Although the Jains have a religious history spanning two-and -a-half millennia Western scholars have shown little interest in them until recently. Drawing on fieldwork conducted among Jains in the Indian state of Gujarat and a migrant Gujarati Jain group in Leicester, England, Marcus Banks aims to provide an understanding of contemporary Jain identity through an examination of their social and religious organizations. The first part of the book describes the array of religious and caste organizations found among Jains in the Indian city of Jamnagar and how Jains from Jamnagar and elsewhere in Gujarat migrated to East Africa, transforming their organizations in the process. The second part looks at the new forms of organization that have developed among the Jains who came to Leicester from East Africa and the part these have played in changing perceptions of Jainism itself. Throughout the book Dr Banks plays special attention to the use and transformation of urban space by religious and other groups, and he concludes with comments on the definition of religion and religious identity. This is one of the first book-length studies of the Jains as a migrant group overseas, where they are studied in their own right rather than simply as an ethnic minority. It will be valuable both for its documentation of a small but influential population and for its direct comparison of aspects of communal and religious organization in India and the UK.
Reviews
`While this book is a technical book aimed at scholars of religion and anthropologists, the clarity of Banks' prose expands his audience to other interested readers ... Banks' study will serve as an invaluable resource for those interested in religions of emigr^d'es, lay religiosity, Jainism and religions of India.' The Religious Studies Review
`well-revised dissertation ... Although this is a technical book aimed at scholars of religion and anthropologists, the clarity of Banks's prose expands his audience to other interested readers. Banks's study will serve as an invaluable resource for persons interested in religions of emigres, lay religiosity, Jainism, and religions of India' Religious Studies Review
'a descriptive one, and the first of its kind written by a Western author about Jainism and the changes it has under gone ... Extensive field-work, covering a parallel study of the groups in Jamnagar in India and Leicester in England has gone into this work of research. The various dominant and smaller "Jatis" of Jainism are discussed vividly by the writer.' Girija Rao, Hindustan Times
`This volume is unique in providing a most interesting account of anthropological fieldwork in two Jain communities, not unrelated, but separated in time and space ... Adorned with attractive 20 black and white photographs, the study provides a fascinating account of Jainism in a traditional Gujarati city as well as a city in Britain where Jains, to use Richard Burghart's term, live in "an alien milieu" ... Banks provides a lucid and articulate account of his fieldwork.' Asian Affairs
`An anthropological study such as this provides an excellent tool both for introducing Jainism as a religious tradition and for looking at the transplantation of a religious tradition to the United Kingdom.' Theological Book Review
`a pioneering study of Jainism in three locales ... With remarkable details and sensitivity, Banks narrates contemporary Jain life in Saurashtra and Leicester ... this book provides significant information on the practical observance of contemporary Jainism' Jinamanjari



Book Information
ISBN 9780198273882
Author Marcus Banks
Format Hardback
Page Count 282
Imprint Clarendon Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 502g
Dimensions(mm) 223mm * 143mm * 21mm