Hinduism in Sweden

Hinduism is a minority religion in Sweden practised by 0.12% of the population or 11,000 people out of a population of 8.9 million. Hinduism is practised mainly by persons of Indian origin and non-resident Indians together. A majority of them are Punjabis, Bengalis, Gujaratis, Telugu's, Tamilians and Kannadigas.[1]

The "Om" symbol in Devanagari

History

Some Indian students who went to Sweden in the 1950s settled down there. Another stream of Indians came from Uganda in the 1970s. Some Indians sought and obtained political asylum after 1984. The Indian community is culturally very active. Different associations hold cultural functions and observe national days.[2]

There were also Tamil Hindu refugees from Sri Lanka and Hindu refugees from Bangladesh. After Sweden’s immigration policy reform in 2008, India has become a leading country of labor supply, mostly of computer specialists.[3]

Demographics

In 2005 ,there are between 7,000 and 10,000 Hindus.[4]Of the 10,000 Hindus, 2,000 are of Tamil Origin [5] and 1,500 are of Bengali Origin.

Hinduism is growing but very slowly in Sweden. In the last ten years, Sweden’s Hindu population has increased only 1.06 percent annually by migration.[6]

Hindu Organisations in Sweden

Hindu Forum Sweden (HFS) is the major Hindu association in Sweden.HFS is an umbrella organization of Hindu Forum Europe (HFE).In 2018, this organization also celebrates Hindu festival Diwali with Hindus of Sweden, Swedish politicians and representatives of inter-religious groups. Other associations:

International Society for Krishna Consciousness in Sweden

International Society for Krishna Consciousness, the Krishna movement or Hare Krishna has its roots in the Hindu religion.

The Krishna movement in Sweden functions from few places in Sweden.

Korsnäs gård, main building 2014.
  • Korsnäs Gård, in Botkyrka municipal in the Stockholm county , is an establishment on the countryside with a Hare Krishna temple. Korsnäs has as its main function to work with the publishing company BBT (Bhaktivedanta Book Trust) who translates the Hare Krishna books to various languages for the entire world. The original books in English was translated by Srila Prabhupada who started the movement. Srila Prabhupada visited Sweden in 1973.
  • The Hare Krishna center in Stockholm runs a restaurant, a shop and a small temple.
  • The Almviks gård in the south of Stockholm County is also a country side establishment with a temple. Originally this was an agricultural cooperative but has later changed into a village project combining agriculture with families living there but working elsewhere.

See also

Notes
  1. "Indian diaspora" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-12-26. Retrieved 2007-03-19.
  2. "ibid" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-12-26. Retrieved 2007-03-19.
  3. https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/dear-hindutva-trolls-abusing-muslim-refugees-tomorrow-it-will-be-your-turn-to-be/306674
  4. United States Department of State IRF 2005
  5. Tamilnation.org
  6. https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/dear-hindutva-trolls-abusing-muslim-refugees-tomorrow-it-will-be-your-turn-to-be/306674
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