Selling Krishna in Ghana's religious market: proselytising strategies of the Sri Radha Govinda Temple community of Ghana

Abstract

Drawing upon the metaphor of the religious market, this article presents an analysis of the proselytising strategies the Hare Krishna, a new Hindu worshipping community in Ghana, has developed in order to survive in Ghana's competitive religious economy. It demonstrates the creative ways in which the group negotiates the contours of this market, incorporating Pentecostal methods into its preaching culture, exploiting an ongoing debate between agents of African Religions and Pentecostals on the appropriate place of tradition in Ghana, and establishing its credentials as a religion whose culture is compatible with both African religions and Christianity, yet with deeper insights into the mysteries of life.

Keywords:

• religion
• Ghana
• religious pluralism
• religious market
• competition
• proselytising
• Hinduism
• Hinduism in Africa
• Krishna
• public visibility of Hinduism

Notes

1. This is based on an estimate of a leading official of the group and explanations of some worshippers. The official figure of 7000, which is found in the official records of the community, is dated. It represents the total population of members who resided in the Temples during the early 1990s. Even at that time it only represented a fraction of the total worshipping population in Ghana, because it did not include an unknown number of followers, friends, fans and sympathisers who do not reside in the live-in communities. During my 2009 field research some worshippers also described how the community expanded especially in the mid 1980s and mentioned the events that explain the expansion. The most important were civil wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone, which displaced thousands of residents, leading to an influx of refugees into Ghana. The Krishna worshippers from these countries joined the Temples in Ghana and many have remained in these Temples. The situations also led to new conversions as refugees who did not like the crowded conditions in the refugee camps found refuge in the Hari Krishna live-in temples, where meals and accommodation are free. The community's creation of junior secondary schools since 2001 has enhanced its local appeal. The fact that these schools receive sponsorship from the United States and the good quality of the education they provide is an important source of this appeal for parents, who have become open to their children becoming members.

2. The left hand is considered inauspicious, so to point a left hand at something in Ghanaian culture is to wish it evil.

3. This is a pseudonym.

4. Chiefs are traditional leaders of southern Ghanaian communities. They represent both the living members as well as the ancestors on whose stool they sit. Their connections with ancestors make chiefs religious authorities as well. Chiefs are symbols of tribal authority and have unlimited powers. Princesses and princes are therefore considered to be immune to any kind of social rebuke lest this might invite the wrath of the chief.

5. Personal communication with Afe Adogame (November 21, 2011 at San Francisco, USA), Srivasta Das, a leader of the Hare Krishna Community in Ghana (June 24, 2009,Accra) and Kwesi Anamoah, Secretary of the Hindu Monastery of Africa in Accra (June 19, 2009).