 | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 50,000 (2017) 0.6% of its total population | |
| Religions | |
| Hinduism Majority: Vaishnavism Minority: Shaivism | |
| Languages | |
| Sanskrit (sacred) German,French,Italian andRomansh |
Hinduism is a minority religion practised by 0.6% of the population of Switzerland.[1] Approximately 90% of Hindu adherents are foreign-born,[2] and about a third of them have the status of refugee or asylum seeker. TheSri Sivasubramaniar Temple, located in theSihl Valley inAdliswil, is the most famous and oldestHindu temple in Switzerland,[3] theArulmihu Sivan Temple located in Glattbrugg is dedicated toShiva,[4] and the latest foundation is theSri Vishnu Thurkkai Amman Temple in Dürnten in 2010.[5][6]
The first yoga school in this country was founded 70 years ago. The Hungarian pianist and sculptor Elisabeth Haich moved fromBudapest toZurich in the 1940s, together with her Indian husband and doctor Selvarajan Yesudian. Together they opened in 1948 the firstyoga school in Switzerland. Although yoga today is understood primarily as a form of relaxation and exercise, it still arouses interest among many practitioners in Hinduism, knowing that yoga originally had a deeply religious-spiritual approach. The first Indian monk who founded an association in Switzerland was Swami Omkarananda, who founded the Divine Light Center inWinterthur in 1966.[7] In the early 1970s, theOsho community under the leadership of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and theISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness), founded by SwamiPrabhupada, also spread.
The Srilankan Tamil Hindus came to switzerland as refugees during the ethnic conflict in 1983 .While in the early days, the Krishna Temple onZürichberg, which was opened in 1980, provided a first refuge for manyTamils, various communities formed over the years, so that in 1986 the first Tamil temple was opened inBasel. More temple openings followed in all parts of Switzerland, so there are over 20 different Tamil Hindu temples today.[8]
In earlier censuses, Hinduism figured together with other non-Abrahamic traditions (mainlyBuddhism) as "other churches and communities". These accounted for 0.12% in 1970, 0.19% in 1980, 0.42% in 1990 and 0.78% in 2000 (0.38% Hinduism, 0.29% Buddhism, 0.11% other). Hinduism overtook Judaism as the third largest religion in Switzerland (after Christianity and Islam) during the 1990s and was tied at 0.38% with theNew Apostolic Church in 2000.
The 2000 census reported 27,839 residents ofSwitzerland self-identifying asHindus (0.38% of the total population; 1.11% inBern, 1% inZurich, 0.27% in Geneva). Most of them areSri Lankan Tamils (81.2%).
In 2017, Hindus constituted 0.6% of the population of Switzerland.[9] There are about 50,000 Hindus in Switzerland.[10][11] There is also an ISKCON community in Switzerland with about 400 members and a circle of about 2000 friends and sympathizers.[12]
"Schweizerischen Dachverband für Hinduismus" or The Swiss Federation for Hinduism (www.hindus.ch) is the main Hindu association in Switzerland. It was formed in 2017.[13]
Media related toHinduism in Switzerland at Wikimedia Commons
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