Religious Maintenance and Adaptation: An Example from the South Australian Hindu Diaspora

Abstract

Raymond Williams in A Sacred Thread: Modern Transmission of Hindu Traditions in India and Abroad (1992) identified different strategies within Hindu communities outside India, specifically in the USA, which enabled adaptation to the host community to occur while maintaining (and adjusting) religious beliefs and practices within the diaspora. J. R. Hinnells subsequently proposed ten factors for change and continuity in diaspora religion. These approaches form a useful analytical tool for understanding the manner in which Hinduism has developed, and is developing, in South Australia. This article examines the development of diaspora Hinduism in the Australian cities of Adelaide and Whyalla, in the light of both Williams’ and Hinnells’ categories. A comparison of the strategies of the smaller Whyalla community is juxtaposed against the more developed and larger Adelaide Hindu community, highlighting the similarities and differences between distinctive communities in different circumstances. Scholarship by Williams and Hinnells is useful in providing a framework for understanding the developments within these communities in Australia.