Hinduism in Armenia
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Hinduism in Armenia remains a minor feature in Armenian religious life, generally represented through The International Society for Krishna Consciousness and a minority of Indian students, with backgrounds in Hinduism.
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[edit] Indian population in Armenia
There are 200 Indians in Armenia, representing 0.005% of the total population of Armenia. [1]
There are some 700 Indian students in Armenia, most of whom study medicine. [2]
[edit] Religious organisations
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) and Transcendental Meditation organisations are both active in Armenia[3]. In 1990 ISKCON was, for the first time, officially registered as a religion in Armenia. There are now about 250 ISKCON members resident in Armenia and ISKCON maintains congregations in the towns of Gyumri, Kirovakan, Yeghegnadzor, Kapan and Ashtarak. Members of ISKCON have complained of harassment by the local government and police, as well as by the Armenian Apostolic church.[4]
[edit] See also
[edit] Persecution of Hare Krishna Members in Armenia
At 26th April, 1995 at about 2100 hours 8 armed men came to the apartment of ISKCON members Yervand Zakaryan (born 1951) and his wife Haykanush Ananyan (1950), living at Hanrapetutyan str. 62, apt. 29, Yerevan.
Yervand Zakaryan is a very respected man in the country. He is a former sportsman, a winner of the USSR championship in fencing of 1969, and honor prices of many international and USSR championships. Their only son, Karen with his wife Susan Khachatryan, are presently in Honolulu, Hawaii, doing missionary service in the Hare Krishna Food for Life charity restaurant there since 10th December 1994.
The "guests" first presented themselevs as Karen's friends, but when the household couple suspected something and didn't want to open the door, they told they're Defence Ministry officials and called the neighbours, showing their documents. But when the door was opened, immediately the "officials" stormed into the house and started rubbing and abusing the household couple for being Krishna devotees, at the same time demanding the money, which as the thugs said they, as the leaders of ISKCON are getting from America for the ideological destruction of Armenia.
In the presence of three neighbors they went on rubbing and abusing the householders for 3 hours. They were also demanding the list of names and addresses of the other ISKCON members. They took all the valuables, including $2000 cash, 100 000 drams (Armenian currency), all the golden and diamond ornaments of $2500 value, silver utensils of about 1kg weight, a color TV set, hi-fi stereo system, abot 300 volumes of classical and religious literature, oil paintings from the wall, all the fresh clothes, including socks and underwears. They only left the glass utensils, which they said could break on the way.
About midnight they took the couple to the Defence Ministry Militia (fidayin) troops' headquarter of the Shengavit district of Yerevan (where they were coming from) and again demanded the list of the devotees, but Yervand said, that he knows only the location of the temple which is closed after the recent attack.
Then one of the soldiers took him to a separate office and started beating with a wooden stick all over his body, again he refused to give any address. Then four of them took him into a Volga car and were beating and abusing him there for about 30 minutes, saying that they are going to send hin to the front line in Karabagh, where the Armenians would kill him.
Later, at about 0300 hours they brought in his wife too and drove them to the Military Police station, taking with them only the religious literature and paraphernalia. Yervand was put in a cell, where he met another 8 members of other religious minority groups, and his wife was taken back to the Militia headquarters, where she was threatened, that if she doesn't sign a document, declaring that no valuables were taken from their house, she will be sent to the jail and her husband would be sent to the war and killed. She had to sign the paper.
At about 0400 hours they drove her back to the flat, where they forced her to give something to eat, and some alcohol drinks, started drinking and mocking at Haykanush, threatening and trying to rape her, but she said that she'll commit suicide, if they rape her. This went on for 2.5 hours and around 0530 someone came from their headquarters and took them back. Yervand was being kept in the Military Police jail for two days, where he refused to take any food at all.
He was released at 1200 hours of 28th April, because of the public pressure of some of his influential friends appealed to the government. The other religious members were still being kept in the jail and may be sent to Karabagh war. He was released only because of the public pressure upon the from his influential friends.[citation needed]
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Indian Diaspora (PDF)
- ^ Embassy of India in Armenia
- ^ Government Report (PDF)
- ^ Report from ISKCON Communications Journal
[edit] External links
- Indian imprint on Armenia (hinduonnet.com)
- Persecution of Hare Krishna Members in Armenia (iskcon.com)
- "Hindoos in Armenia" by Dr. Mesrob Jacob Seth
- Indian Students in Armenia (armeniandiaspora.com)
- "When KGB closed in on Lord Krishna" (telegraphindia.com)
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