British Hindus is a group of volunteers dedicated to celebrating the culture and contribution of Hindus living in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK). There are over 1 million Hindus currently residing in the United Kingdom. Whilst the majority of Hindus here are ethnically Indian, Hinduism has become a global religious identity. Today, Hindus of a variety of ethnicities, sects and communities are present all over Britain.
British Hindu History
The relationship between Hindu and European cultures traces its origins to ancient times in the form of exchanges in knowledge. Revolutionary ideas such as the concept of zero and the Hindu numeral system made their way from Bharat (the indigenous name for Indian civilisation), to Europe.
From 1400s onwards, British traders entered India via the East India Company. This quickly expanded from a purely entrepreneurial enterprise into a project aiming at colonisation. Many wars between Indian kingdoms and British soldiers resulted in an Indian victory, but slowly and surely the tide turned. By the 1800s, a vast majority of Indians kingdoms were indirectly or directly controlled by the British Empire.
Hindus played a decisive role in spearheading India’s freedom struggle against the British Empire.
In World War II, an estimated 500,000 Hindu soldiers fought for the British Empire against Nazi Germany. Post-war Britain was devastated with labour shortages and the mass migration of Indians to Britain, the majority of whom were Hindu, started in 1950s. In 1960s the first Hindu temples were consecrated and many non-Indian Brits started to become interested in Hindu philosophy and practices.
