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Chapter 3
JAIN DEMOGRAPHY
Whatever might have been the numerical strength of the followers of Jainism in the past, presently they add up to less than five million souls the world over. Nevertheless, this figure represents the largest Jain population in modern times. The smallest population of the Jains in India with about 1,117,000 persons was recorded in 1921 census. Even if we add the then population of overseas Jains, the figure would hardly exceed the 1,150,000 mark.
Taking a bit larger historical perspective on the extent and causes of decline of the Jain population in India, it can rightly be maintained that
since the beginning of the medieval period (circa 12th century) till the first quarter of the present (twentieth) century, the community had been continuously losing in numbers, so that which had been once a major religious group on the subcontinent was reduced to a small minority .... Most of the Brahmana, Kshatriya (Rajput), Kayastha and Sudra followers became converts to other faiths under the influence of Christian missions, Muslim Tabligh, the Arya Samaj movement, or the Vaisnava, Virasaiva and other sectarian preachers. Nevertheless, Jainism is still diffused throughout the length and breadth of the Indian Union, and there is hardly any city, big town or trade centre where the Jains are not to be found" (Jain, J.P. 1983: 30-31).
This chapter analyses the major population characteristics of the Jains as per the 1991 and 2001 censuses of India. The 2001 census data are derived from Census of India 2001: The First Report of Religion Data (2004). The 1991 census data are based on the C-9 Religion Table which gives data for persons, males and females separately for each of the six major religious communities, viz., Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains and combined figures for "other religions and persuasions" and "religion not stated" by total, rural and urban for India, states and union
48 | Jains in India and Abroad
