Little known outside India, Jainism spreads at colleges amid calls to ‘decolonize’ studies

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Los Angeles — Cerritos College in Norwalk — where the majority of students are Latino and the first in their families to attend college — is a stone’s throw from Southern California’s famed “Little India,” a stretch of clothing and jewelry shops, groceries and restaurants in Artesia.

Not far away, in Buena Park, the temple at the Jain Center of Southern California draws legions of followers of Jainism, a little-known, millennia-old Indian religious and philosophical tradition.

So when retired gastroenterologist and Jain devotee Jasvant Modi sought to spread knowledge of the faith, Cerritos College seemed like the perfect fit. He and his wife Meera, along with donors Harshad and Raksha Shah, last month pledged $1 million to fund an endowed scholar of Jain Studies at the community college.

They are among a small but dedicated group of American Jain donors who are seeking to expand U.S. awareness of this ancient belief system and its teachings beyond an estimated 5 million to 10 million mainly Indian followers. And they think academia is the best place to do so, especially at a time of increasing calls to move away from Euro-centric perspectives in education.

Modi hopes to reach more people with the Jain teachings of ahimsa, or nonviolence in thought, word, and deed; nonpossessiveness; and acceptance of multiple viewpoints.

“Those are really the fundamental building blocks of modern society and a democracy, which kind of fits well into our centuries-old teaching,” he said. “If we can spread that word out … to students from high school to the undergraduate and graduate level, we can build a society that is more tolerant.”

In the last decade, donors have funded endowed positions in Jain studies at a dozen universities, including UC Davis, Irvine, Riverside and Santa Barbara, the Cal State campuses of Northridge and Long Beach, and Loyola Marymount University. They have also sponsored lectureships and post-doctoral fellowships at other universities. They estimate they have reached hundreds of students directly but that the ripple effects will extend to thousands.

Jainism, which derives its name from the Sanskrit word jina, meaning “a victor” — referring to one who has overcome attachments to worldly things and passions — has been a part of religious studies in the West for decades. But its place has been at the margins or as part of broader scholarship on Asian religions or philosophies, in part because there were so few specialists.

“Jainism is a very old tradition with a very rich history of nonviolence, ecology, environment, respect for women, business ethics … I could go on,” said Sulekh Jain, a retired engineer and leader in the American Jain community. “But many of these things were not being represented.”

About two decades ago, he and a handful of others set out to expand scholarship on Jainism. They established the International School for Jain Studies in India, offering programs for overseas scholars. Some 800 students have attended, with many going on to pursue graduate-level study.

“Now we have scholars who could be employed in universities — previously we didn’t have any,” Jain said. “We had to start finding the donors, the promoters, and … universities that were interested.”

In 2010 Jain donors established the first endowed professorship of Jain studies at Florida International University. In the years following they cultivated partnerships with more universities, particularly in Southern California.

Their goal is not to proselytize; Jains don’t practice conversion. But along the path of learning, some have come to believe as well.

Christopher Miller, who became the Bhagwan Mallinath assistant professor of Jain studies at Loyola Marymount University in January, was first introduced to Jainism in an undergraduate class at LMU on religions of India.

“It just blew my mind,” he said. “The idea of being nonviolent not just to other human beings but to all forms of life was so new and fascinating to me.”

Miller, who was studying accounting, went on to earn a Ph.D. in religious studies and now teaches about Jainism and yoga. To implement nonviolence in his own life, he became a vegan and stopped killing ants and spiders that invaded his home. He grows his own vegetables without pesticides and drives an electric car to minimize harm to the environment. And his family scaled back their consumption, forgoing furniture and sleeping on mattresses on the floor.