Indenture, migration and a global Hindu diaspora
Indentured labourers carry Hinduism to the Caribbean, Africa, Fiji and Mauritius; later migrants and Western converts take it to Britain, North America and beyond.
- The Hindu Diaspora: Comparative Patterns — Steven Vertovec, Routledge (2000)
- Religion, England and Wales: Census 2021 — Office for National Statistics (2022)
- Hinduism: A Very Short Introduction (2nd edition) — Kim Knott, Oxford University Press (2016)
After Britain abolished slavery in 1833–34, its plantation colonies turned to India for labour. From 1834 to 1917 more than a million Indians, most of them Hindus from Bihar, eastern Uttar Pradesh and the Tamil and Telugu regions, signed contracts of indenture and sailed to Mauritius, British Guiana, Trinidad, Natal, Fiji and elsewhere. Crossing the “black water” (kala pani) was thought to break caste, and conditions were harsh, but many stayed and rebuilt Hindu life around the Ramayana of Tulsidas, temples and festivals like Diwali.
- The Hindu Diaspora: Comparative Patterns — Steven Vertovec, Routledge (2000)
A second wave came after the Second World War: to Britain, including Gujaratis expelled from Uganda in 1972, and to the US after it opened immigration in 1965, often professionals. Meanwhile Western interest grew: the Hare Krishna movement was founded in New York in 1966, and the Beatles’ 1968 stay in Rishikesh popularised meditation.
- The Hindu Diaspora: Comparative Patterns — Steven Vertovec, Routledge (2000)
- Hinduism: A Very Short Introduction (2nd edition) — Kim Knott, Oxford University Press (2016)
Today about a million Hindus live in England and Wales, and Hindus are a large share of the population in Mauritius, Fiji, Guyana and Trinidad. Grand temples, such as the BAPS mandirs in Neasden, London, and Robbinsville, New Jersey, stand as symbols of a confident diaspora, and Rishi Sunak, a practising Hindu, became British prime minister in 2022.
- Religion, England and Wales: Census 2021 — Office for National Statistics (2022)
- The Hindu Diaspora: Comparative Patterns — Steven Vertovec, Routledge (2000)
Why it matters today
Hinduism is now a global religion, with large communities in Britain, the US, Canada, the Caribbean, Africa and the Pacific. Diaspora temples, festivals and youth groups are reshaping how Hinduism is taught, and diaspora Hindus are divided over Hindutva and over caste discrimination laws.