Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...

is a minority religion in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It is practised by 0.1% of the population of Germany. There are approximately 100,000

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

s living in the country.

Demographics

From the 1950s, Indian Hindus were migrating to Germany. Since the 1970s, Tamils from Sri Lanka arrived as asylum seekers to Germany (Most of them were Hindus). In 2000, there were 90,000 Hindus in Germany. In 2007, there were 6,000 Hindus in Berlin. In 2009, around 5,000 Hindus lived in

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

. According to the statistics of REMID, in 2017 there were an estimated 130,000-150,000

Hindus Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

in Germany. About 42,000–45,000 are Sri Lankan Tamils; 60,000–80,000 are Indian; more than 7,500 are Whites and others; and some 7,000–10,000 are

Afghan Hindus Hinduism in Afghanistan is practiced by a tiny minority of Afghans, believed to be about 30-40 individuals as of 2021, who live mostly in the cities of Kabul and Jalalabad. Afghan Hindus are ethnically Pashtun, Hindkowan (Hindki), Punjabi, or S ...

Temples

File:Sri Muthumariamman Tempel 2020 a.jpg, Sri Muthumariamman Temple. File:Britz Blaschkoallee Sri-Mayurapathy-Murugan-Tempel.JPG, Britz Blaschkoallee Sri Mayurapathy Murugan Temple. File:Hamm Hindutempel Sri-Kamadchi-Ampal Gopuram 1.jpg, Sri Kamakshi Amman temple in Hamm.

Denominations

ISKCON

The first

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna may refer to: * International Society for Krishna Consciousness, a group commonly known as "Hare Krishnas" or the "Hare Krishna movement" * Hare Krishna (mantra) The Hare Krishna mantra, also referred to reverentially as the (" ...

temple in Germany was built 1970 in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

. The ISKCON guru Sacinandana Swami translated the Bhagavad Gita into German.

Balinese Hinduism

There are about 700 Balinese Hindu families living in Germany, with the one temple located in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

in front of the

Museum of Ethnology, Hamburg A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

and the second,

Pura Tri Hita Karana Pura may refer to: Places * Pura, Kushtagi, a village in Koppal district, Karnataka, India * Pura, Iran, a village in Mazandaran Province, Iran * Pura, Tarlac, a municipality in the Philippines * Pura, Switzerland, a municipality in Ticino, Swit ...

located in Erholungspark Marzahn, Berlin.

is a functioning Hindu temple located in the Balinese Garden of the park. It is one of the few Hindu temples of Balinese architecture built outside Indonesia.

Famous German Hindus

* Claudia Ciesla,

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

actress. * Walther Eidlitz, writer, poet,

Indologist Indology, also known as South Asian studies, is the academic study of the history and cultures, languages, and literature of the Indian subcontinent, and as such is a subset of Asian studies. The term ''Indology'' (in German, ''Indologie'') is ...

. * Hansadutta Swami * Mother Meera * Siva Sri Paskarakurukkal *

Mathias Rust Mathias Rust (born 1 June 1968) is a German aviator known for his flight that ended with a landing near Red Square in Moscow on 28 May 1987. A teenage amateur pilot, he flew from Helsinki, Finland, to Moscow, being tracked several times by Sovi ...

* Sadananda * Sacinandana Swami

References

External links

* * {{Hinduism in Europe