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GUYANA, SOUTH AMERICA, May 16, 2004: In an on-going debate in Guyana over the definition of “Hindu,” Vishnu Bisram wrote this letter to the editor of the Stabroek News:



“I would like to add to Roopnandan Singh ‘s letter (12.5.2004) that anyone of any ethnic background can be a Hindu. One does not have to be an Indian to be Hindu. I have travelled all over the globe to over seventy countries and have come across Hindus of all backgrounds. I travelled to India over a dozen times and visited several parts of the sub-continent since 1985. I came across Hindus of varying background and ethnicities – Chinese-looking, dark color, brown color, Whites, and those who look like me (ethnic Indians, for lack of a better term).



Many White and African Americans also practise Hinduism. There is a temple in Pennsylvania run by Whites and where Blacks also worship with many of them having Hindu names. There is also a magnificent temple in Virginia run by Whites. Recently, I was in Hawaii where I visited a White person who has a mandir in her home and who could chant Hindu mantras better than I could. The Swami who founded the magazine Hinduism Today (and HPI) in Hawaii was a White. A group of Whites currently run the lone Hindu temple in Hawaii. A Guyanese temple in Queens has a Black Jamaican conducting poojas. He sings bhajanas as well as many Indian pandits and is always bedecked in traditional Hindu attire. Puerto Ricans and other Hispanics attend Sunday service at a Hindu temple in Brooklyn. In Orlando where I recently visited, Whites joined Indians in worshipping at a temple.



In my frequent travels to Jamaica, West Indies, I often come across Blacks who worship at Hindu temples and who attend Ramayan discourses in the evenings. In Trinidad, a Chinese is a regular devotee of a temple in San Juan. Three years ago in Acapulco, Mexico, I met a Mexican who told me he was a Hindu. He educated me about the tenets of Hinduism and explained why he follows Hinduism in a Catholic nation. Last year, India Abroad newspaper, a weekly, carried an article about a Mexican who is a Hindu priest in Texas. A prominent pandit in Guadeloupe is a White. Martinique also has White Hindus. A lot of Whites also practise Hinduism throughout Europe. And in South Africa last year I observed many Whites and Blacks worshipping at temples in the cities of Durban and Phoenix.



On the heavenly island of Bali, all of the Hindus are oriental (Chinese) looking. On the West Coast of Demerara, there are many Mixed Guyanese (so called Douglas) who practise Hinduism. In the interior areas of the Pomeroon and on the Essequibo Coast are many Indo-Guyanese who are married to Amerindians who, along with their children, follow the Hindu path. So anyone who follows the faith can be a Hindu.”

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