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Gabriele R. Helmer, The Jains in Antwerp/Belgium: An Overview
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attractive conditions favoring migration and business, made it easy for Indian diamond dealers to choose Antwerp as their second place of home. Antwerp, the most important port of Belgium, counted 949 000 inhabitants in January 2005. Antwerp has the most important world trade centre for diamonds. The city has four stock exchanges, around 1,600 diamond companies, and one diamond museum. The diamond business, which had been in the hands of Jewish traders for four centuries, has moved to the hands of the Jains. In very short time the Jains were able to take the leading role in the diamond business. They took the companies over from their fathers or established new ones operated by their sons and grandsons in the second and third generations today. There are big differences in the history of migration, in particular as compared to the Jains in Leicester, London, and Manchester. Most of the Jains in the UK migrated twice, first from India to South Africa, and in the 60s-70s to England or the USA. As mentioned previously, the Jains in Antwerp migrated from India to Belgium for economical reasons in order to extend their trading network and to enhance their standard of living. Most of the migrants came to Antwerp without their families. The women and children moved to Antwerp later. The diamond business has always been the domain of men, and this has never changed till today.
The religious life of the Jains in Antwerp Religious Profile of the Antwerp Jain Diaspora The Jain diaspora consists of various subgroups of the Svetambara tradition. Only one family belongs to the Digambara tradition. The members of the families spread over two main branches of the Svetambara: The Deravasi and the Sthanakvasi. While Deravasi and Sthanakvasi are equal in number, a small group of around thirty families belongs to the Shrimad Rajchandra Movement, and around ten families are Terapanthi.
Jain Traditions in Antwerp Svetambara
Digambara Sthanakvasi Terapanthi Deravasi (temple construction)
Shrimad Rajchandra Movement (guru network)
Daily Practices With the beginning of the temple construction, the Jains established a small temple where they perform ashta prakari puja every day and aarti every evening. Every morning, a group of between five and ten men celebrates the ashta prakari puja together, which is a very special feature of Jain puja.
