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their mighty contribution to the Indian economy even though the Indian economy itself has undergone a sea-change. The Jains have taken the full advantage of modern education system and a significant number of them have entered into a wide variety of professions and services, besides consolidating their position as trading and commercial petty bourgeoisie in the Indian economy See Jain 2011a). Additionally, the Jains hold quite a substantial amount of ownership in real estate, share-market and mass media and publishing industries. Rajasthan Patrika Group, Lokmat Group (Maharashtra), Gujarat Samachar, The Times of India Group and Mathribhumi Group (Kerala) are the outstanding examples of mass media ownership by the Jains.
Besides the spread of secular education among the Jains, the 20th century also witnessed the development of Jainology that happened along with Indological studies. With the donations of the Jain community, a large number of Jain Sanskrit vidyalayas (schools/colleges) were established in which the intending students studied free of charge subjects like Sanskrit language and literature, grammar, logic and Indian philosophy, in addition to Jain religious texts. In north India this movement was spearheaded in the early decades of the 20th century by Ganesh Pasad Varni, a Kshullaka who was instrumental in establishing, directly or indirectly, a number of Sanskrit vidyalayas all over north India, including the reputed ones at Varanasi, Arrah, Morena, Jaipur, Hastinapur, Indore, Jabalpur, Katni, Sagar, Mahavirji, Papauraji, Sadhumal, etc See Varni 1948). These vidyalayas produced generations of Jain pandits, priests, and students who have helped in raising the level of knowledge about Jain philosophy and religion among the Jains.
Until about the 1960s Jains' contribution to the Indian public life in modern times was quite remarkable. With thousands of them serving jail terms and scores of them having sacrificed their lives as martyrs during India's independence movement (Jain 2006), the Jains' political participation was certainly exemplary, which was further sustained by their disproportionately high representation in the Constituent Assembly of India, and in the first few parliaments and in some state assemblies. It is only during the last four decades that their role in public life has significantly dwindled.
