 | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 628 (2012) 2% of total Population | |
| Religions | |
| Hinduism | |
| Scriptures | |
| Bhagavad Gita, Vedas | |
| Languages | |
| Sanskrit (sacred) English, Spanish, Llanito & Sindhi |
| Part of a series on the |
| Culture of Gibraltar |
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Hinduism is a minority faith in Gibraltar followed by 2% of the population. [1] Most of the Hindus in Gibraltar are of Sindhi origin.
According to 2000 census Hindus numbered 491 and made up 1.8% of the population of Gibraltar. [2] According to an estimate from 2012, the population of Hindus made up 2%. [3] [1]
The demographics of Hindus from 1970 to 2012: [1]
| Year | Population of Hindus | Percent of Hindus | Increase in Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | 238 | 1.0% | |
| 1981 | 393 | 1.5% | +0.5% |
| 1991 | 555 | 2.1% | +0.6% |
| 2001 | 491 | 1.8% | -0.3% |
| 2012 | 628 | 2.0% | +0.2% |
The first people in Gibraltar from British India are thought to have arrived in 1870 from the area around Hyderabad (Sindh) taking advantage of the new Suez Canal. The new Sindhi merchants were able to establish businesses with local managers that they could manage remotely. Indians faced some resistance from Gibraltarians and in 1921 the seven Hindu traders required licences to operate. By 1950 the number of licences had tripled but the real demand for assistance was when the border was closed by the Spanish and there were no Spanish shop assistants. There were nearly 300 trading licences by 1970. [4]
There was resistance to the Hindu community but arranged marriages were reducing and the community shared common schools with the other groups in Gibraltar. It was said that the date for deciding whether a person was a true Gibraltarian was designed to exclude as many Indians as possible but by 1973 the local Hindu lawyer Haresh Budhrani assessed that Hindus were able to fully join in with the community. [4]
On the day of Divali in 1993 the community started using the Gibraltar Hindu Temple. By 1999 the decoration was complete and the Prana pratishta ceremony was formally performed by a priest from India. The wider community celebrated the new temple when the Governor of Gibraltar Richard Luce formally opened the temple on 1 March 2000.
In 2004 Budhrani was elected the Speaker in the House of Assembly [4] and he later became the first speaker of the Gibraltar Parliament. [5]
In 2012 the Mayor of Gibraltar made the news when he announced that he was inviting the Hindu community into Gibraltar City Hall to celebrate the Hindu festival of Divali. [6]
Hindus have the highest proportion (%) of pupils achieving 5 or more GCSEs (Grades A-C), the highest percentage of people of working age with a degree, and the lowest crime rate in Gibraltar.[ citation needed ]
Demographic features of the population of Gibraltar include ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects.
The culture of Gibraltar reflects Gibraltarians' diverse origins. While there are Spanish and British influences, a result of the territory's status as a British overseas territory and its proximity to Spain, the ethnic origins of most Gibraltarians are a mix of Andalusian Spaniards, Genoese, Maltese, Portuguese and British. The main religion is Christianity, the majority group being the Roman Catholic Church, then the Church of England. There is a long established Sephardic Jewish community, a number of Hindu Indians and a Moroccan Muslim population. Gibraltarians of Genoese origin came to The Rock in the 18th century, with the Maltese and Portuguese following in the 19th century, coming to work and trade in the British military base. Spanish Andalusian origins are the result of generations of intermarriage with inhabitants of surrounding towns.
Sindhis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who speak the Sindhi language and are native to the Sindh province of Pakistan. The historical homeland of Sindhis is bordered by the southeastern part of Balochistan, the Bahawalpur region of Punjab and the Kutch region of Gujarat. Having been isolated throughout history unlike its neighbours, Sindhi culture has preserved its own uniqueness.
Hinduism is a minority religion in South America, which is followed by even less than 1% of the total continent's population. Hinduism is found in several countries, but is strongest in the Indo-Caribbean populations of Guyana and Suriname. There are about 320,000 Hindus in South America, chiefly the descendants of Indian indentured laborers in the Guianas. There are about 185,000 Hindus in Guyana, 120,000 in Suriname, and some others in French Guiana. In Guyana and Suriname, Hindus form the second largest religion and in some regions and districts, Hindus form the majority. Though in recent times, due to influence of Hindu culture the number of Hindus converts have increased in other countries in South America, including Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela and others.
Hinduism has been found in the Middle East since the mid-19th century. Millions of members of the Indian diaspora, of different religions, reside and work in Arab states of the Persian Gulf; many of them are Hindu. Many came due to the migration of Indians and Nepalese expatriates and employees to the area around the Persian Gulf.
Hinduism is a third largest religion in Australia consisting of more than 684,002 followers, making up 2.7% of the population as of the 2021 census. Hinduism is the fastest growing religion in Australia mostly through immigration. Hinduism is also one of the most youthful religions in Australia, with 34% and 66% of Hindus being under the age of 14 and 34 respectively.
Hinduism is one of Sri Lanka's oldest religions, with temples dating back over 2,000 years. As of 2011, Hindus made up 12.6% of the Sri Lankan population. They are almost exclusively Tamils, except for small immigrant communities from India and Pakistan.
Hinduism is the third largest religious group in the United Kingdom, after Christianity and Islam; the religion is followed by around 1.7% of the total population of the nation. Hindus 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. According to 2021 United Kingdom census, 1,032,775 residents (1.7%) identified themselves as Hindus.
Hinduism is a minority religion in Spain.
The history of the Jews in Gibraltar dates back more than 650 years. There have been periods of persecution, but for the most part the Jews of Gibraltar have prospered and been one of the largest religious minorities in the city, where they have made contributions to the culture, defence, and Government of Gibraltar.
Gibraltar is a juridically independent area in western Europe, and forms part of the Commonwealth of Nations as a British overseas territory.
Gibraltarians are an ethnic group native to Gibraltar, a British overseas territory located near the southernmost tip of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea.
Genoese Gibraltarians have existed in Gibraltar since the 16th century and later became an important part of the population. It is an ethnic community made up of descendants of Genoese and Ligurians who emigrated to Gibraltar during the Italian diaspora. The population of Gibraltar with Genoese surnames is around 20% of the total.
The Sindhi diaspora consists of Sindhi people who have emigrated from the historical Sindh province of British India, as well as the modern Sindh province of Pakistan, to other countries and regions of the world, as well as their descendants.
Sindhis in India refer to a socio-ethnic group of people living in the republic of India, originating from Sindh. After the 1947 Partition of India into the dominions of new Muslim-majority Pakistan and remaining Hindu-majority India, a million non-Muslim Sindhis migrated to independent India. As per the 2011 census of India, there are 2,772,364 Sindhi speakers in the Indian Republic. However, this number does not include ethnic Sindhis who no longer speak the language.
Sindhi Hindus are Sindhis who follow Hinduism and whose origins lie in the Pakistani province of Sindh. They are the largest religious minority in Sindh. After the partition of British India in 1947, many Sindhi Hindus were among those who fled from Pakistan to the dominion of India, in what was a wholesale exchange of Hindu and Muslim populations in some areas. Some later emigrated from South Asia and settled in other parts of the world.
Haresh Kishinchand Budhrani is a Gibraltarian barrister of Indian origin. He was Speaker of the Gibraltar Parliament from September 2004 to October 2012.
The Gibraltar Hindu Temple, also known as Gibraltar Mandir, is a Hindu temple (mandir) in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. Established in 2000, the Gibraltar Hindu Temple is located at Engineer Lane. Gibraltarian Hindus make approximately 1.8% of Gibraltar's population. This is the only Hindu temple in Gibraltar and it serves as the spiritual centre for Hindu population of the territory. The temple is a charitable organisation and aims to maintain and promote Hindu culture in Gibraltar. The presiding deity of the temple is Rama along with his consort Sita, brother Laxman and Hanuman, an ardent devotee of Rama. Besides, there are many other murtis in the temple, including Jhulelal, iṣṭa-devatā of Sindhi people, and Guru Nanak, the first of the ten Sikh Gurus. The temple conducts several study classes related to different Hindu scriptures.
Hinduism is the second-largest religion in Sindh, numbering 4.17 million people, comprising 8.73% of the province population as per 2017 Pakistani census. Sindh has the largest population and the highest percentage of Hindus in Pakistan. The Sindh hosts the Shri Ramapir Temple whose annual festival is the second largest Hindu pilgrimage in Pakistan, after the Hinglaj Yatra.
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