Jains in India and Abroad

SR No.: 007601
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Prakash C Jain
Publisher: International Summer School for Jain Studies
Publication Year: 2011
Total Pages: 260
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 6 MB

Page 107

Jain Parisad. Nepal Swetamber Terapanthi Sabha, Shri Digamber Jain Parisad, Nepal Jain Mahila Mandal, Terapanthi Mahila Mandal, Nepal Jain Yuvak Parisad, etc. (www.nepaljain.com).
During the British period a number of Jains migrated to Southeast Asian countries of Burma, Malaya, Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan. In Burma the capital city of Rangoon hosted about 10,000 Jains. In 1956, a Jain temple was constructed there. A military coup in 1958 compelled a majority of them to migrate elsewhere. The Jain population in Myanmar is presently estimated at about 2,000. In Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong a considerable number of Jains have been residing for a couple of generations.
Malaysia hosts about 3,000 Jains. Almost all of them belong to the Swetambar sect. "They are mostly ethnic Gujaratis, with a lineage in Malaysia of several generations. It is possible that some of the early Jains arrived way back in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in Malacca, which today has a strong Jain community (http://www.jainheritagecentres.com/abroad/malaysia). There is also a Jain temple located at First Garden, Ipoh. It was built by a Jain businessman Bharat Jasani. The Temple houses the idol of Parshvanath, and now serves as a pilgrimage place as well as a cultural centre. It is managed by a charitable trust called Shantiniketan Foundation. The temple is designed after a famous one in Tithal in India.
The Jains have been living in Singapore for more than a century now. Although only a few Jains had settled in Singapore during the 1920s and 1930s, their number and organized activities increased only after the World War II. Until 1965, these activities were carried out at 79 Waterloo Street, and since 1978 at 18 Jalan Yasin off Jalan Eunos. The two storey-building named "Jain Sthanak" consisted of a big hall, kitchen, store, parking lots on the ground floor, and an office, a library, and a hall used for religious functions on the second floor. In 1995, a new building with modern amenities was constructed with a donation of Singapore $500,000 by Shrimati Nirmalaben Doshi in loving memory of her husband, Shri Chandulal Doshi, Society's founder trustee and former president. Now the building is named Shrimati Nirmalaben Chandulal Doshi Jain Sthanak.
93 Jains in India and Abroad