Hinduism in Russia

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ISKCON Moscow Ratha Yatra

Hinduism has been spread in Russia primarily due to the work of scholars from the religious organization International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) and by itinerant Swamis from India and small communities of Indian immigrants. While ISKCON appears to have a relatively strong following in Russia, the other organizations in the list also have a presence in this country. There is an active Tantra Sangha operating in Russia. According to the 2012 official census, there are 140,010 Hindus in Russia, which accounts for 0.1% of the population of Russia.<ref name="Are naAtlas">Arena - Atlas of Religions and Nationalities in Russia. Sreda.org</ref>

History

Early 19th century engraving depicting Hindu temple in Astrakhan, Russia.
The Human rights publication list to free Hare Krishnas in the Soviet Union.

The history of Hinduism in Russia dates back to at least the 16th century. When Astrakhan was conquered in 1556, the small Indian community became part of the Moscow state.<ref name=Kotin/>

By the early 17th century, Indian merchants, mainly Multanis and Shikarpuris from Sindh and Punjab, had established a permanent settlement in Astrakhan. Tsar Michael Fedorovich (r. 1613–1645) encouraged them to build an Indian dvor (“Indian Court”), a walled compound containing living quarters, warehouses, and a small Hindu temple. These merchants, described by travellers such as Adam Olearius, Peter Pallas, and George Forster, practised daily rituals before images of Vishnu and Kali, lit lamps, performed ablutions in the Volga, and celebrated festivals such as Diwali. In 1683, the Tsar granted the Astrakhan Hindus official permission to cremate their dead outside the city, making it one of the earliest legal recognitions of Hindu rites in Russia.<ref name=":5">Template:Cite book</ref>

In the early eighteenth century, the first Russian emperor, Peter the Great, met the head of the Astrakhan Hindus and, at their request, asked the Russian Senate to issue a law protecting Hindu beliefs. This was the first law in Russia that protected a foreign creed.<ref name="Kotin">Igor Kotin, "Hinduism in Russia", in Knut A. Jacobsen and Ferdinando Sardella (eds.), Handbook of Hinduism in Europe (Brill, 2020), p. 1392.</ref>

By the mid-eighteenth century, observers such as the Prussian naturalist Peter Simon Pallas noted the presence of hundreds of Multani Vaiṣṇava Hindu merchant families at the mouth of the Volga River, where their temple in the Indiiskii dvor remained active.<ref>Template:Cite thesis</ref><ref name=":5" /> From the seventeenth to the early nineteenth centuries, Astrakhan functioned as a northern outpost of Hinduism in Eurasia, maintaining continuous worship under official Russian tolerance before the community’s decline as caravan trade through Bukhara and Iran waned.<ref name=":5" />

In 1971 A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), introduced it to Russia. In 1988, ISKCON was first registered as a religion. Later, it was re-registered in 1998. In the same year, there were 120 Krishna communities in Russia.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Hindu denominations in Russia

Russian Hindus celebrating Rath Yatra.
File:ISKCON Temple in Yessentuki.jpg
ISKCON Temple in Yessentuki

Vaishnavism

As of December 2005, the Federal Registration Service recorded 79 Hindu groups with a particular orientation on Krishnaism.<ref name="rdr">Template:Cite web</ref> These are the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, ISKCON Revival Movement, Science of Identity Foundation, Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, Template:Ill, Template:Ill, Template:Ill, Template:Ill, among others.

Shaivism

The followers of Shaivism in Russia are the Naths, Lingayats (Veerashaiva), and Template:Ill.<ref name="TheReferenceBook">Template:Cite web</ref>

Hindu reform movements

Hindu reform movements which have presence in Russia are the Brahma Kumaris, Ramakrishna Mission, Arya Samaj, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres, Ananda Marga, Ananda Sangha, Self-Realization Fellowship, Sri Ramana Ashram, Sahaja Yoga, Sri Chinmoy Centre, Sanatan Sanstha, Sathya Sai Baba movement, Science of Identity Foundation, Shri Prakash Dham, the organizations associated with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and Haidakhan Babaji (Template:Ill), and others. Brahma Kumaris have 20 centres, Ramakrishna Mission has one centre, Ananda Marga has a centre in Barnaul, Tantra Sangha has one registered branch in Moscow and another in Nizhniy Novgorod was officially recognized in 1993.<ref name="rdr"/>Template:Sfn<ref name="TheReferenceBook" />

Demography

File:Hinduism in Russia (Arena Atlas 2012).png
Hinduism in Russia

According to the 2012 official census, Hinduism is practised by 140,000 people, or 0.1% of the total population. It constitutes 12% of the population in the Altai Republic, 5% in Samara Oblast, 4% in Khakassia, Kalmykia, Bryansk Oblast, Kamchatka, Kurgan Oblast, Tyumen Oblast and Chelyabinsk Oblast, 3% in Sverdlovsk Oblast, 2% to 3% in Yamalia, Krasnodar Krai, Stavropol Krai, Rostov Oblast and Sakhalin Oblast, and 0.1% to 0.2% in other federal subjects.<ref name="ArenaAtlas2012">Template:Cite web See also the results' main interactive mapping and the static mappings: Template:Cite map The Sreda Arena Atlas was realised in cooperation with the All-Russia Population Census 2010 (Всероссийской переписи населения 2010) and the Russian Ministry of Justice (Минюста РФ).</ref>

In 2006, the Russian capital Moscow had an estimated 10,000 Hare Krishna devotees and at least 5,000 Indians, Sri Lankans, Nepalese, and Mauritians following Hindu denominations.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The number of ISKCON followers in Russia is disputed. According to Sanjeet Jha of the Association of Indians of Russia, Russia's Krishna devotee population is estimated to be as high as 250,000, while Filatov of the Institute of Oriental Studies estimates Russia's Krishna population to be 15,000.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> According to Bhakti Vijnana Goswami, a Russian ISKCON guru, there were 50,000 active Hare Krishna devotees in Russia in 2011.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

See also

References

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Sources

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