Hinduism is the second-largest religion in

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...

. According to ARDA, there are 129,440 Hindus in Suriname as of 2015, constituting 23.15% of the population. Suriname has the second largest percentage of Hindus in the Western Hemisphere, after

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

(24.8%).

History

The story of Hindus in Suriname is broadly parallel to that in

and Trinidad and Tobago.

Indian indentured labourers The Indian indenture system was a system of indentured servitude, by which more than one million Indians were transported to labour in European colonies, as a substitute for slave labor, following the abolition of the trade in the early 19th cen ...

were sent to colonial

Dutch Guiana Dutch Guiana may refer to: * Dutch colonisation of the Guianas, the coastal region between the Orinoco and Amazon rivers in South America * Surinam (Dutch colony), commonly called "Dutch Guiana" after the loss of other large colonies in the area ...

by special arrangement between the Dutch and British. The difference is that the Netherlands' more liberal policy toward Hinduism allowed a stronger culture to develop. Example is the almost universal reading of the Gita and Ramayana.

Demographics

According to ARDA, there are 129,440 Hindus in Suriname as of 2015, constituting 23.15% of the population.

Population by year

The percentage of Hindus increased initially (1900 – 1930s), fluctuated slightly between the 1930s and 1980s, and remained stable in the 20s (20%).The demographic changes in the religious population in the first half of the 20th century can be explained by migration. In the second half of the 20th century, in particular after 1970s the decline of Hindus might be explained by large migration to the Netherlands during the independence (1975) and the military regime in the 1980-1987.

Population by districts

Hindu denominations

According to the 2012 census, 18% of Surinamese are Sanatani Hindus, 3.1% are

Arya Samaj Arya Samaj ( hi, आर्य समाज, lit=Noble Society, ) is a monotheistic Indian Hindu reform movement that promotes values and practices based on the belief in the infallible authority of the Vedas. The samaj was founded by the sanny ...

, and the remaining 1.2% followed other forms of Hinduism. ISKCON also have a presence in Suriname. The first Hare Krishna devotees to visit Suriname were devotees from Guyana way back in the early 1980s. The first Center was established about two decades ago, and now there is a vibrant preaching center in the country’s second city, New Nickerie.

Ethnicity

Majority of the Hindus in Suriname are East Indians, both in absolute terms and in percentage. Hinduism has a considerable following among Mixed ethnic people (3,210 people) and Javanese Surinamese (915 people). Hinduism is also practised among

Chinese Surinamese Chinese Surinamese people are Surinamese residents of ethnic Chinese origin. The earliest migrants came in the 19th century as indentured laborers; there was another wave of migration in the 1950s and 1960s. There were 7,885 Chinese in Suriname a ...

(157 people), Creole (142 people),

Maroon Maroon ( US/ UK , Australia ) is a brownish crimson color that takes its name from the French word ''marron'', or chestnut. "Marron" is also one of the French translations for "brown". According to multiple dictionaries, there are var ...

(84 people), Indigenous people (83 people) and Afro-Surinamese (59 people).

Contemporary Society

Language

In contrast to the neighbouring Guyanese Hindus who speak English, most of the Surinamese Hindus speak

Sarnami Hindustani Caribbean Hindustani is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by Indo-Caribbeans and the Indo-Caribbean diaspora. It is mainly based on the Bhojpuri and Awadhi dialects. These Hindustani dialects were the most spoken dialects by the Indians who came as ...

, a dialect of

Bhojpuri Bhojpuri (;Bhojpuri entry, Oxford Dictionaries
, Oxford U ...

. This is largely due to the fact that the Dutch did not force the Indo-Caribbean population to abandon their native languages, unlike in British colonies like Trinidad and

, where English was imposed as a means of attempting to erase cultural and religious traditions.

History

Demographics

Population by year

Population by districts

Hindu denominations

Ethnicity

Contemporary Society

Language

Festivals

See also

References

External links