In South Africa, Asian usually refers to people of South Asian origin, more commonly called Indians. They are largely descended from people who migrated to South Africa in the late 19th and early 20th century from British ruled South Asia.
Pongal, also referred to as Thai Pongal (தைப்பொங்கல்), is a multi-day Hindu harvest festival celebrated by Tamils in India and Sri Lanka. It is observed at the start of the month Thai according to Tamil solar calendar, and this festival is celebrated usually on January 14 or January 15 depending on the sun's orbit around earth that particular year. It is dedicated to the sun god, Surya, and corresponds to Makar Sankranti, the harvest festival under many regional names celebrated throughout India. The three days of the Pongal festival are called Bhogi Pongal, Surya Pongal, and Mattu Pongal. Some Tamils celebrate a fourth day of Pongal known as Kanum Pongal.
Thaipusam or Thaipoosam, is a festival celebrated by the Hindu Tamil community on the full moon in the Tamil month of Thai (January/February), usually coinciding with Pushya star, known as Poosam in Tamil. The festival is also observed among Hindu Keralites and is vernacularly called Thaipooyam.
Mariamman, often abbreviated to Amman, is a Hindu goddess of rain, predominantly venerated in the rural areas of South India. Her festivals are held during the late summer/early autumn season of Ādi throughout Tamil Nadu and the Deccan region, the largest being the Ādi Thiruviḻa. Her worship mainly focuses on bringing rains and curing diseases like cholera, smallpox, and chicken pox. Mariamman is worshipped in accordance with local traditions such as Pidari or the Gramadevatai. She is considered as a guardian deity by many South Indian village-dwellers.
The Sri Mariamman Temple is Singapore's oldest Hindu temple. It is an agamic temple, built in the Dravidian style. Located at 244 South Bridge Road, in the downtown Chinatown district, the temple serves the majority Hindu Singaporeans, Tamilians, in the city-state. Due to its architectural and historical significance, the temple has been gazetted a National Monument and is a major tourist attraction. Sri Mariamman Temple is managed by the Hindu Endowments Board, a statutory board under the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports.
Puthandu, also known as Puthuvarudam, and the Tamil New Year, is the first day of year on the Tamil calendar, traditionally celebrated as a festival by Tamil Hindus. The festival date is set with the solar cycle of the lunisolar Hindu calendar, as the first day of the Tamil month Chittirai. It falls on or about 14 April every year on the Gregorian calendar. The same day is observed elsewhere in South and South East Asia as the traditional new year, but is known by other names such as Vishu in Kerala, and Vaisakhi or Baisakhi in central and northern India.
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.
The Tamil diaspora refers to descendants of the Tamil immigrants who emigrated from their native lands to other parts of the world. They are found primarily in Malaysia, Arab states of the Persian Gulf, South Africa, North America, Western Europe, and Singapore.
Hindu religion and culture in Singapore can be traced to the 7th century AD, when Temasek was a trading post of Hindu-Buddhist Srivijaya empire. A millennium later, a wave of immigrants from southern India were brought to Singapore, mostly as coolies and indentured labourers by the British East India Company and colonial British Empire. As with Malay peninsula, the British administration sought to stabilise a reliable labour force in its regional plantation and trading activities; it encouraged Hindus to bring family through the kangani system of migration, settle, build temples and segregated it into a community that later became Little India.
Hinduism is practised throughout South Africa, but primarily in KwaZulu-Natal. Approximately 1.1% of the South African population professed to be Hindu, according to the 2011 census. This is down from the 1.4% based on the 1996 census. The 2016 General Household Survey measured a further decline to 0.9%.
Hinduism in Fiji has a following primarily among Indo-Fijians, the descendants of indentured workers brought to Fiji by the British as cheap labor for colonial sugarcane plantations. Hindus started arriving in Fiji starting in 1879 and continuing through 1920, when Britain abolished the slavery-like indenture system. Fiji identifies people as "Indo-Fijians" if they can trace their ancestry to the Indian subcontinent, Hindus form about 27.9% the population of Fiji.
Built in 1833, the Arulmigu Sri Mahamariamman Temple in George Town is the oldest Hindu temple in Penang, Malaysia, and features sculptures of gods and goddesses over its main entrance and facade. It is located at Queen Street, George Town.
Ela Gandhi, is a South African peace activist and former politician. She served as a Member of Parliament in South Africa from 1994 to 2004, where she aligned with the African National Congress (ANC) party representing the Phoenix area of Inanda in the KwaZulu-Natal province. Her parliamentary committee assignments included the Welfare, and Public Enterprises committees as well as the ad hoc committee on Surrogate Motherhood. She was an alternate member of the Justice Committee and served on Theme Committee 5 on Judiciary and Legal Systems. She is the granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi.
Arulmigu Mariamman Temple, Samayapuram is an ancient Hindu temple in Tiruchirappalli in Tamil Nadu, India. The main deity, Samayapurathal or Mariamman, a form of supreme mother goddess Durga or Maha Kali or Aadi Shakthi, is made of sand and clay like many of the traditional Mariamman deities is considered as most powerful Goddess, and hence unlike many other Hindu deities there are no abhishekams conducted to the main deity, but instead the "abishekam" is done to the small stone statue in front of it.
Indian South Africans are South Africans who descend from indentured labourers and free migrants who arrived from British India during the late 1800s and early 1900s. The majority live in and around the city of Durban, making it one of the largest "Indian" populated cities outside of India.
Hinduism in Réunion constitutes a significant part of the island's population. The island of Réunion is home to approximately 200,000 Indian descendants amongst the roughly 800,000 strong population. Estimates of practicing Hindus vary from 6.7% to 10.7%. Yet, uncertainty as to the exact number of Hindus in the country results from the fact that ethnic and religious questions are forbidden in French censuses and members of the Indian population sometimes cross-identify with Roman Catholic and Hindu faiths.
The Thimithi or firewalking ceremony is a Hindu festival originating in Tamil Nadu, South India that is celebrated a week before Deepavali, during the month of Aipasi of the Tamil calendar. The fire-walking ceremony is in honour of the goddess Draupati Amman, who is considered the incarnation of goddess Mariamman, and is practiced not only in India, but also in countries with large Tamil populations like Sri Lanka, Fiji, Singapore, Malaysia, Mauritius, Réunion, South Africa and others.
Sri Maha Mariamman Temple, also known as Maha Uma Devi Temple (Thai: วัดพระศรีมหาอุมาเทวี; RTGS: Wat Phra Si Maha Umathewi and Wat Khaek in Thai, is a South Indian architecture style Hindu temple on Si Lom Road in Bangkok, Thailand. It was built in 1879 by Vaithi Padayatchi, a Tamil Hindu immigrant.
Rama Navami is a Hindu festival that celebrates the birthday of Rama, the seventh avatar of the deity Vishnu. people from different parts of Jharkhand attended the world famous international Hazaribagh procession organized in the city every year on the occasion of Ram ramnavmi birt anniversary of Rama amid chants of Jai shri ram. Vaishnava tradition of Hinduism. The festival celebrates the descent of Vishnu as the Rama avatar, through his birth to King Dasharatha and Queen Kausalya in Ayodhya, Kosala. This festival is a part of the Chaitra Navaratri in the spring, and falls on the ninth day of the bright half of Chaitra, the first month in the Hindu calendar. This typically occurs in the months of March or April by the Gregorian calendar. Rama Navami is an optional holiday for government employees in India.
Muthumariamman Temple or Arulmigu Sri Muthumari Amman Kovil is a Hindu temple in Matale, Sri Lanka.
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