, and most of them reside on St. Thomas.Hinduism in Trinidad and Tobago
A decade after slavery was abolished in 1834, the British government gave permission for the colonians to import indentured labour from India to work on the plantations. Throughout the remainder of the century, Trinidad's population growth came primarily from East Indian laborers. By 1871, there were 27,425 East Indians, approximately 22 percent of the population of Trinidad and Tobago; by 1911 that figure had grown to 110,911, or about 33 percent of all residents of the islands. According to the 2000 census there were 250,760 Hindus in T&T contributing 22.49% of the total population and 56.19% of the population of the Indo-Caribbeans.During the initial decades of Indian indenture, Indian cultural forms were met with either contempt or indifference by the Christian majority. Hindus have made many contributions to Trinidad history and culture even though the state historically regarded Hindus as second class citizens.Hindus in Trinidad struggled over the granting of adult franchise, the Hindu marriage bill, the divorce bill, cremation ordinance, and others. After Trinidad's independence from colonial rule, Hindus were marginalized by the African based People's National Movement. The opposing party, the People's Democratic party, was portrayed as a "Hindu group", and other anti-Hindu
Anti-Hindu
Anti-Hindu prejudice is a negative perception or religious intolerance against the practice and practitioners of Hinduism. Anti-Hindu sentiments have been expressed by Muslims in Pakistan, Bangladesh, leading to significant persecution of Hindus in those regions, such as the 1971 Bangladesh...
tactics were used against them. Hindus were castigated as a "recalcitrant and hostile minority". Hindus were alienated by such Christian communal groups. The support of the PNM government to creole art forms in Carnivals, while their public rejection and ridicule of Hindu art forms, was a particular source of contention for the Hindu minority. The displacement of PNM from power in 1985 would improve the situation.
There has been persistent discontent among the Hindus with their marginalization. Many Christianized groups portray Hindus as "clannish, backward and miserly". During the General Elections of 1986, the absence of the Bhagvad Gita and the Quran at polling stations for required oath-taking was interpreted as a gross insult to Hindus and Muslims. The absence of any Hindu religious texts at the official residence of the President of Trinidad and Tobago during the swearing in of the new Government in 1986 was perceived as another insult to the minority communities since they were represented in the government. The exclusivist Christian symbolism operative in the country's top national award, the Trinity Cross, has persistently stung Hindu religious sensibility. This was to climax in 1995 with the refusal of the Hindu Dharmaacharya to accept the award, while issuing a statement that his action should be seen as an opportunity for those in authority to create a national award that recognizes the plurality of religious beliefs in this country. The national education system and curriculum have been repeatedly accused of such majority-oriented symbolism. The use of discernibly Christian-oriented prayers at Government schools, the non-representation of Hinduism in approved school textbooks, and the lack of emphasis on Hindu religious observace evoked deep resentment from the Hindu community. Intensified protests over the course of the 1980s led to an improvement in the state's attitudes towards Hindus. The divergence of some of the fundamental aspects of local Hindu culture, the segregation of the Hindu community from Trinidad, and the disinclination to risk erasing the more fundamental aspects of what had been constructed as "Trinidad Hinduism" in which the identity of the group had been rooted, would often generate dissension when certain dimensions of Hindu culture came into contact with the State. While the incongruences continue to generate debate, and often conflict, it is now tempered with growing awareness and consideration on the part of the state to the Hindu minority. Hindus have been also been subjected to persistent proselytization by Christian missionariess, specifically the evangelical and Pentecostal Christians. Such activities reflect racial tensions that at times arise between the Christianized Afro-Trinidadian and Hindu Indo-Trinidadian communities.
As in 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...
, caste
Caste
Caste is an elaborate and complex social system that combines elements of endogamy, occupation, culture, social class, tribal affiliation and political power. It should not be confused with race or social class, e.g. members of different castes in one society may belong to the same race, as in India...
distinctions are all but forgotten among Trinidadian Hindus. In the plantation
Plantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...
housing, it was not possible to maintain extended households even if the kin were available. Considerations of caste became less important in choosing a spouse largely because there were so few women among the East Indian indentured workers.
The major Hindu organisation in Trinidad and Tobago is the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha
Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha
The Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha is the major Hindu organisation in Trinidad and Tobago. It operates 150 mandirs and over 50 schools. It was formed in 1952 when Bhadase Sagan Maraj engineered the merger of the Satanan Dharma Association and the Sanatan Dharma Board of Control. An affiliated group,...
led by Satnarayan Maharaj
Satnarayan Maharaj
Satnarayan Maharaj Chaconia Medal is a religious, cultural and political leader in Trinidad and Tobago. He is the Secretary General of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha, the major Hindu organisation in Trinidad and Tobago. He also writes op-ed contributions in many newspapers in Trinidad and Tobago...
. The Hindu festivals of Divali
Diwali
Diwali or DeepavaliThe name of the festival in various regional languages include:, , , , , , , , , , , , , popularly known as the "festival of lights," is a festival celebrated between mid-October and mid-December for different reasons...
and Phagwah
Holi
Holi , is a religious spring festival celebrated by Hindus. Holi is also known as festival of Colours. It is primarily observed in India, Nepal, Pakistan, and countries with large Indic diaspora populations following Hinduism, such as Suriname, Malaysia, Guyana, South Africa, Trinidad, United...
are widely celebrated in Trinidad.
V.S. Naipaul is one of the most famous Trinidadian Hindus.
See also
- Indo-CaribbeanIndo-CaribbeanIndo-Caribbean people or Indo-Caribbeans are Caribbean people with roots in India or the Indian subcontinent. They are mostly descendants of the original indentured workers brought by the British, the Dutch and the French during colonial times...
- Indo-TrinidadianIndo-TrinidadianIndo-Trinidadian and Tobagonian are nationals of Trinidad and Tobago of Indian or other South Asian ancestry.Indo-Trinidadian and Tobagonians has now become interchangeable with Indians or East Indians. These were people who were taken from India by the British either as workers or educated...
- Indo-Trinidadian
- Hinduism in South AmericaHinduism in South AmericaHindu communities are found in several countries of South America, but they are strongest in Guyana and Suriname.There are about 400,000 Hindus in South America, chiefly the descendants of Indian indentured labourers in the Guianas. There are about 270,000 Hindus in Guyana, 120,000 in Suriname, and...