ISJS Jainism Study Notes E5 Vol 01

Author(s): International School for Jain Studies
Publisher: International School for Jain Studies

Page 159

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in Mombasa. Their descendents can still be found in, Kenya (Shah 1977: 371). The Jains as a community in East Africa grew slowly during the inter-war period, and rather rapidly after the Second World War. In 1930 there were about 2,000 Jains in East Africa: about 1,000 in Nairobi, 500 in Mombasa, 100 in Dar-es-Salaam, and the rest elsewhere. By the late 1940s their total number was estimated at 7,400: 6,000 in Kenya, 1,000 in Tanzania and 400 in Uganda (Mangat 1969: 142). "In 1963 the total for East Africa was estimated at 32,000, with a possible 25,000 in Kenya (including 8,000 in Nairobi and 4,000 in Mombasa). The group in Uganda was rather small with a few families in Kampala and some scattered in the smaller townships. In Tanganyika, as well as scattered settlers, there were an estimated 850 Jainas in Dar-es-Salaam and 850 in Zanzibar." (Shah 1977: 372)
Almost all the Jainas in East Africa have been Śvetāmbaras originating from Western India, particularly Saurashtra, Gujarat, Kutch and Maharashtra. These can be further divided into two main groups: (1) the Visa Oswals, also known as Halari Jains; and (2) the Kutchi Jains. "In Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika, the majority of Jains were Visa oswals, and it was only in Zanzibar that approximately half of the community were Kutchi Jains and the other half Sthānakavāsīs" (Shah 1977: 372). A great majority of Jainas had been Dukanwalās or traders, settled in urban areas. With the advancement in education in the East African countries in due course of time some of their descendents also diversified into other vocations.
4.3
U. K.
Very few Jainas immigrated into England either from India or East Africa until the mid-1960s. Since the late 1960s a number of Jains began to migrate to the U. K. individually under the Commonwealth Immigrants Quota System. About the same time Jainas from East Africa also began to settle in England, particularly following the introduction of the Voucher System by the British Government. The policy of Africanization followed by the newly independent East African states and the expulsion of Asians from Uganda in 1972 was the major push factors for the Jainas as well to get out of East Africa. By the mid-1970s there were at least 20,000 Jains in Britain: 5,000 from India and 15,000 (as "twice migrants") from East Africa (Shah 1977: 371).
By the mid-1990s there were 30,000 Jainas in the U. K.: 25,000 in London, 1,000 in Leicester, 500 in Manchester and 500 in Birmingham. Jainas' socio-cultural and religious
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STUDY NOTES version 5.0