Hinduism is a minority religion in Guadeloupe, followed by some Indo-Guadeloupeans. According to a statistics data, Hinduism is practised by 0.5% of the people in Guadeloupe. [1]
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Hinduism is a minority religion in Guadeloupe, followed by some Indo-Guadeloupeans. According to a statistics data, Hinduism is practised by 0.5% of the people in Guadeloupe. [1]
There are a sizeable number of Hindu Tamil temples that are located in Basse-Terre, and other regions. [2] There is a Hindu temple in dravidian style in Changy in Basse Terre [3] and another one in Gaschet in Grande-Terre [4]
Although the Indo-Guadeloupeans constitute about 14% of the Guadeloupe, [5] only some of them are still Hindus. Most of the Indo-Guadelopeans are Catholics, but they also worship Hindu gods. Ernest Moutoussamy, first Indo-Guadelopean member of the French Parliament said in an interview that "Though we are Catholics, we still have images of Hindu gods at home. We celebrate all the Christian festivals but we don’t celebrate Deepavali." [6]
Revival of Hinduism happened in the last few decades. Many associations for the promotion of Hinduism and Indian culture have appeared during the 90's. The Institut du Monde Indien (Institute for the study of the Indian world) was begun by Jacques Sidambarom, Jean-Claude Petapermal and Roland Gopy to resuscitate Hindu rituals and connect Hindus in Trinidad and Tobago, Reunion, Pondicherry and Paris. [7] Temples were also constructed as a part of it. [8] Hindu religious rituals were also reactivated. [9] Hindu festivals like Diwali [10] and Pongal [11] were also started celebrating.
Guadeloupe is an overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and two Îles des Saintes—as well as many uninhabited islands and outcroppings. It is south of Antigua and Barbuda and Montserrat and north of Dominica. The capital city is Basse-Terre, on the southern west coast of Basse-Terre Island; the most populous city is Les Abymes and the main centre of business is neighbouring Pointe-à-Pitre, both on Grande-Terre Island. It had a population of 395,726 in 2024.
Puja, also spelt pooja, is a worship ritual performed by Hindus to offer devotional homage and prayer to one or more deities, to host and honour a guest, or to spiritually celebrate an event. It may honour or celebrate the presence of special guests, or their memories after they die. The word puja is roughly translated into English as 'reverence, honour, homage, adoration, or worship'. Puja, the loving offering of light, flowers, and water or food to the divine, is the essential ritual of Hinduism. For the worshipper, the divine is visible in the image, and the divinity sees the worshipper. The interaction between human and deity, between human and guru, is called a Darshanam.
Basse-Terre is a commune in the French overseas department of Guadeloupe, in the Lesser Antilles. It is also the prefecture of Guadeloupe. The city of Basse-Terre is located on Basse-Terre Island, the western half of Guadeloupe.
Baie-Mahault is a commune in the overseas department and region of Guadeloupe, France. It is the second most populated commune of Guadeloupe, after Les Abymes. The extensive industrial zone of Jarry in Baie-Mahault is by far the most industrialized commune in the islands and the largest industrial park in the Lesser Antilles. It is part of the urban area of Pointe-à-Pitre, the largest metropolitan area in Guadeloupe, located in the northwest.
Capesterre-Belle-Eau is a commune in the French overseas region and department of Guadeloupe, in the Lesser Antilles. It is located in the south-east of Basse-Terre Island. Capesterre-Belle-Eau covers an area of 103.3 km2. The 1999 population was 19,568. The population density is 189 persons per km2. The inhabitants are called Capesterriens.
Pongal, also referred to as Thai Pongal, is a multi-day Hindu harvest festival celebrated by Tamils. It is observed in the month of Thai according to the Tamil solar calendar and usually falls on 14 or 15 January. It is dedicated to Surya and corresponds to Makar Sankranti, the Hindu observance celebrated under many regional names throughout the Indian subcontinent. The festival is celebrated over three or four days with Bhogi, Surya Pongal, Mattu Pongal and Kanum Pongal, observed on consecutive days.
Hinduism is the leading single religion of the Indo-Caribbean communities of the West Indies. Hindus are particularly well represented in Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. The Cayman Islands also hosts a sizable Hindu population, with 2.4 percent of the country affiliating with the religion. Smaller groups of Indo-Caribbeans live elsewhere in the Caribbean, especially Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Belize, Barbados, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, and Bahamas.
The history of Hinduism covers a wide variety of related religious traditions native to the Indian subcontinent. It overlaps or coincides with the development of religion in the Indian subcontinent since the Iron Age, with some of its traditions tracing back to prehistoric religions such as those of the Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilisation. Hinduism has been called the "oldest religion" in the world, but scholars regard Hinduism as a relatively recent synthesis of various Indian cultures and traditions, with diverse roots and no single founder, which emerged around the beginning of the Common Era.
Hinduism is a minority religion in France that is followed by more than 121,312 people in France, which is nearly 0.2% of the nation's population. Most of the Hindus in France are mainly from the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora and the Indian diaspora, though there are many Hindus from Nepal, Afghanistan, Mauritius and other nations.
Hinduism is followed in Martinique by a small number of Indo-Martiniquais. As of 2007, Hinduism constituted 0.3% of the population of Martinique.
Karuppusamy, also known as Karuppu or Karuppannaswamy(Tamil: கருப்பண்ணசுவாமி Malayalam: കറുപ്പണ്ണസാമി ),(lit. 'Black God' or 'Black') is a Tamil god in Tamil Nadu, popular among the social groups of Tamil Nadu and Kerala and also Sri Lanka. He is one of 21 guardian deities of Ayyanar, and is one of 21 guardian deities in Dravidian folk religion.
Indo-Guadeloupeans are mostly descended from indentured workers who came mostly from South India in the late 19th century. There are currently about 35,617 people of Indian origin living in Guadeloupe, making it home to one of the largest South Indian populations in the Caribbean.
The Progressive Democratic Party of Guadeloupe is a democratic socialist political party in the French overseas department of Guadeloupe. It was founded by former members of the Guadeloupe Communist Party in 1991, following the fall of communism.
Articles related to the French overseas department of Guadeloupe include:
Rhum agricole is the French term for sugarcane juice rum, a style of rum originally distilled in the French Caribbean islands from freshly squeezed sugarcane juice rather than molasses. Rhum is the term that typically distinguishes it in French-speaking locales from the rum made with molasses in other parts of the West Indies.
Indo-Martiniquais are an ethnic group of Martinique, compromising approximately 10% of the population of the island. The Indo-Martiniquais are descendants of indentured labourers of the nineteenth century from India of primarily Tamil and Telugu descent as well as other Indian peoples. They are primarily most concentrated in the northern communes of Martinique, where the main plantations are located. The Indo-Martiniquais speak Antillean a French-based creole.
Rama Navami is a Hindu festival that celebrates the birth of Rama, one of the most popularly revered deities in Hinduism, also known as the seventh avatar of Vishnu. He is often held as an emblem within Hinduism for being an ideal king and human through his righteousness, good conduct and virtue. The festival falls on the ninth day of the bright half of the lunar cycle of Chaitra (March–April), the first month in the Hindu calendar. It is also part of the Chaitra Navaratri festival in spring. Rama Navami is a holiday for government employees in India.
Henry Sidambarom was a Justice of the Peace and defender of the cause of Indian workers in Guadeloupe. He was born in Capesterre-Belle-Eau, Guadeloupe, and was a Guadeloupean of Indian origin.
Coffee production in Guadeloupe, an overseas region of France in the Caribbean Sea, has had commercial importance at various times in its history. The island's coffee heritage is being promoted through ecotourism.
Caribbean Shaktism, also known as Kalimai Dharma or Madras Religion in Guyana, refers to the syncretic Shakti Kali/Mariamman worship that has evolved within the Indo-Caribbean Tamil community in countries such as Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Jamaica and Suriname. It can be found across the Caribbean and any South American country with an Indo-Caribbean community. It is a syncretic blend of Dravidian folk religion and Hinduism and has also been influenced by other cultural and religious traditions found in the Caribbean such as Catholicism, Trinidad Orisha, Comfa and Obeah. It is considered to be a form of Folk Tamil Hinduism and many attend services of Vedic Origin, more Orthodox Tamil Origin, and Madrasi origin.