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1 A typical weekend in a U.S. suburb sees several Hindu Indian families toting their children to educational groups known as bala vihars, some located in a temple or religious center, others at various member homes, to learn about Hinduism and Indian culture.A variety of Hindu organizations in the United States also run summer camps for the same purpose. Hindu student organizations have now sprung up in colleges and universities around the country, and members earnestly debate the “central beliefs of Hinduism” or the joys and burdens of being Hindu in the United States. Unlike temples in India, which are the abode of a primary deity and his or her consorts, and where most worship is performed by priests at times when few devotees are around, many temples in the United States house a variety of deities, often from opposing traditions, and are community-centered religious institutions with membership lists and congregational worship services on weekends . A variety of independent Hindu organizations such as American Hindus against Defamation (AHAD) and the Hindu International Council against Defamation (HICAD) are another U.S. phenomenon, with the mission of protecting Hinduism against defamation, commercialization, and misuse, particularly by American businesses and the entertainment industry. Another organization, the Hindu American Foundation, whose mission is to “provide a voice for the . . . Hindu American community,” took part in a court case challenging the public display of the Ten Commandments in Texas. The group’s amicus curiae brief argued that the monument expressed an inherent government preference for JudeoChristian religions over non–Judeo-Christian ones, since Hindu beliefs regarding the nature of God and the relationship between man and God differed from those enshrined in the monument (www.hinduamericanfoundation.org). All of these are Hindu institutions and activities not seen in India. This book, based on research on five different types of Hindu Indian organizations in the United States, examines the new forms, practices, and interpretations characteristic of American Hinduism.1 In addition to new congregational forms and formal mechanisms to transmit culture and religion to the younger generation The Transformation of Hinduism in the United States c h a p t e r 1  Chap-01.qxd 4/20/07 12:21 PM Page 1 and newly formed regional and national associations to unite Hindus and represent their interests, Hinduism in the United States is now explicitly interpreted in comparison with Abrahamic religions (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam). Many Hindu American leaders are interested in transforming Hinduism into a global, universal religion, instead of an ethnic religion tied to India. American Hinduism has developed in response to two interrelated processes, the institutionalization of Hinduism in the United States as a repository of Indian culture , and its politicization as it becomes the means to obtain recognition and validation in multicultural America. Some U.S. modifications of Hinduism attempt to adjust the religion to its new environment by making it more compatible with American culture and society. Other changes derive from the political struggles associated with being nonwhite immigrants and a religious minority, and are often attempts to challenge American practices or to resist assimilation by emphasizing the distinctness of Hinduism and Indian culture. The contradiction between these two intertwined strategies is embedded in the emerging American Hinduism. Both the institutionalization and the politicization of U.S. Hinduism depend on transnational connections (psychological, social, religious, and economic) with India. The process of institutionalizing Hinduism in the United States requires the help of experts and sacred objects from the homeland, and the politicization of Hinduism in the United States draws on Hindu nationalist ideologies and networks first articulated in India. Ideas and practices of Hinduism that are made or remade in the United States are also exported back to India. This book addresses two seeming paradoxes: (1) why the institutionalization of Hinduism as the means to maintain and express an ethnic American identity has led to the religion’s politicization; and (2) why the settlement and ethnic formation of Hindu Indians in the United States have generated deeper emotional bonds with the homeland and new transnational connections. Within the social science literature on immigrants,scholars have generally focused on the role immigrant religion plays in creating a subcultural ethnic identity or on the transnational political and social involvement of immigrants. Few studies systematically analyze the relationships between the two dimensions and how one draws on the other. The first type of study generally looks at religion’s role in the creation of a subcultural identity in pluralistic...

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