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Hinduism in England is particularly found in London where the majority of the country's Hindu population lives.^[1] Within London, Hinduism is found in Brent and Harrow where Hindus make up a fifth of the population, and to a lesser extent, in Southall, Hounslow, Hendon, and Wembley. Outside London, Leicester has a significant concentration of Hindus, largely from East Africa, with over 40,000 living in the city.^[2] England has a number of Hindu temples, including the Hindu temple at Neasden which is the largest Hindu temple in Europe^[3]. Recently the largest Hindu Mandir in the North of England^[4], the Bradford Lakshmi Narayan Hindu Temple opened in Bradford^[5], West Yorkshire.

[edit] History

Hinduism has been in England since the early 19th century. Occasionally there were Hindu scholars, philosophers, reformers and also visitors from the princely states of India. Raja Ram Mohun Roy (born in India in 1772) was founder of a Hindu reform movement in India. He came to England in 1829 to visit his Christian friends. He also had audience with King William the IV. Roy died in Bristol four years later. The great orientalist and reformer Sir R.G.Bhandarkar visited London in 1874. Swami Vivekananda visited England in 1896, having addressed the World's Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893. Early Hindus in England were usually students, sometimes with exceptional ability. Rabindranath Tagore (later a Nobel Laureate) came to England in 1878, returning in 1880. Ramanujan, a mathematical genius and an orthodox Hindu, spent almost five years (1914-19) at Cambridge University. Professor Sir Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was Spalding Professor of Eastern Religions and Ethics at the University of Oxford from 1939 until 1952. Hinduism had already received widespread attention in the Victorian era largely due to the work of the Theosophical Society and emergence of the new field, Indology.

There have been three waves of migration of Hindus to England. The first wave was before India's Independence in 1947. Before the second world war Hindu migration to England was minuscule and largely temporary. During the post-war era, economic conditions compelled many Indians including Hindus to leave their country in search of better opportunities. The fact that Indians, as Commonwealth citizens, didn't require a visa to enter or live in the United Kingdom was a factor. In the early 1960s, in order to save the NHS, the Conservative Health Minister The Rt Hon Enoch Powell recruited a large number of doctors including Hindus from the Indian sub-continent

The second wave of migration occurred in the 1970s after Idi Amin's expulsion of Gujarati and other Asians (who were British Overseas Citizens) from Uganda. Initially, Hindu Immigration was limited to Punjabis and Gujaratis. Later Hindu communities from other regions of the Indian sub-continent and countries like Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Mauritius and Fiji could be found in England.

The last wave of migration began in the 1990s with two types of people settling in England – Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka and professionals including doctors and software engineers from India.

[edit] Regional and local organisations

Many regional umbrella organisations have been set up to bring local Hindu organisations in a town or region together to engage with local government. These include the Hindu Council of Brent, Hindu Council of Harrow, Hindu Council of Birmingham and the Hindu Council of the North.

At the more local level, Hindus have many organisations that are based on community or linguistic identities. They usually cater to the cultural and community needs of a particular Hindu denomination or sub-community. Examples of such organisations include the Arya Samaj, Brahmin Society North London, Shree Kutch Leva Patel Community, Great Prajapati Association, International Punjabi Society, South Indian Association, Maharashtra Mandal of London and many others. They usually operate from own or rented premises and arrange large festivals and events, besides providing services to their communities, including religious discourses, match-making services, weddings and others.

There are a number of Hindu organisations that provide various services to different audiences in the fields of education, health care, counselling, advocacy and other areas. These include the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, the Vivekananda Centre, ISKCON Educational Services, International Swaminarayan Satsang Organisation, SEWA International, Hindu Aid, Sangat Advisory Centre, City Hindus Network, Sai School of Harrow and others.

[edit] Temples

The Swaminarayan Temple at Neasden, London which is the largest Hindu Temple in Europe

There are over 150 Hindu temples in England which provide a wide range of services to different communities within the Hindu community. Some of the larger and more famous temples include the Swaminarayan Temple in Neasden, the Bhaktivedanta Manor (Hare Krishna) Temple in Letchmore Heath near Watford, the Balaji Temple in Birmingham, the Sanatan Mandir in Leicester, the Vishwa Hindu Mandir in Southall, the Murugan Temple in Manor Park and the Gujarat Hindu Society Krishna Temple in Preston. There are also 6 Shri Swaminarayan Temples in different areas of London, not to be confused with the famous Swaminarayan Neasden Temple.

The temples are centres of excellence where the community regularly congregates to worship, learn and socialise. In addition to large festivals like the Janmashtami festival at Bhaktivedanta Manor which attracts 80,000 visitors or the Diwali festival at Neasden which attracts 50,000 people, many temples provide services like weddings, Hindu sacraments, language classes, further education, computer classes, yoga, counselling and various other services.

In 2008, a campaign was launched to raise funds to establish a temple to serve the 2,500 Hindus in Oxfordshire.^[6]

[edit] Hindu schools

The first state-funded Hindu school in England was approved in 2005^[7], to be run by the I-Foundation. Construction of the £10 Million Krishna Avanti Primary School in Edgware, north west London, began in 2008 with the first pupils starting later that year in temporary accommodation.^[8]

[edit] See also

• Hinduism in Northern Ireland
• Hinduism in Scotland
• Hinduism in Wales
• Hinduism by country
• Neasden Temple
• Desi, British Asian
• Detailed population by Local authority boundaries for Hindus
• I-Foundation
• Hindu Organisations a Survey

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Hindu Council UK
• Hindu Forum of Britain
• Hindu Council Birmingham
• British Asians: Hindus, ‘Desis’ or What Atul Cowshish
• Cambridge University Hindu Cultural Society
• Rathayatra (chariot festival) Site
• Reassessing what we collect website – Hindu London History of Hindu London with objects and images
• Brahmin Society North London
• South Indian Association
• Maharashtra Mandal London
• Shree Kutch Leva Patel Community