Hinduism in Austria
In contrast to other religious communities, Hinduism in Austria is not officially organized. Since 1998 one of the different groups, the Hindu Religious Society in Austria (HRÖ), has been a "registered religious denominational community" (according to the Confessional Community Act of 1998), which, however, in contrast to "state-recognized religious communities", does not have full recognition and the rights associated with it owns. According to the 2001 census, there were 3,629 professing Hindus. On the other hand, leading persons of the various groups estimate the number to be several thousand, which, however, are by no means all official members of the confessional community.
history
In 1980 the Bengal Bimal Kundu founded the first religious group of Hindus, predominantly from the Indian subcontinent, which still exists today. Kundu, a chemist, and performs as a priest and church services , so-called pujas and other religious rites. Under his leadership, the Hindu Mandir Society (HMA) was founded in 1990 , from which the Hindu Religious Society in Austria (HRÖ) emerged as a registered denomination in 1999 through the initiative of the then President Mukundrai Joshi . This is the first time that Hindu groups in Austria have a legal entity.
Places of worship
In 2010 there were three mandirs , Hindu temples founded by lay people in Vienna . These are makeshift rooms, an adapted basement room in the eighth district of Vienna, a former shop in the sixteenth and a room in the Afro-Asian Institute in the ninth district. The group in the sixteenth district represents a specific denomination within the various Hindu faiths, but like the other two is open to all Hindus. Believers visit one or the other temple at will, whereby the focus is less based on certain religious directions, but rather on the respective common languages of the Indian subcontinent. Another Mandir can be found in Salzburg on Schießstattgasse since the early 1990s .
A visit to each temple is only possible on certain days of the week or Hindu holidays, there is no continuous opening. The Hindu community in the Afro-Asian Institute under the direction of Bimal Kundu has been actively involved in intercultural and interreligious dialogue for two decades .
Who can generally call himself a Hindu is not bindingly clarified for everyone due to the lack of a general leader. In Austria, not only people born in Hindu families are officially recognized as Hindus, as is the case in Indian law (marriage and family law). The Constitution (§3.1) of the Hindu Religious Society says: "Hindu is any physical person who is a Hindu by family tradition or who has been accepted into a sampradaya due to diksha (ceremony, initiation) or has become Hindu by conviction ".
Group of people
In addition to Hindus from the Indian subcontinent, numerous other groups with predominantly Western members have also been represented in Austria for several decades, so-called New Religious Movements , who call themselves Hindus.
swell
- ^ Page of the Hindu Religious Society in Austria
- ^ Ministry of Culture, registered religious communities
- ↑ Page Hindu Community ( Memento of the original from September 12, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Page Hindu Community ( Memento of the original from September 12, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Page Hindu Religious Society in Austria
