Hinduism in Réunion

[3] Yet, uncertainty as to the exact number of Hindus in the country results from the fact that ethnic and religious questions are forbidden in French censuses and members of the Indian population sometimes cross-identify with Roman Catholic and Hindu faiths.

[4] The history of Hinduism in Réunion stretches back to the mid and late nineteenth century.

Many early Indian arrivals took on Christian names and had their children baptised in the Catholic Church at the insistence of their employers or the government administration.

Nonetheless, Dr Kalai Selvam Shanmugam, President of the Tamil Sangham in Reunion speaking at the Chennai Centre for Global Studies in 2018 regretted that some Temple priests brought from Tamil Nadu had been more interested in making money than in spreading the gospels of Hinduism.

This is the cause during the period of indentures, where most Indian Hindus were reassigned as Catholics, more or less by force, but they wanted to keep their original religion in secret.