ISJS Jainism Study Notes E5 Vol 04

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

Page 90

there were about 2,000 Jains in East Africa: about 1,000 in Nairobi, 500 in Mombasa, 100 in Dar-esSalaam, 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 Shwetambars 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 Sth nakav sis" (Shah 1977: 372). A great majority of Jainas had been Dukanwalas 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 needs were looked after by about thirty associations. Of these the following three were the most important: Jaina Samaj Europe, the Oswal Association of the United Kingdom and the Navnat Vanik Association (U.K.).
"The Jaina Samaj Europe has established a Jaina Centre in the city of Leicester. This centre is a major symbol of Jaina unity, the first centre of its kind to embody co-operation among Jaina groups by including in one building a Svet mbaras temple, a Digambara temple, a Guru Gautama mandira, a Sth nakav sis up sraya and a Srimad R jacandra mandira. Its fine Jaina architecture, including elaborate interior and exterior carvings, has made it a major tourist attraction and place of pilgrimage for Jainas. The Jaina Sam ja in Europe has published books and a journal on Jainism. Jainas are seeking to widen their activities through the creation of 'inter-faith' links such as the Jaina-Christian Association, the Jain-Jewish Association and the Leicestershire Ahimsa Society for the Care of Nature" (Shah 1998: 80).
A Jaina Academy was founded in 1991 which has been offering an undergraduate course in Jaina philosophy and religion from De Montfort University in Leicester. The Academy is also associated with an educational and research center at Bombay University. Presently, the Jaina population in the U.K. is estimated at around 50,000.
4.4
U.S.A.
Sri Virchand R. Gandhi is credited as the first Jaina visitor to North America when he attended the Parliament of World Religions in Chicago in 1893. The next Jaina to have visited the U.S. was Barrister Champatrai Jain. He addressed the World Fellowship of Faiths in Chicago on 30th August 1933. A third name often mentioned in this context is that of Sri J.L.Jaini of the World Jain Mission of Aliganj, Etah, India, who had traveled to the U.S., the U.K., Germany and some other countries.
Until 1950s there was no Jaina diasporic community worth the name in the U.S. From 1960s onwards a large number of professionals, academics and students began to settle in North America. In the mid-1960s the Jain population in the U.S. was estimated at about 20,000; a majority of them being
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STUDY NOTES version 4.0