Jain Society Lansing MI 2000 05 Pratistha

SR No.: 528511
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jain Center Lansing MI
Publisher: USA Jain Center Lansing MI
Publication Year: 2000
Total Pages: 108
Language: English
Classification: Magazine, USA_Souvenir Jain Center MI Lansing, & USA
File Size: 4 MB

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Association In North America), a unique umbrella organization of all Jains in North America regardless of sectarian or regional backgrounds. Even though JAINA is a North American organization, its field of influence is now global.
A proud place among the Jinalayas of America belongs to Siddhachalam, founded by Muni Sushil Kumarji in 1983 on a wooded rolling New Jersey hilltop, making it the first tirtha on American soil. Many active volunteers are helping bring the light of Lord Mahavira's teachings to Jains and non-Jains. A prestigious award, called Jain Ratna, is given by JAINA for service to Jain dharma in America. The first Jain Ratna was given in 1989 to Prof. Duli Chandra Jain for editing the Jain Study Circular. The Jain youth, the future of the Jain community in America, actively participate in Young Jains of America, founded in 1992.
Jain Population in North America
Until recently, some publications like Encyclopedia Britannica Book of the Year gave 4,000 as the number of Jains in North America. On the other hand, it is sometimes said that there are one lakh (100,000) Jains here. What is the truth?
The US government census does not record religious affiliations. Thus there is no direct way of getting an exact count. The Jain Directory, an enormous and ambitious undertaking, provides a valuable glimpse by including the per-family information submitted, but not a complete count.
Fortunately, there is a reliable way for estimating the number of Jains. A look at past issues of the Jain Directories suggests that a certain fraction of all Jains have the last name "Jain". Based on the most recent update of the Directory, this fraction is 7.6%. If we can count all those with the last name Jain, we can get an estimate of the Jain population.
a. The 1990 US census reports that there were 815,447 Indians and 0.6% (i.e., about
4,893) had the last name Jain. This would give about 64,400 Jains in 1990. Since 1990, the number of Indians and the number of Jains has gone up significantly. All individuals with a listed phone number (the information is about a year old) can be looked up on some of the web sites. I found 2,039 families/individuals listed. Since there are about 3.12 members per family, that gives 85,600 Jains in USA in 1999. I believe this is a fairly accurate estimate; the margin of error should not be more than a few percent.
A population of 86,000-90,000 Jains is quite significant. For a historical comparison, we should note that there are about 84 Jain "nat" which were at one time individually self-contained and capable of sustaining their social and religious values. Of these, only nine or ten (Agrawal, Chaturth, Humbad, Khandelwal, Oswal, Pancham, Parwar, Porwal, Shrimal, Shetwal) have a population exceeding the North American Jains.
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Jain Education Intemational