Jain Journal 2005 07

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 27

COMMUNICATION:
AWAKENING AMONG THE JAINS DURING 19TH - 20TH
CENTURIES
Dr. Shashi Kant
After the British administration was established and the people from different communities started joining the government services in the later half of the 19th century, there was a sort of awakening among different sections of the Indian population to take education in government schools or other institutions imparting modern education and equip themselves for taking up jobs under the new set-up. The entrants to these services were posted in places which were far off from their normal place of residence and were thus scattered all over India. In such circumstances they needed a sort of social association with the local inhabitants as well as with other service people coming from different parts of the country. Thus the question of identity emerged. This identity could be within the same caste or with the coreligionists.
The members of the society professing Jain religion were not so numerous and they needed to protect their identity. First of all, it was a question of Jains joining together irrespective of their sectarian affiliations. But later on, the associations became sect based as the Digambar Jain Mahāsabhā, Svetāmbar Jain Mahāsabhā and Sthānakvāsī Jain Mahāsabhā etc.
Towards the close of the 19th century among the educated Jains who had taken modern education, a consciousness developed that they should suffix “Jain' or 'Jaini' to their names so that their identity would be apparent. This was more in evidence in Delhi, Western U.P. (United Provinces of Agra and Oudh), Central Provinces and parts of Rajasthan. In other parts of the country the people continued to suffix caste or gotra name to their personal names, but they also joined the efforts for forming social organizations