Hinduism in Indonesia

Hinduism in Indonesia
Hinduisme di Indonesia
A puja ceremony at Besakih Temple in Bali, Indonesia.
Total population
Increase 4,728,954 (2023)[1][2]
1.68% of population
Regions with significant populations
Bali3,682,484
Central Kalimantan155,595
West Nusa Tenggara128,600
Lampung127,903
Central Sulawesi109,308
East Java107,971
North Sumatra88,346
Religions
Hinduism
Balinese Hinduism, revival of Javanese Hinduism (majority)
and traditional indigenous religions identified as Hindus (minority)
Scriptures
Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas,
Itihasa (mainly Ramayana & Mahabharata)
and others
Languages
Sacred
Sanskrit
Spoken Languages
Indonesian (official),
Balinese, Javanese, Dayak, Sundanese, Tenggerese, Osing
and other Indonesian languages
Hindu distribution in each Indonesian district (2022). the map also included Kaharingan or Sulawesi natives religion which classified as Hindu by the Indonesian government and also show Tenggerese Hindus distribution in East Java.

Hinduism is the third-largest religion in Indonesia, based on civil registration data in 2023 from Ministry of Home Affairs, is practised by about 1.68% of the total population, and almost 87% of the population in Bali. Hinduism was the dominant religion in the country before the arrival of Islam and is one of the six official religions of Indonesia today.[3] Hinduism came to Indonesia in the 1st-century through Indian traders, sailors, scholars and priests.[4] A syncretic fusion of pre-existing Javanese folk religion, culture and Hindu ideas, that from the 6th-century also synthesized Buddhist ideas as well, evolved as the Indonesian version of Hinduism.[5] These ideas continued to develop during the Srivijaya and Majapahit empires.[6] About 1400 CE, these kingdoms were introduced to Islam from coast-based Muslim traders, and thereafter Hinduism, which was previously the dominant religion in the region, mostly vanished from many of the islands of Indonesia.[7][8]

Indonesia has the fourth-largest population of Hindus in the world, after India, Nepal and Bangladesh.[9] Though being a minority religion, the Hindu culture has influenced the way of life and day-to-day activities in Indonesia.[10] Outside of Bali, many adherents of traditional indigenous religions identify as Hindus in order to gain official recognition.

  1. ^ "Religion in Indonesia".
  2. ^ Muslim 244 Million (87.1), Christianity 29.4 Million (10.5), Hindu 4.73 million (1.7), Buddhist 2 million (0.7), Confucianism 76.019 (0.03), Folk and others 99.045 (0.04), Total 280.725.428 Million
  3. ^ Religious Freedom Report - Indonesia U.S. State Department (2012)
  4. ^ Juergensmeyer, Mark; Roof, Wade Clark (2012). Encyclopedia of Global Religion. SAGE Publications. pp. 557. ISBN 978-0-7619-2729-7.
  5. ^ "Mahayana Buddhism: Buddhism in Indonesia". www.buddhanet.net. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  6. ^ Cox, Murray P.; Nelson, Michael G.; Tumonggor, Meryanne K.; Ricaut, François-X.; Sudoyo, Herawati (22 July 2012). "A small cohort of Island Southeast Asian women founded Madagascar". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 279 (1739): 2761–2768. doi:10.1098/rspb.2012.0012. ISSN 0962-8452. PMC 3367776. PMID 22438500.
  7. ^ Campo, Juan Eduardo (2009). Encyclopedia of Islam. Infobase Publishing. pp. 72. ISBN 978-1-4381-2696-8. OCLC 1126059704.
  8. ^ Kahin, Audrey (29 October 2015). Historical Dictionary of Indonesia. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 3–5. ISBN 978-0-8108-7456-5.
  9. ^ "Indonesia". U.S. Department of State. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
  10. ^ Focus on Indonesia. Information Division, Embassy of Indonesia. 1977. pp. 21. OCLC 2116026.