Hinduism or as it is called in Sanskrit, Sanatan Dharma has been defined by Indians in the Caribbean and by our own Caribbean history which is sometimes different to that of India (Bharat). Though Caribbean Indian Hindus have similarity in their rituals and religious ideology to their brethren in India, the Indo-Caribbean political, cultural and historical narrative has molded Caribbean Hinduism somewhat differently from India.
The Hindus of India have been savagely damaged by almost one thousand years of conquest. Under the Congress Party’s British-Nehruvian-Gandhian rule it was even more brutal as anti-Hindu laws have been enacted throughout the subcontinent over the last 70 years in a continued divide and rule agenda that has seen the genocide of Hindus and decline of Hinduism which Hindus were told to accept as democracy. This destruction of the Hindu religion and decline of the Hindu population was hid under the garb of secularism which left Indians with countless debates on who or what is a Hindu or Indian even today.
In the Caribbean, Hinduism has its own unofficial “protected zone.” It’s East Indian ‘property’ and understood that no trespassers are allowed. In Trinidad, Hinduism is parochial (in the Trinidad vernacular sense) and personal. It is an individual’s special relationship with GOD (Brahma) restricted to Indians and perpetuated by and for only Indians. It’s not that no other ethnicity can be Hindu, they can but it will not be in the same capacity as the Indian Hindu especially the Indo-Caribbean Hindu. This is because it is the Indian Hindu who has endured tantamount suffering to keep the Hindu religion alive. For everyone else to waltz in like they own the place is quite another thing. For example, many African Americans have argued that Barack Obama’s experience of America is not the same as African Americans who have been in the Americas for hundreds of years and faced horrors that a first generation African American like himself did not have to go through. His father came from Africa. This is not the same as the African Americans who have suffered through 400 years of slavery in the Americas and faced heavy discrimination when modern African migrants simply hop on a plane and come over. Same as the Indians from India who land in Trinidad and enjoy everything after all the basic human rights struggles are over. In this capacity, Indians in the Caribbean own the title rights to be Hindu based on the ‘ heavy price ‘ they paid and suffered to survive as a Hindu today which can be considered as Hindu Exceptionalism. This Hindu Exceptionalism can be found among the Indian Hindus of the Caribbean who faced a hostile new world and survived with their dharma intact despite being the minority and the underdog (a feat the majority of India is still struggling to accomplish).
How Hinduism is practiced by Indians in Trinidad, Guyana and Suriname is different from the more Evangelical questionable so-called progressive “Hindus” like Hare Krishna and Sai Baba who are inclusive of other Abrahamic religions. Perhaps these institutions are places where the non-Indian Hindu can be more at home it is not exactly the Lal Bahadursingh trace mandir in the middle of Debe. However, calling Hare Krishna and Sai Baba Hindu is like wanting your cake and eating it too. These are two opposing ideologies (Abrahamic and Dharmic) that cannot be joined. One is dogmatic and the other, Hinduism, is universal. You cannot believe your god is the only god and everyone is going to Hell meanwhile preaching its ok for Hindus to accept these dogmas as part of their religion because it is only Hindus and Hinduism that will suffer the consequences of living in such denial all over again. Similarly, the Caribbean Hindus may find it offensive to see Christians wearing sarees to worship in a Christian church. In India where most people wear a sari this might be fine but in the Caribbean the sari is the domain of the Indian Hindu. Non-Indian Hindus wearing the sari is a style during festivities and functions but for Hindus it is serious and sacred. Other religions including the converted Indians see this as the dominion of Hindus, it’s not as universal as in India. Most Hindus in Trinidad will hoist their jandhi (flag) in front of their home leaving their personal mark keeping the traditions alive. The jandhi is also a perceived areas of the Hindu realm. Everyone knows a jandhi marks Hindu territory and a Hindu house where sacred worship to the Hindu gods or puja was done. The jandhi is the Hindu realm and the Hindu realm alone, it is not mass, namaaz or obeah. This was part of Hindu Exceptionalism to keep their culture alive in hostile environments. Without the Hindu equation in Trinidad, the Indian race will become questionable and will have an identity problem like the non-Hindu Indians race of converts fluttering about between chutney and church.
The Indian race in Trinidad has its identity tagged to Hinduism. How other parts of the world define Hinduism depends on ones historical, political and cultural narrative. In Trinidad,
Hinduism is not mi casa es su casa, Hinduism has its own social constructs and Exceptionalism of survival against Afro and European-centric values. What we have in Trinidad is now a cultural war for Hindu survival.
Note ; Islam / The Presbyterian religion were exclusive to Indo – Trinidad , It is no more. Hindus must make sure The Hindu culture does not lose their ownership. Hinduism is NOT a Discovery
Religion.
Sincerely,
Vassan Ramracha. SITA RAM. [ HAPPY DIWALI ].
