The British colonial policies led to the introduction of indentured servitude, bringing Indians from various regions to work on plantations in places like Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Jamaica, Martinique, Suriname, French Guiana and with that, the indentured servants carried their religious traditions with them, including their beliefs in the Tamil Goddess Mariamman.
The migration of Indians as indentured servants introduced new religious and social dynamics to the British colonies in the Caribbean and South America.
These migrants came from oppressed castes and lower socioeconomic backgrounds, creating a distinct class of people who were neither Black nor White.
These communities experience a "double diaspora," connecting their traditions to both India and their respective Caribbean or South American countries.
[7] Indo-Caribbean Shaktism combines their Shakti beliefs of Tamil origin with cultural influences from the Caribbean context.
Devotees engage in rituals and practices like puja, mantra recitation, and devotional singing to connect with Shakti.
Other Hindu deities may appear in temples and iconography alongside Kali and Tamil Gods/Goddesses, including Durga, Ganesh, Hanuman, Krishna, Lakshmi, Radha, Murugan, Rama, Saraswati, Shiva, and Sita.
[9] Shaktas view the goddess (Kali/Mariamma) as the supreme, ultimate, and eternal reality, embodying creation and its governing energy.
Due to adaptations to the Caribbean region, some practices differ from those found in the Indian Subcontinent (most of all in Tamil Nadu).
Common practices include animal sacrifice (now contentious and abandoned by some groups),[8] physical manifestation of deities, libations, firewalking, rites, drumming, and singing devotional songs (bhajans) to invoke the presence of God.
[7] Hindu practices like deity meditation, pujas, and religious ceremonies are also observed, along with unique elements from Dravidian Folk Religion such as physical manifestations during rituals.
The regions where the largest amount of Shakti practices can be found is in East Berbice-Corentyne, Guyana and Couva–Tabaquite–Talparo, Trinidad and Tobago with smaller communities of Madras Hindus in bordering areas of Suriname with Guyana, parts of French Guiana, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Cayman Islands, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and in some parts of Venezuela and Central America where Tamil Antillean settlers brought their religion.