The Pluralism Project at Harvard University

Demographics

The Study Center encompasses nearly the entire Jain population in the Triangle, and has approximately 40 to 45 life members. This is usually supplemented by several additional people passing through the area for a time or visiting.

The ethnic composition of the Jain Study Center is entirely Indian, with the majority (over 70%) Gujarati. Gujarati is therefore the primary language of the community.

In addition to the 40 to 45 lifetime members, there are approximately twenty children below the age of 8 that are part of the community

Affiliations:

The Jain community of the Triangle holds regular Saturday morning worship at the Hindu Bhavan (the temple building of the Hindu Society of North Carolina) in Morrisville.

Activities and Schedule

The Jain Study Center is very focused on education. Its main activity is a weekly study session on Thursdays from 8:00-9:30 pm. These study sessions are conducted in Gujarati. The other weekly religious activity is Mahavir Puja – worship of the Jain God – which takes places at the Hindu Bhavan in Morrisville.

In addition to worship on Saturdays and study on Thursdays, the group also runs a Sunday school program for its youth.

The Study Center invites 3 to 4 scholars yearly to stay in residence for a few weeks and lead study sessions. Additionally, the Jain community plans a yearly retreat at a local state park.

History

North Carolina saw its first significant Jain immigration following the 1965 federal immigration law reforms. Pravin Shah immigrated with this wave in 1967, and in 1979 founded the Jain Study Center of North Carolina in 1979. During the technology boom of the 1990s a second wave of Jain immigrants arrived in the Triangle, bolstering the numbers of the Jain community just after many of the first generation’s children were leaving for college or jobs.

Facilitites:

The center has no physical facilities.