Hindu Diasporas

Hindu Diasporas presents the histories and religious traditions of Hindus with a South Asian ancestral background living outside of South Asia. Hinduism is a global religion with a significant presence in many countries throughout the world. The most important cause of this global expansion is migration. This book presents and analyses the most important of the geographies, migration histories, religious traditions and developments, rituals, places, institutions, and representations of Hinduism in the diasporas, capturing some of the great plurality of Hindu religious traditions. The first part of the book concentrates on the major regions in the world in which Hindu diasporas are found. The main focus is the modern period, but the book discusses also the possibility of premodern Hindu diasporas in Southeast Asia. The second part focuses on specific central themes such as Vaishnava, Shaiva, and Shakta traditions in diasporas, temples, and traditions of sacred sites and pilgrimage outside of South Asia, Hindutva organizations and the diaspora, as well as relations between Hindu diasporas and new followers of Hindu traditions. The chapters in this book show some of the global presence of the Hindu diasporas and some of the dynamic developments in multiple geographical spaces. Analysing specific spaces and themes, the chapters of the book offer a foundation for understanding the Hindu traditions in its most important global diasporic contexts and the dynamic developments around the world.

Knut A. Jacobsen, Professor, Study of Religions, University of Bergen

Knut A. Jacobsen is a Professor in the Study of Religions at the University of Bergen, Norway. His main fields of research include Samkhya and Yoga theory and practice, Hindu sacred geography and pilgrimage, transnational Hinduism, and religion and public space in South Asia and the diasporas. He is the author of Prakriti in Samkhya-Yoga (1999), Kapila: Founder of Samkhya and Avatara of Vishnu (2008), Pilgrimage in the Hindu Tradition (2013), and Yoga in Modern Hinduism (2018), and editor of a number of books, including The Routledge Handbook of South Asian Religions (2021) and The Handbook of Hinduism in Europe (2020). He is also the founding editor in chief of Brill's six volume Encyclopedia of Hinduism (2009-2015).

Introduction: Hinduism and Migration, Knut A. Jacobsen
Part I: Geographies of Hindu Diasporas
1. 'Fortune, Success, Well-being, Victory!' Connections between India and Cambodia in the First Millennium CE, Vasudha Narayanan
2. Indian Hindu Diasporas in Southeast Asia, Martin Ramstedt
3. Inter-Asian Hinduism in East Asian Diasporic Nodes through a Material Lens, Ka-Kin Cheuk
4. Hinduism in the Caribbean, Prea Persaud
5. Hinduism in Suriname, Stuart Earle Strange
6. Hindu Diaspora and Hinduisms in Africa, with Special Focus on South Africa, P. Pratap Kumar
7. Hinduism in Hindu Diaspora in Oceania (Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific), Purushottama Bilimoria, Philip Hughes, Jayant B Bapat, Alison Booth, and Rajendra Prasad
8. Prestige Temples, Performing Arts, and Power: Hindu Immigrants in the United States, Vasudha Narayanan
9. Hindu Diasporas in Europe: Religious Plurality as the Foundation of Growth, Knut A. Jacobsen
Part II: Global Themes
10. A Global Hindu Tamil Diaspora?: Worldwide Migration, Diversity and Transnational Religion, Pierre-Yves Trouillet
11. The Global Gujarati Hindu Diasporas, Inês Lourenço
12. Sakta (Goddess) Worship in the Hindu Diasporas, Tracy Pintchman
13. Hindu Temples in the Diasporas, Martin Baumann and Annette Wilke
14. Pilgrimage Sites and Procession Rituals in the Hindu Diasporas, Knut A. Jacobsen
15. Hindutva, Hindu Organizations, and the Hindu Diasporas, Jeffery Long
16. Persistent Fictions: Race and the Global Gurus of the Long Twentieth Century, Amanda Lucia
17. ISKCON and Diaspora Hindus in a Shared Cultural Atmosphere, Kenneth R. Valpey