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Stehla 63/2, 39-7 2010
Other Jains in the area are also making matrimonial realations with them.
According to Anthropological Survey of India's "People of India" Project Report, "In Kerala the Jains are locally known as Jainar or Jainanwar. They belong to the Digambara sect and are concentrated in Wyanand and kasargod districts. They speak the Kannada language and use the Kannada script for intra-group communication. They are pure vegtarian and their dress is similar to other local communities of the area. They have three sub-group: the Brahmin Jain or Purohit Jain who use the title Swamy and perform all priestly funcitons: the Vaisya Jain refered to as Tarakan are traders by tradition and use the title Shettur: the Kshatriya Jains referred to as Gouders were the warriors" (Singh 1998: 1336). For a significant number of Jains "coffee plantation is the chief source of income. They have good access to daily market in the neraby towns and transactions are done in cash" (Singh 1998: 1337).
Although the Digambar Jains constitute a majority in Kerala, a very small number of Swetambar Families too have been residing in most other cities and towns of Kerala. A significant concentration of them is found in Ernakulam where about 80 Swetambar Jain Families with a combined strength of around 350 members have been residing. Many of them had settled in the 1970s whereas some others had migrated there from Kutch in Gujarat as early as 1932. They are organized under the asociation Shri Swetambar Jain Murtipujak Sangh, Ernakulam.
Any account of Jains in Kerala will not be complete without mentioning the name and work of author, political leader and parliamentarian Shri Veerendra Kumar, a former Member of Parliament and Union Minister. Born at Kalpattan in Waynard district on 22nd July 1936, Veerendra Kumar earned his M.A. degree in Philosophy from Madras Vivekanand College and a MBA from the US. He is the Chairman and Managing Director of Mathrubhoomi Printing and Publishing Company Ltd, Kozhikode for the last 18 years. The Comany publishes a very popular and influentioal daily newspapaer by the sam name from Khozikode, Kannur and Kottayam.
Veerendra Kumar inherited politics from his father who was a prominent socialist leader in Kerala. Veerendra Kumar served as national secretary of the Socialist Party and state president of the Janata Dal. He was elected to the state legislative assembly and later on to the Lok Sabha from Kozikode. He served as the Minister of State for finance in the Deva Gouda Ministery, and the Minister of State for employment in the I. K. Gujral Ministry.
