ABSTRACT
This chapter traces the early history of arrival and growth of several South Asian religions in the United States. Each religion - Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Jain, Christian and Buddhist - has a distinct history and social context in immigrants' places of origin. Each also enters a distinct cultural and religious niche in the new American context. The first South Asian immigrants came to the United States in 1820, but not until the beginning of the twentieth century did more than 275 persons arrived from India in a single decade. Punjabi Sikhs fled to California from serious anti-oriental riots in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1907. Muslims in the United States share with Muslims in India and many other countries the experience of living as a minority in a non-Muslim environment. Hinduism in the United States can be plotted on two related axes. The first is the size of the Hindu community. The second axis is the length of the residence.
