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The Hindu Community

Population

  • There are 930 million Hindus worldwide, most of whom would celebrate Janmastami in some capacity.

  • According to the 1996 Britannica Book of the Year, there are some 560 million Vaishnavas worldwide. Vaishnavism claims the largest number of followers among the various sects in India.

  • There are 2 million Hindus in the US. (According to the Hindu American Foundation)

  • After a large Hindu migration to America at the turn of the 20th century, there was a 40 year lapse. Indian immigration into the U.S. then began again post 1965, and of course they brought their culture with them.

    • Professional

  • More than 87% of Indians in America have completed high school while at least 62% have some college education. As much as 58% of Indian Americans over the age of 25 hold a bachelor's degree or higher.

  • High levels of education have also enabled Indian Americans to become a productive segment of the U. S. population, with 72.3% participating in the work force.

  • Of these work force participants, 43.6% are employed in managerial and professional specialties.

  • Two Indian Americans - Har Gobind Khorana of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and late Subrahmanyan Chandrashekhar of University of Chicago - have been awarded the Nobel Prize, in medicine and physics respectively.

  • Some successes are well known, such as Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, and Sabeer Bhatia, who founded HotMail and sold it to Microsoft for $400 million. The number of Indian American New Economy millionaires is in the thousands. Massachusetts' Gururaj Deshpande, co-founder of a number of network-technology companies, is worth between $4 billion and $6 billion.

    • History

  • Prior to 1965, Hindu immigration to the US was minuscule and isolated. In those earlier days, traders were primarily the only ones who bothered to set foot in the USA.

  • The Bellingham Riots in Bellingham, Washington on September 5, 1907 epitomized the low tolerance in the USA for Indians and Hindus. Despite such events, they continued to work and stay until the Immigration and Nationality Services (INS) Act of 1965 was passed.

  • This opened the doors to Hindu immigrants who wished to work and start families in the United States. It included preachers as well, who spread awareness of the religion among a people that had little contact with it.

  • In September of 1965, an elderly Indian sadhu named A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada arrived in New York. After a short time, he acquired a troupe of followers, and founded the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. Other Indians of a Hindu faith, such as Chinmoy and Maharishi, started preaching missions that inspired many Americans to accept a Hindu belief system. Today, the most visible of the Hindu preachers appear to be those who sing the Hare Krishna Mahamantra, i.e., the Gaudiya Vaishnavas, as well as other Vaishnavas, and those of a Shaivite faith. Today, numerous sadhus and Gurus live in or visit the United States.

  • Many Hindu communities exist, from close knit communities of mainstream Hindus living near one another, to planned communities such as Vedic City, Iowa, and several farm communities owned by ISKCON.

    • Hindu Temples in United States

  • Many Hindu temples were constructed in United States. They are very popular with the Indian-American communities in the country. Prominent temples include The Hindu Temple near Malibu, California. Built in 1981 and located in Calabasas, it is owned and operated by the Hindu Temple Society of Southern California.

    • Status

  • The Hindus of America in modern times enjoy both de jure and de facto equality under the laws of the United States. Generations of Hindus, both of South Asian, as well as European ancestory, have lived and worked in the USA, raising families, buying homes, and making roots, rendering their culture and spirituality an integral part of the multi-faceted diamond that is the American Experience.

    • Awareness

  • Hinduism being a minority religion, there is little awareness about it among the general public. Many misconceptions, stereotypes exist and are sometimes further perpetrated by otherwise responsible entities (such as schools, school books, encyclopedic articles). It is widely perceived in America as a polytheistic religion with caste and worship of the cow as its defining features. Those familiar with the religion will note that it is not polytheistic, worship of the cow is rare and that the caste system is over-emphasised and exaggerated in the American conscience.

    • Scholarship

  • Hinduism studies in American Universities has been under the spotlight recently for its shoddy scholarship. With the increasing Hindu population in the country, gross errors & misrepresentations that may have passed through easily before are being caught and highlighted. An influential figure in the academy, Wendy Doniger, Professor of History of Religions, University of Chicago, has come under severe criticism for her work and that of her students.

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