Jain communities

Sangha
Main article: Sangha (Jainism)

Jainism has a fourfold order of muni (male monastics), aryika (female monastics), Śrāvaka (layman) and sravika (laywoman). This order is known as a sangha.

Cultural influence

The Jain have the highest literacy rate in India, 94.1.% compared with the national average of 65.38%. They have the highest female literacy rate, 90.6.% compared with the national average of 54.16%.[1][2]

Jain have the highest per capita income in India.[3]

The sex ratio in the 0-6 age group is the second lowest for Jain (870 females per 1000 males).

Communities

There are about 110 different Jain communities in India. They can be divided into six groups based on historical and current residence.

Major Jain communities:

  • Jain Bunt are a Jain community from Karnataka, India.[5]
  • Jain Komati is a small community scattered all over South and Central India and patrons of many Jain Institutions.[6][7]
  • Saraks is a community in Jharkhand, Bihar, Bengal, and Orissa. They have been followers of Jainism since ancient time.[8]
  • Porwal community that originated in southern Rajasthan, India.[9]
  • Parwar is a major Jain community from the Bundelkhand region, which is largely in Madhya Pradesh and Lalitpur District, Jhansi.[10]
  • Agrawal Jain of Hisar, Haryana.[11]
  • Bhabra of Punjab is an ancient merchant community from Punjab region which mainly follows Jainism.
  • Sarawagi or Khandelwali originated from Khandela, a historical town in northern Rajasthan.[10]
  • Bagherwal from Baghera (currently known as Ajmer district) a princely state in Rajasthan, a community of Digambar sect.
  • Shrimal, originally from Rajasthan, Shrimal town in southern Rajasthan. The Shrimal (Srimal) Jain are part of the Oswal merchant and minister caste that is found primarily in the north of India.[12]
  • Oswal are a Jain community with origins in the Marwar region of Rajasthan and Tharparkar district in Sindh.[13]
  • Jaiswal are mainly located in the Gwalior and Agra region.[14]
  • Navnat emerged as a result of blending of several smaller Jain communities in East Africa as well as in Gujarat itself in early 20th century.[15]
  • Veerwal is a Jain community in the Mewar region in Rajasthan, India.
  • Humad is the name of an ancient Jain community originally from Gujarat and Rajasthan, India.
  • Varaiya is a Jain community with origins in the Madhya Pradesh, India.

Central India

Western India

Northern India

Southern India

Eastern India

Diaspora

Virchand Gandhi made a presentation of Jainism at the Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago in 1893, marking one of the earliest appearances of Jainism outside India.[16] The World Jain Congress was held in Leicester in 1988.[17]

Population

The Jain population in India according to 2011 census is 0.37% i.e. 4,451,753 (Males 2,278,097; Females 2,173,656) out of the total population of India 1,210,854,977 (males 623,270,258; females 587,584,719).[20] The tabular representation of Jain population in the major states of India as per 2011 Census data released by the government is:

S. No.StatePersons (total)Persons (rural)Persons (urban)Male (total)Male (rural)Male (urban)Female (total)Female (rural)Female (urban)
1India4,451,753904,8093,546,9442,278,097467,5771,810,5202,173,656437,2321,736,424
2Maharashtra1,400,349269,9591,130,390713,157140,476572,681687,192129,483557,709
3Rajasthan622,023166,322455,701317,61484,649232,965304,40981,673222,736
4Gujarat579,65444,118535,536294,91122,357272,554284,74321,761262,982
5Madhya Pradesh567,028109,699457,329291,93757,431234,506275,09152,268222,823
6Karnataka440,280220,362219,918225,544113,598111,946214,736106,764107,972
7Uttar Pradesh213,26730,144183,123110,99415,85295,142102,27314,29287,981
8Delhi166,231192166,03985,6059485,51180,6269880,528
9Tamil Nadu89,26510,08479,18145,6055,04440,56143,6605,04038,620

It is likely that the actual population of Jains may be significantly higher than the census numbers.

The Jain population in United States is estimated to be about 150,000 to 200,000.[21][22]

In Japan,there are more than 5,000 families who have converted to Jainism and is growing faster there.[23]

See also

References

Citations
  1. "Jains steal the show with 7 Padmas", The Times of India, 9 April 2015
  2. "Literacy race: Jains take the honours", The Times of India, 7 September 2004
  3. "Indian Government", PIB
  4. Carrithers, Michael; Humphrey, Caroline, eds. (1991). The Assembly of Listeners: Jains in Society. Cambridge University Press. p. 83. ISBN 978-0-52136-505-5.
  5. Kumar Suresh Singh 2004, pp. 387–391(Emigrant Bunts by P. Dhar).
  6. "Jain Culture In Telugu Literature". jainsamaj.org. Archived from the original on 7 February 2016.
  7. "Inscription on the last Jain temple in Telangana found". thehindu.com.
  8. "Government of West Bengal: List of Other Backward Classes". Govt. of West Bengal. Archived from the original on 19 January 2016. Retrieved 23 December 2011.
  9. K. S. Singh 2004, p. 1738.
  10. Kumar Suresh Singh 2004, p. 565.
  11. Patel, Aakar (6 February 2015). "A history of the Agarwals". Livemint. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
  12. K. S. Singh 1989, p. 524.
  13. Babb 2004, pp. 164–178.
  14. "About Jaiswals". Jaiswal Samaj. Archived from the original on 30 April 2018. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  15. Adam 2015, p. 299.
  16. J. Gordon Melton & Martin Baumann 2010, p. 1555.
  17. Dundas 2002, p. 246.
  18. Gregory, Robert G. (1993), Quest for equality: Asian politics in East Africa, 1900-1967, New Delhi: Orient Longman Limited, p. 26, ISBN 0-863-11-208-0
  19. Mehta, Makrand (2001). "Gujarati Business Communities in East African Diaspora: Major Historical Trends". Economic and Political Weekly. 36 (20): 1738. JSTOR 4410637.
  20. Office of registrar general and census commissioner (2011), C-1 Population By Religious Community, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India
  21. Lee, Jonathan H. X. (21 December 2010), Encyclopedia of Asian American Folklore and Folklife, ABC-CLIO, pp. 487–488, ISBN 978-0-313-35066-5
  22. Wiley, Kristi L. (2004), Historical dictionary of Jainism, Scarecrow Press, p. 19, ISBN 978-0-8108-5051-4
  23. "Thousands of Japanese making a smooth transition from Zen to Jain". Hindustan Times. 23 February 2020.

Sources
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