Hindu Dharma has an affinity with all the indigenous religions of the world, many of which are now extinct. The vast continent of Africa had its own rich religious traditions similar to the tradition of Hindu Gods and Goddesses. In African tribal cultures, there exist numerous Gods with each God devoted to a particular function, for example, the God of Rain, the God of Wind, etc. The complex compendium of numerous local Gods and Goddesses in African tribal culture is similar to the worship of Devtas in Hindu Dharma.
The concept of village deity in the villages of Africa is the same as the concept of Kul Devta that exists in Hindu Dharma. Just as villagers in Hindu tradition cannot afford to displease the Kul Devta, similarly, African villages follow customs where the local deity has to be appeased, or else the whole village will bear the wrath of his/her anger.
“Things Fall Apart”, the debut novel of renowned Nigerian author Chinua Achebe depicts the events of pre-colonial life in Nigeria and the subsequent appearance of European missionaries and colonial forces in the late 19th century. The novel describes in great detail the local customs and traditions of pre-colonial Nigeria and the way Christian missionaries rapidly made inroads into Nigerian society and converted local Nigerians to Christianity. “Things Fall Apart” is a hard-hitting novel depicting African peoples’ struggle with colonialism. If you read the novel, you will notice the similarities between the Hindu tradition of nature worship, Kul Devta, and Devtas, and the pre-colonial religious traditions of Africa.
Historically speaking, Black people have more in common with Hindus than with people of any other religion. Christianity was forcefully introduced across Africa and the Caribbean by the missionaries. Unfortunately, due to the absence of a coherent grand narrative of their religious traditions, Africans couldn’t resist the onslaught of Christianity on their religious traditions, and thus, Africans got converted in huge numbers. Today, the indigenous religious traditions of Africa have been almost wiped out and the majority religion in African countries is either Christianity or Islam. The situation is similar in the Caribbean where Christianity is the majority religion in most Caribbean countries.
However, despite consistent missionary propaganda against Hindu Dharma and the forceful concoction of apparent solidarity between “Dalits” and Blacks, Hindu Dharma is making its presence felt in Africa and the Caribbean, and amongst communities of Black people in the US and elsewhere. Many Black people are now realizing that they have more in common with Hindu Dharma than Christianity or Islam, Abrahamic faiths that were hitherto imposed upon them. Thus, there is a great deal of interest in Hindu traditions and cultures amongst the Black community the world over.
If you Google the term “Hinduism in Africa”, you can find numerous articles and YouTube videos on how Hindu Dharma is growing in Africa with local people embracing Hindu Dharma out of choice. Hindu population has specially been increasing the African country of Ghana. According to an article published by News9, Ghana and Mauritius are the two nations with highest Hindu population in Africa. Even though Christians and Muslims constitute the majority in Ghana, Hindu Dharma is the fastest growing religion there, according to the article. One also comes across the inspiring story of Swami Ghanananda Saraswati, known as the “First African Hindu Monk”.
Born in a village of Ghana in 1937, Swami Ghanananda Saraswati founded the Hindu Monastery of Africa. Swamiji was born in a village of Ghana in September 1937. His parents initially followed an indigenous Ghanan religion but were eventually converted to Christianity. Catholic by birth, Swamiji was inducted into the Sannyasi order in 2012. He did extensive research on Hindu Dharma and traveled to Rishikesh, meeting various Hindu Gurus there before establishing the Hindu Monastery of Africa in Accra, capital of Ghana.
Coalition of Hindus of North America (CoHNA) ran a special series in February, documenting diverse voices in the Hindu Fold, as a part of Black History Month. Through this series, they gave spaces to diverse voices from amongst the Black community who share a strong bond with Hindu Dharma and traditions. CoHNA has shared a video through their YouTube channel titled “Diverse Voices in the Hindu Fold | African Hindus”.
The video documents the life story of an African Hindu who embraced Hindu Dharma in a quest to clear out the confusion and ambiguity clouding her consciousness. Once she started following Hindu Dharma, there was no looking back as she felt closely connected with the traditions and also felt that Hindu Dharma had a lot of affinity with African religious traditions.
She says in the video that Puja (worship) is known as Patha in African spirituality. She also tells us that agarbatti (incense sticks) are also used in African religious traditions and these are known as “Impepho” in the local language. She further mentions that having a Mandir (temple) is also intrinsic to African religious traditions. Further, the lady says that in African religious traditions, you cannot get married without having a cow as a symbol of the union.
In African spirituality, there are holy men known as Gobellas similar to the tradition of Gurus in Hindu Dharma, who guide you when you are confused and teach you how to do your ceremonies, she says. Thus, she concludes by saying there are so many parallels between Hindu Dharma and African spirituality that she didn’t think she was doing anything different by embracing Hindu Dharma.
CoHNA also documented the story of Lana Patel, a proud Hindu Caribbean from the Dougla community of the Caribbean: “The very nature of Hinduism or Sanatan Dharma is such that it includes a vast variety of paths and people. One can never put our religion into a box.
Through February, CoHNA has been celebrating Black History Month highlighting diverse members of our community, such as Lana Patel – model, actress, musician, and dancer. Lana comes from the “Dougla” community. The term Dougla refers to those of mixed African and Indian heritage, particularly prevalent in Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, and other Caribbean nations.
Lane carries her unique identity as an Afro-Indian Caribbean trans woman with pride and grace! Having grown up with a unique blend of cultural and spiritual influences, Lana speaks about what drew her to her Hindu roots”. (through CoHNA X handle).
CoHNA also recently organized a first-of-its-kind event in the US at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights. The event brought together Hindus and African American Leaders in Georgia to celebrate Black History and their shared experiences. It “highlighted the definitive role of the civil rights movement in the US, the paths it opened in the years to come for the Hindu and Indian American communities and the road ahead”, as per the press release shared by CoHNA.
“The historical connections and cultural exchange between the African American and Hindu communities offer a great foundation for future collaboration. As Hindus of North America, we offer our respect to the black community for the pathbreaking work they have achieved over decades. It is only when our communities unite, our fight for freedom strengthens. We stand alongside in the ongoing fight for equality and justice, beyond all barriers of race and religion”, said Rajeev Menon, Vice-President of CoHNA.
Initiatives such as these taken by CoHNA to celebrate points of solidarity between the Black community and Hindus can go a long way towards countering the woke propaganda of Blacks vs Hindus. Pitting Blacks against Hindus through a new-founded supposed solidarity between “Dalits” and Blacks is the latest ploy of the woke lobby. Critical race theory from the US context is being applied to the concept of “Caste” in Hindu Dharma in what is being developed as Critical Caste Theory. In this new-fangled theoretical formulation, the oppression of Blacks in the west by the Whites is being looked at through a caste lens. In other words, the oppression and exploitation of Blacks through racism is being compared to the supposed subjugation of “Dalits” in the Bharatiya context due to Brahmanical hegemony.
Thus, according to the woke proponents of this theory, there is a natural solidarity between the Blacks and Dalits, and Hindus (as in upper-caste Hindus or anybody who follows the Hindu Dharma) are their natural enemy. It certainly doesn’t come across as a coincidence then that “Dalits” who speak of this new-founded solidarity are mostly Christian converts and hate Hindu Dharma. Thus, their hatred is only ostensibly against “upper-caste Hindus” but essentially, it’s directed against everybody who says anything good about Hindu Dharma and doesn’t wish for its annihilation.
Now just look at the politics of it. Indigenous religious traditions of Black people which have a great deal of affinity with Hindu Dharma have been wiped off. Christianity has been historically imposed on Black people. However, due to the grand narrative of Hindu Dharma and the strength of collective Hindu consciousness, Hindus could not be converted by the colonialists in such huge numbers. Thus, began the new ploy by Christian missionaries to convert Hindus by dividing the Hindu society in the name of caste and by manufacturing a fictitious Dravidian identity. Then, began the conversion of so-called lower caste Hindus to Christianity, who undoubtedly had legitimate concerns and grievances of discrimination in the name of caste, nevertheless, the missionary ecosystem exploited this anger to their advantage, and we had a whole army of zealous converts who spitted venom against Hindu Dharma.
It is these zealous converts who are being used as pawns in the new game of further demonizing Hindu Dharma through this new-founded solidarity between the “Dalits” and Blacks, when in reality, the solidarity exists between Hindus and Blacks. Hindus and Blacks have both been victims of brutal colonialism and slavery. Both of us have faced racial discrimination in its worst form. Both Hindus and Blacks have fought against the oppressive hegemony of the white colonizers and fought for their rights. Yet curiously enough, the woke lobby is now portraying colonized Hindus as colonizers through the twisted caste narrative and whitewashing the horrors of colonialism, slavery, and ruthless Christian conversions in Africa and elsewhere, in one broad sweep of propaganda.
Why is the woke lobby doing so? One reason is to denigrate Hindu Dharma further so that more Hindus can be converted, and any resurgence of the indigenous religious traditions of the Blacks can be comfortably contained by pitting them against Hindus. Secondly, solidarity between Hindus and Blacks will have massive repercussions on the global agenda of neocolonialism. Already, the newfound solidarity between the countries of the global south is becoming a headache for the west.
The global south is already rallying for reform of multilateral organizations like the UN to better reflect the changing geopolitical realities. The solidarity between Bharatiyas and Blacks on account of shared cultural heritage, religious traditions, and experiences of colonialism will be a major challenge to western hegemony. Thus, in the latest woke experiment being conducted through the humanities and social sciences departments of prestigious western universities, caste becomes the overarching framework of examining and understanding racial discrimination, thus pitting Blacks against the Hindu Dharma.
We need to celebrate the points of intersection between the Hindus and Black culture to further challenge this narrative. Black students form the most sizeable chunk of foreign students studying in Bharatiya universities. The government needs to come up with innovative ways to celebrate cultural solidarity between Bharatiyas and Blacks. Also, some Hindus, need to get out of their parochial mindset of discriminating against Black people by internalizing tropes of western racism. This is simply not befitting for an ancient and wise civilization as ours and undoes all other efforts of fostering solidarity between Hindus and Blacks.
Let me end this story with captivating visuals of a group called Charmcitykirtans which is active on social media. From what it looks like, it is a kirtan group of ISCON active in various parts of the US. Their Instagram handle features many videos of Kirtan programmes in the US where the Black community of the US can be seen blissfully immersed in the singing of Bhajans and playing of instruments.
