page_title: Hinduism in Myanmar
section_title: Ethnicity
hierarchical_section_title: Hinduism in Myanmar / Ethnicity
caption_attribution_description: English: A Hindu woman in Yangon, she is one of the many Burmese Indians who do not get governmental recognition.
context_page_description: Hinduism is practised by 0.5% of the population of Myanmar. Hinduism is practised by about 252,763 people in Myanmar, and has been influenced by elements of Buddhism, with many Hindu temples in Myanmar housing statues of the Buddha.
context_section_description: Predominantly, Burmese Indians make up Myanmar's population of Hindus. The practice of Hinduism among Burmese Indians is also influenced by Buddhism. In addition to Hindu deities, the Buddha is also worshiped and many Hindu temples in Myanmar house statues of the Buddha. The Burmese Indians include Myanmar Tamils, Bengalis, Odias etc.
  The majority of the Meitei (or Manipuri) in Myanmar practice Hinduism. They are descendants of forced labourers taken from Manipur during the Manipuri–Burmese war from 1819 to 1825. Manipuris are concentrated in about 13 villages in the Mandalay, Sagaing and Amarapura areas. Manipuri settlements are also found along the Ningthi river, and the areas sandwiched between the river and the boundary of Manipur.
  Many Nepali-speaking Burmese Gurkha in Myanmar also practice Hinduism. Burmese Gurkha came along with British Army during colonial period.There are approximately 250 Hindu Temples build by Burmese Gurkha in and across country which of 30 temples are in Mandalay Region of Mogok City alone. Apparent there are three to five temples which are over 100 years old. 
  A small minority of predominantly-Muslim Rohingya people also practice Hinduism.
  Ethnic data was last collected in Myanmar for the 1983 Census, and the census department didn't published stats related to ethnicity after that. Back in 1983, there were 428,428 Indians, 42,140 Pakistanis, 567,985 Rohingya and 28,506 Nepalis. Due to the mutual overlap in religious traditions, it is possible that some of the Hindus among these ethnicities reported as Buddhist during the 1983 Census. This may explain the low number of Hindus reported in 1983 (177,215).
  As per the 1983 Census report, among the ethnic Indians 27.10% reported themselves as Buddhist, 33.64% as Hindu, 32.71% as Muslim, 4.44% as Christian and 2.10% as Others. Among the ethnic Burmese, the census reported three thousand Hindus. Out of the 174,401 Hindus reported in 1983, the ethnicity was as follows: Indian - 143,545, Chinese - 43, Mixed race - 4,882, Pakistani - 567, Bangladeshi - 865, Nepalese - 17,410, Other foreigners - 679, Kachin -48, Kayah - 3, Karen - 55, Chin - 155, Burmese - 2,988, Mon - 27, Rakhine - 99, Shan - 69 and other indigenous - 2,966.
caption: A Burmese-Indian Hindu woman wearing Bindi, which is similar to the Thanakha worn by ethnic Burmese
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