Hinduism in Germany

German Indology and Hindu Philosophy German interest in Hinduism first grew out of the Romantic movement's deep fascination with ancient India. Indian literature captured the imagination of writers and thinkers. In 1791, Georg Forster published the first German translation of Kālidāsa’s famous play Śākuntalā (based on William Jones's English version). This work captivated major literary figures, including Johann Gottfried Herder and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who famously wrote an epigram praising the drama. In 1808 Friedrich Schlegel’s Über die Sprache und Weisheit der Indier (On the Language and Wisdom of the Indians) argued that Sanskrit was the root of a shared Indo-European language family. This theory shaped European intellectual thought and helped drive the creation of formal academic departments for Indological research. Friedrich Max Mueller and the translation of the Vedas Friedrich Max Müller (1823–1900), born in Dessau, was one of the leading scholars who introduced ancient Hindu texts to European audiences. After studying Sanskrit under Franz Bopp in Berlin and Eugène Burnouf in Paris, he moved to England in 1846. With patronage from the East India Company, he produced the first critical edition of the Rigveda (including Sāyaṇa's 14th-century commentary), published in six volumes between 1849 and 1874. He later edited the Sacred Books of the East (1879–1910), a 50-volume series of English translations of major religious texts from Hinduism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, and other Asian traditions. ==Demographics==

Indian Hindus Hindu migration from India to Germany started picking up in the 1950s, continued at a fairly slow pace through the 1970s. Most of the early arrivals were men, typically students and professionals, such as physicians and engineers. They generally came from upper middle-class backgrounds and many have went on to build successful careers and businesses. Even though plenty of them were financially comfortable, they didn’t leave much of a visible religious footprint. Most worship happened quietly in private homes, and the only Indian Hindu temple in Frankfurt at the time turned out to be short-lived. By the 2000s, the Indian Hindu population in Germany had grown to an estimated 60,000–80,000. Current estimates approximate around 42,000–45,000 Hindus in Germany were Sri Lankan Tamils. By 2011, they had founded approximately 34 Hindu temples. These temples are predominantly located in North Rhine-Westphalia, where the Tamil Hindu diaspora concentrated. == Temples ==

File:Sri Muthumariamman Tempel 2020 a.jpg|Sri Muthumariamman Temple File:Britz Blaschkoallee Sri-Mayurapathy-Murugan-Tempel.JPG|Britz Blaschkoallee Sri Mayurapathy Murugan Temple File:Hamm Hindutempel Sri-Kamadchi-Ampal Gopuram 1.jpg|Sri Kamakshi Amman temple in Hamm == Denominations and organizations ==

Germany has over 50–100 Hindu temples and worship sites, the large majority are Tamil. Many began as makeshift spaces and evolved into purpose-built structures. ISKCON The first Hare Krishna temple in Germany was built 1970 in Hamburg. The ISKCON guru Sacinandana Swami translated the Bhagavad Gita into German. Balinese Hinduism There are about 700 Balinese Hindu families living in Germany, with the one temple located in Hamburg in front of the Museum of Ethnology, Hamburg and the second, Pura Tri Hita Karana located in Erholungspark Marzahn, Berlin, which is a functioning Hindu temple located in the Balinese Garden of the park and it is one of the few Hindu temples of Balinese architecture built outside Indonesia. ==Notable German Hindus==

• Claudia Ciesla, Bollywood actress • Walther Eidlitz, writer, poet, Indologist • Hansadutta Swami • Mother Meera • Siva Sri Paskarakurukkal • Mathias Rust • Sadananda • Sacinandana Swami ==See also==