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to get married in villages. The low sex ratio within the community has already been exacerbating this social problem. Additionally, we need to know the nature and extent of inter-religious and inter-caste marriages taking place among the Jains. Needless to say, similar studies are required to be done on the major Jain diasporic communities. How these communities were formed and got consolidated, what is their economic and occupational status, what are their socio-cultural problems - all these aspects deserve adequate attention of the social scientists. The philanthropic activities of the Jain diaspora and their ramifications on the Jain community in India too are an emergent field of inquiry.
Social Organisation In chapter 1 we discussed at some length the social organisation of the Jain community in terms of sect/sub-sect, caste, kinship and family, etc. A few additional observations are added here in the context of some of the ethnographic studies done recently. The social organization of the Digambar Jain sect displays individualistic, prophet derived and sect-like character in contrast to the Swetambar Jainism which shows the group bound, priest derived and church like ambience (See Jain, R.K. 1999: 34). Each sect is divided and subdivided into a number of subsects and sections and sub-sections (Jain, M.U.K. 1975). In spite of being a small community, contestations and confrontations between and within different sects/sub-sects have not been lacking altogether among the Jains (Dundas 1992: 44-48; Jain, R.K 1999: 76-82).
Although Jainism does not sanction caste system, the Jain community today is divided into a number of castes and sub-castes. The caste system among the Jains probably arose during the medieval period. However, it is not as rigid as among the Hindus. As Sangave (1980: 81) put it, “Among the Jains the castes were not arranged in a hierarchical order of respectability. No restrictions were put on social intercourse between different caste members and there was no lack of choice of occupation.” Recent ethnographic studies suggest that caste rankings are based more on economic status rather than ritual purity (Banks 1992: 253; Dundas 1992; Singhi 1991). Apart from exclusive Jaina castes there are a number of Vaishnav Hindu castes among whom there are Jaina followers.
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Jains in India and Abroad
