When people think of Hinduism, they often picture temples in Varanasi or the Ganges in Rishikesh. But the Hindu diaspora, the global community of people of Hindu faith and heritage living outside the Indian subcontinent. Also known as Hindu migrants, it includes millions who moved for work, education, or safety—and still practice rituals, celebrate festivals, and raise children with the same values as their ancestors. This isn’t just about religion. It’s about identity, memory, and belonging. From Trinidad to Toronto, from Fiji to Florida, the Hindu diaspora has built homes, opened temples, and turned Diwali into a public holiday in places where Hinduism was once unheard of.
One of the clearest signs of this movement is the rise of Hindu temples abroad. In the U.S., the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Houston isn’t just a place of worship—it’s a cultural center with schools, libraries, and language classes. In Guyana, the traditional pujas during Navratri draw crowds larger than many local sports events. Even in places like South Africa and Malaysia, where Hindu communities were formed under colonial labor systems, temples still serve as anchors for language, food, and music. These aren’t replicas of Indian temples. They’re living adaptations—using local materials, blending local customs, and teaching children English or Dutch alongside Sanskrit shlokas.
The Hindu diaspora doesn’t just preserve culture. It reshapes it. In the UK, the Kumbh Mela isn’t held on the Ganges—it’s held in a field near London, with pilgrims arriving by bus instead of by foot. In Singapore, the Thaipusam procession uses electric carts for kavadis instead of oxen. These changes aren’t dilution. They’re evolution. And they’re happening because the diaspora refuses to let tradition die in translation. You’ll find this same energy in the posts below: stories of temples in unexpected places, festivals celebrated by third-generation Indians abroad, and how families keep rituals alive even when no one else around them understands them. Whether it’s a small shrine in a New Jersey basement or a massive temple complex in Fiji, the Hindu diaspora proves that faith travels farther than borders ever could.
Mississippi has the most Hindu temples in the U.S., thanks to a wave of Indian engineers who settled there in the 1980s. Discover why this unexpected state became the heart of Hindu worship abroad and how its temples blend tradition with American life.