The Pluralism Project at Harvard University

Anastasia Piliavksy

Boston University
Networking Within and Beyond the Temple Walls: Current Developments in the Greater Boston Jain Community

Greater Boston is home to one of the first Jain organizations, the first Jain temple, and the vanguard Jain publishing group in the US. Having played an important role in the establishment and organization of pan-American Jain associations such as JAINA (Federation of Jain Associations in North America) and the Jain Study Center, the Boston community both heralds and reflects the current developments in American Jainism.

The past decade has been a period of major changes for the community. With the growth of the information technology job market the number of South Asians-and thus Jains-has more than doubled in the past decade, many of South Asian immigrants arriving in metropolitan areas like Greater Boston in search of educational and career opportunities. Whereas in the 1960's there were no more than a dozen Jain families in Boston, most of whom had plans to return to India, today there are more than 400 resident Jain families in Massachusetts. The growth of the community has had a serious impact on the organization of its social and religious life. While newly arrived immigrants have filled the multi-sectarian temple of the Jain Center of Greater Boston, reviving its efforts to naturalize Jain beliefs and practices, they have also supported the creation of the more traditionally oriented single-sect Shvetambar Jain organization, the Jain Sangh of New England, which seceded from the Jain Center of Greater Boston in 2000.

My study discusses the developments within the Greater Boston Jain community in light of the larger trends in American Jainism. In the course of the summer I have attended and documented the activities of both temples where I made acquaintance with many of the community's members. I have spoken both formally and informally to a number of local Jains learning the details about the social and religious life of the community. While working locally, I tried to look beyond Boston-at the broader trends and tendencies within Jain communities across the country-observing the efforts to overcome sectarian issues and to preserve tradition; the attempts to establish inter-ethnic and inter-religious networks of connection; and the larger issues of transmission, preservation and adaptation of Jain beliefs and practices on the American soil.

Being particularly interested in the future of Jainism in America, I devoted a substantial portion of my study to the questions faced by Jain youth. I attended the Convention of Young Jains of America, a national Jain youth organization, which provided me with important insights into the life of American-raised Jains. In parallel, I have been conducting a nation-wide survey among the college-aged American Jains, which gave me further insight into the visions and challenges of the next generation of Jainism and Jains in America.