It is clear that more than 95% of all Hindus reside in India and approx. 98% in South Asia.
Besides, Hindus in most countries outside South Asia are emigrants from India and other countries of the region. Only the Hindus of South Asia, Vietnam and Indonesia are indigenous.
In contrast, Christians dominate countries of the entire Western hemisphere, Europe, Oceania and southern half of the African Continent while Islam dominates in scores of countries in North Africa, West Asia besides Albania in Europe, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Maldives and Bangladesh in South Asia and Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia in the Far East.
Hinduism commands the adherence of approximately 850 million people in the world.
Thus every 7th human being is a Hindu.
This makes Hinduism the third largest religion in the world, after Christianity (approx. 2 billion) and Islam (1.3 billion).
These figures certainly give the impression that Hinduism is a world religion. However, a look at the geographical spread of Hindus shows that the impression is deceptive:
Country Approximate Percentage of Total Hindu Population Number of Hindus in Millions
India - 800
Nepal - 19.69
Sri Lanka - 2.67
Bangladesh - 0.11
Bhutan - 0.17
Pakistan - 2.2
Malaysia - 1.2
Indonesia - 3.8
Singapore - 0.09
Vietnam - 0.05
Hong Kong - 0.04
Burma - 0.24
South Africa - 0.07
Mauritius - 0.58
Kenya, Uganda - 1.0 - 0.2
Kuwait, Oman, UAE - 0.17
Fiji - 0.3
Trinidad and Tobago - 0.36
Guyana - 0.25
Surinam - 0.03
Jamaica - 0.01
Canada - 0.22
USA - 0.04
UK - 0.07
Netherlands - 0.16
Traditionally, Hinduism is a non-proselytizing religion i.e.
Hindus do not normally convert people of other faiths to their own.
Forcible conversions have never been carried (except in a solitary instance around the Independence of India) and even peaceful methods have not been employed on any significant scale.
This contrasts totally with the record of Semitic faiths like Christianity and Islam.
In the last few centuries, Hindus in many countries have suffered severe reverses due to absorption by or conversion to other religions or massacres and persecution leading to migrations to India or conversion to other faiths.
Hindu Caste System:
The social structure of the Hindu society put some communities/castes at a severe disadvantage in all temporal matters.
Islam and Christianity offered these communities social equality and so several Low Caste Hindus and tribals left their ancestral beliefs.
For instance, the socially inferior Lohana Rajputs of Bahawalpur (now in Pakistan) converted to Islam when the Muslim Sufi Farid offered them sops for converting to Islam.
About 80% Christians in India have Low Caste or Tribal origins.
Forcible conversions:
This was an important factor in the spread of Islam in South Asia.
Often, the invading Muslims offered a choice between Islam and death to the inhabitants of subjugated Hindu areas.
The stories of cruelty and barbarianism of Islamic rulers are folklore among the Hindu masses of India.
Similarly, in the Portuguese ruled part of Goa, Catholicism was often forced upon the Hindus and Muslims there.
It is estimated that the 8 century long Islamic rule witnessed the massacre of 80 million Hindus.
This is the root cause of the on-going Hindu-Muslim fued in South Asia.
Anhilation of symbols of Hinduism:
Islamic rule in India saw a widespread destruction of Hindu places of worship, burning of libraries Vikramshila in 1200 C.E.) burning of Hindu scriptures.
Emperor Aurangzeb ordered destruction of Hindu scriptures in Thatta in Sindh and in Multan in West Punjab), selective massacres of Hindu priestly class; prohibition of Hindu customs and rituals; desecration of rivers, ponds.
Held sacred by Hindus (for instance, Timur threw slaughtered cows into River Ganga at Hardwar and massacred the entire Hindu population of Delhi, while sparing the Muslim -Sayyad quater of the city.
All these acts demoralized the leaderless Hindus further and drove them to accept the faith of the victorious - Islam.
Worldy allures offered to converts:
Often Hindus found it easier to rise in the Muslim run administration system by converting to Islam since the Muslim rulers of India by and large favored their co-relgionists for the top positions.
Hindu traders were often charged higher taxes than their muslim counterparts.
Most Muslim rulers exacted the crippling Jaziya tax from hapless Hindu masses to keep them in poverty.
Hindus often had to pay taxes to practice various aspects of their religion Temple entry tax, pilgrimage tax.
Some Muslim rulers pardoned the crimes of Hindu criminals if they converted to Islam. All these measures forced several Hindus to convert to Islam.
Unfair Laws against Hindus:
While Hindus could convert to Islam and still retain their inheritance, the reverse was not allowed.
Hindus were not allowed to marry Muslim women unless they converted to Islam while Muslims could easily marry Hindu women.
Emperor Jehangir 1605-1628 C.E. ordered approx. 400 Hindu families of Northwest Punjab to convert to Islam since their men had married Muslim women.
Some Muslim rulers insulted or decapacitated Hindus by preventing them from carrying arms or riding elephants etc.
Higher growth rate of Muslim Population:
This was due to the greater fertility rate of muslim women, prevelance of widow remarraige amongst Muslims, polygamy and continuous influx of Muslims from Persia, Central Asia etc. into India.
Superstitious beliefs of Hindus:
As a result of nightmarish experiences that Hindus had with Muslims and the Portuguese, Hindu masses reduced social intercourse with Muslims and Christians.
Those Hindus, who interacted with Muslims or Christians, were osctracised by the Hindu society and often excommunicated.
For instance, the court musicians of Moghul Emperor Muhammad Shah ‘Rangila’, who were
Brahmins, faced great ostracism from Hindus and so were forced to convert to Islam.
(Their descendants are the famous Dhrupad singers- Dagar brothers).
Similary, an entire community of Hindus were declared outcastes by neighbouring Hindus in Vasai Thane district of Maharasthra after they accidently drank water from wells that had been ‘polluted’ by pieces of bread that had been thrown into them intentionally by the Portuguese!
Hindus also stopped admitting non-Hindus into Hinduism and even to this day, many Hindus oppose the idea of converting non-Hindus to Hinduism.
Thus, conversion was a one way traffic from Hinduism to other faiths.
