Hinduism in the United Kingdom


Hinduism or Sanatan Dharma is the third-largest religious group in the United Kingdom, after Christianity and Islam. It is followed by just over one million people. According to the 2021 United Kingdom census Hindus are primarily concentrated in England, particularly in Greater London and the South East, with just under 50,000 Hindus residing in the three other nations of the United Kingdom. Hindus have had a presence in the United Kingdom since the early 19th century, as at the time India was part of the British Empire. Many Indians in the British Indian Army settled in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Later more Hindus arrived in UK including students who came to Study at British Universities.Madan Lal Dhingra was one of the Nationalists who fought for Indian Human Rights in early twentieth century from inside UK.
Most British Hindus were immigrants, mainly from India, and there are also significant number of Hindu immigrants from Sri Lanka and Nepal, with even smaller numbers from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Bhutan. In recent decades, due to the efforts of ISKCON, BAPS and other Hindu organisations and increased interest in Yoga, Meditation and other practises associated with Hindu traditions, many British citizens have embraced Hinduism, including many celebrities. The UK has the largest Hindu population in Europe.

History

The British Hindu population includes those who came directly from the Indian subcontinent, descendants of those Hindus who had originally migrated to other countries but later resettled in the United Kingdom, and those born and raised in the UK. It is not unusual to find third or fourth generation Hindus.
There have been three main waves of migration of Hindus in the UK, and most of the Hindu migration has occurred after World War II. The first wave was at the time of British India's independence and partition in 1947. Also, in the early 1960s the Conservative health minister Enoch Powell recruited a large number of doctors from the Indian sub-continent. The second wave occurred in the 1970s mainly from East Africa especially due to the expulsion of Asians from Uganda. Later, communities included those from Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Mauritius and Fiji. The last wave of migration began in the 1990s and is a result of the United Kingdom's immigration policy, which made studying and immigration to the UK easier. This wave also included Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka and professionals including doctors and software engineers from India.

Life and culture

Community and social life

According to United Kingdom's Office of National Statistics, of all ethnic minorities in Britain, the British Hindus had the highest rate of economic activity in 2011 and 2018, and a median net wealth of in 2006. In addition to this, according to survey conducted by Trust for London in 2012, Hindus living in London have the second highest median net wealth of £277,400 following British Jews' with the highest median wealth of £312,500. Hindu men are more likely than the general population to be entrepreneurs, and both Hindu men and women are more likely than the general population to have higher education.
Over a 20-year period, British Hindus also had the third-lowest poverty level, and the second-lowest rates of arrest, trial or imprisonment at 0.5% among all ethnic groups tracked by UK's Ministry of Justice. Hindus constitute less than 0.5% of the total Prison population in Britain. According to Office for National Statistics, British Hindus also have the second highest employment rate of 76% amongst all religious groups in UK followed by people with no religious affiliation at 77%. Employees who identified as Hindu have consistently had the second-highest median hourly earnings; in 2018, this was £13.80. 4 in 10 of those who identified as Hindu were occupied in high-skill occupations which was second in the country following British Jews. British who identified as Hindus have the highest percentage with a degree or equivalent qualification.

Temples and organisations

A University of Derby report states that there are considerable linguistic and theosophical diversities among Hindus in the United Kingdom, yet they also share certain core beliefs, rites and festivals of Hinduism.
UK-wide Hindu organisations include the National Council of Hindu Temples, the Hindu Council UK and the Hindu Forum of Britain—national umbrella organisations for Hindus in the UK. The National Council of Hindu Temples UK which is the oldest UK-wide Hindu organisation. It comprises over 300 Hindu temples and Hindu faith organisations. The Hindu Council UK representing almost 400 affiliated cultural and religious organisations of various Hindu denominations including temples, and the Hindu Forum of Britain, with nearly 300 member organisations.
There are regional organisations that organise community events and social affairs in the UK, such as The Hindu Council of Birmingham.
There were over 150 Hindu temples in the UK in 2012 with 30 temples in the London area alone. Slough Hindu Temple was built by the Slough Hindu Cultural Society - formally opened in 1981 - it was the first purpose-built Hindu Temple in the British Isles. However, the first Hindu Temple in the UK was opened in the late-1920s near Earls Court in London and it was functional for about four years. In 2020, Historic England published A Survey of Hindu Buildings in England with the aim of providing information about buildings that Hindus use in England so that HE can work with communities to enhance and protect those buildings now and in the future. The scoping survey identified 187 Hindu temples in England.
There is a diversity of Hindu-based organisations in the UK including the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha in Neasden, the Chinmaya Mission, Ramakrishna Mission and Sai Organisation, each having large followings. SHYAM, an educational Hindu organisation teaches the Bhagavad Gita, Ramayana, Shrimad Bhagavad, Vedas and Upanishads. The predominant Hindu beliefs found in the UK include its Vedanta monist, Vedanta monotheistic and various sampradayas. Less of 1% of the Hindus in the UK identify themselves to be belonging to Divine Life Society, Hare Krishna and other organizations.

Festivals and community events

Hindus in the United Kingdom celebrate major festivals such as Diwali. Homes and businesses are decorated with festive lights and Hindus gift sweets such as laddoo and barfi. Community events such as dances and parties bring Hindus and non-Hindus together. Leicester annually plays hosts to one of the biggest Diwali celebrations outside of India.
The Hindu festival of Diwali has begun to find acceptance into the larger British community. King Charles has attended Diwali celebrations at some of UK’s prominent Hindu temples, such as the Swaminarayan Temple in Neasden. Since 2009, Diwali has been celebrated every year at 10 Downing Street, the residence of the UK Prime Minister.

Hindu Council UK

The Hindu Council UK is an umbrella organisation for Hindus living in the United Kingdom, and is one of several groups representing Hindus that are influential at the national level. It was set up in 1994. According to the Council's then-General Secretary, it faced opposition from the Sangh Parivar when it was founded. It collaborated with the Department for Communities and Local Government to explore how caste influenced public life in the UK. A debate on religious conversion hosted on its website reflected a Hindu nationalist perspective, and included contributors from the Vishva Hindu Parishad.

Demographics

Population

According to the 2021 Census, Hindus in England and Wales enumerated 1,032,775, or 1.7% of the population. Northern Ireland recorded a population of 4,190, or 0.2% of the population. The equivalent census was recorded a year later in Scotland with a population of 29,929, making up 0.6% of the population. The local authorities with the highest number of Hindus were: Harrow, Leicester, Brent, Redbridge and Hillingdon.
In the 2011 census, Hinduism was followed by 1.5% of the population of England, 0.34% in Wales and 0.31% in Scotland.
Nearly half of the 817,000 Hindus living in England and Wales were residents of the London metropolitan area. About 300,000 British Hindus of all ages were born in the UK.
The Hindu population in the UK is predominantly urban, and has relatively higher representation in the professional and managerial positions.

Ethnicity

In the 2021 census for England and Wales, 77.2% of Hindus identified as Indian, 0.7% as either Pakistani or Bangladeshi, 15.6% were of other Asian heritage, 1.1% were of Mixed heritage, 0.7% as White, 0.2% identified as Black and the remaining 4.5% identified with other ethnic groups. The main places of birth were in South Asia at 528,096, the United Kingdom at 360,772 people, South and Eastern Africa at 106,361, other parts of Europe at 14,300 and East and Southeast Asia at 9,767. Among individual countries outside of the UK, the countries of: India, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Nepal, Uganda, Mauritius and Tanzania made up the most common countries of birth for Hindus residing in England and Wales.
According to census records from 2011, 95.6% of the Hindus in England and Wales are ethnically Asian, with the 4.4% of the remainder being as follows: White 1.47%, Mixed 1.19%, Black 0.67% and other ethnicities 1%.
A very large proportion of Hindus in the United Kingdom are ethnically Asian, mainly Indians whose ancestors immigrated to the United Kingdom for employment

Converts

Famous converts to Hinduism include:
  • Lead Guitarist of the Beatles, George Harrison converted to Hinduism in the mid 1960s. Upon his death in 2001, he was cremated per Hindu rituals and his ashes consecrated into river Ganges.
  • Philosopher John Levy also converted to Hinduism.
  • Novelist Christopher Isherwood, converted to Hinduism and remained a Hindu until his death.
  • Hindu scholar Krishna Dharma, converted to Hinduism in 1979.
  • In September 2006, Rev. David Ananda Hart made headlines when he converted to Hinduism whilst still remaining a priest of the Church of England.