Abstract
Russia remains the most important successor state of the Soviet Union, while the Soviet Union had as its predecessors: the Russian Empire, the Moscow Rus and the Kyev Rus. Indians constitute a small proportion in the population of present day Russia, but they can claim a history of at least four centuries. In this context the opposition to the construction of a Hare Krishna temple in Moscow rose not due to the Indian origin of the religion, but because of its western interpretation, the missionary activity of the Hare Krishna movement, and those of Russian Orthodox Christian culture. The position of the Russian Orthodox Church towards Hinduism was to allow the Hindus to live their way, but not to allow any religious propaganda in Russia. While cases of conversion of Hindus to Christianity can be explained by economic or matrimonial reasons, the conversion of Russians to Hinduism or a Hinduism-named new religion leads to a conflict between the Indians and the Russian Orthodox Christian Church. Recently the Vedic Center lobbyists obtained approval for its construction near the village of Vereskino, north of Moscow, thus reaching the decision acceptable to the Moscow Patriarchate and for the most vigilant Russian Orthodox activists. For those Indians who came from India and from families with Christian heritage, their numbers in Russia are miniscule. They belong either to the Roman Catholic or Anglican or Methodist Churches. These few Christian Indians remain the most invisible even among the rather invisible Indian community of Russia.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Dmitriev, G. L. (1972). Iz Istorii indiiskih kolonii v Srednei Azii (2-aia polovina 19-nachalo 20 v.) [On history of Indian colonies in Central Asia. 2nd hald 19th c.-early 20th century]. In D. A. Olderogge (Ed.), Strani I Narodi Vostoka. India. Strana I Narod. 2 (pp. 234–247). Moscow: Nauka, Vostochnaya Literatura (in Russian).
Goldberg, N. M. (1949). Russko-indiyskie otnosheniya v 17m veke [Russian-Indian relations in the 17th century] (pp. 127–148). In Uchenie Zapiski Tikhookeanskogo Instituta. Moscow: Vostochnaya Literatura.
Goldberg, N. M. (Ed.). (1958). Russko-indiyskie otnosheniya v 17m veke. Sbornik dokumentov [Russian-Indian relations in the 17th century. Published Documents]. Moscow. Vostochnaya Literatura (in Russian).
Gopal, S. (1989). Indians in Russia in the 17 & 18 centuries. New York: South Asia Book.
Kotin, I. (with A. Krindatch). (2005). Religious revival in a multicultural landscape. In H. Knippenberg (Ed.), The changing religious landscape of Europe. Amsterdam: Het Spinhus.
Levi, S. C. (2002). Hindus beyond the Hindu Kush: Indians in the Central Asian lands. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 12(Part 3), 277–288.
Nikolskaya, K. P. (2003). Simon Pallas on the Astrakhan Indians. In A. Monanty (Ed.), India – Russia: Dialogue of civilizations (pp. 135–153). Moscow: Nauka (in Russian).
Palmov, N. N. (1934). Astrakhan Archives (pp. 162–182). In Zapiski Instituta Vostokovedeniya AN USSR, 2(44), 161–182 (in Russian).
Vedic Center. (2011). http://krishna.ru/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=126&Itemid=341; illustrations www.veda.ru/gallery/maket/ and www.veda.ru/gallery/appearance/. Accessed 15 Dec 2011.
Vorobyev-Desyatovski, V. S. (1955). Concerning early contacts between India and Russia. Journal of Indo-Soviet Cultural Society, 2, 48.
Acknowledgements
This research was funded by the Special Projects Office, Special and Extension Programs of the Central European University Foundation (CEUBPF). The thesis explained represents the ideas of the author, and not necessarily the opinion of CEUBPF.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kotin, I. (2015). The Cow and the Cross: South Asians in Russia and the Russian Christian Orthodox Church. In: Brunn, S. (eds) The Changing World Religion Map. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9376-6_79
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9376-6_79
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-017-9375-9
Online ISBN: 978-94-017-9376-6
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawPhilosophy and Religion (R0)