Taking the census figures as they stand, it can be safely stated
that the Jaina population has been steadily
increasing during the last fifty years and that this increase has been
quite noticeable in the last two decades of 1951 to 1961 and 1961 to 1971.
The percentage increase of Jainas during 1971
to 1981 compares very favorably with the corresponding increase in the
other religious communities as given in Table No. 42
From these figures it is evident that the percentage increase of
the Jainas during 1971-81 was less than that
of the Hindus, the Sikhs and tile Muslims, but it was more than that of
the Buddhists and the, Christians.
Regarding the steady increase in Jaina
population it may be further noted that this increase is not at all due to
the conversion of persons of other faiths to Jainism as
proselytising activities are practically
1. Census of India, 1971: Series 1 - India; Paper 2 of 1972 on
�Religion�, p. xiii.
2. Census of India 1981: Series 1 - India, Paper 3 of 1984 on
�Household Population by Religion of Head of Household� p. viii.
TABLE NO. 4
Major Religious
Percentage Increase
Communities
1971-1981
Hindus
24.15
Muslims
30.59
Christians
16.77
Sikhs
26.15
Buddhists
22.52
Jainas
23.69
conspicuous by their absence among the Jainas
during the last many centuries.
It is true that the population of Jainas
in 1981 (32,06,038) increased by 126.3 per cent over the
Jaina population in 1891 (14,16,177), but
still we find that at present the proportion of Jaina
population to total population of India is less than what it was in 1891.
The proportion of Jainas per 10,000 of the
total population in India during the last 10 Censuses is given in Table
No. 5.
From the above Table it is clear that the
Jaina community now stands at 0.48 per cent of the total population
of India instead of 0.49 per cent in 1891. In other words per 10,000 of
the total population of India, the proportion of
Jainas was 49 in 1891 and 48 in 1981. It means that during the last
10 censuses the proportion of Jainas to the
total population has not improved but has actually declined to some
extent. In fact this decline was more marked at tile 4 censuses from 1911
to 1941. Taking into consideration the more or less settled nature of the
Jaina community, the rate at which the
Jaina population declined during this period
was quite alarming. That is why the social demographers and the census
authorities of that period discussed the problem and tried to give some
causes for it. �This (gradual decrease) is probably due in part to the
practice of child marriage and the prohibition of widow remarriage, and
partly also to the small size
TABLE NO. 5
Year Number per 10,000 of
the population
who are
Jainas
1891 49
1901 45
1911 40
1921 37
1931 36
1941 37
1951 45
1961 46
1971 47
1981 48
of the community, which attracting as it does no adherents from out. side,
cannot increase at the same rate as much larger ones. Dr.
Guha suggests with some force that the
Jainas have a lowered fertility and an
increased infant mortality rate on account of their division into small
endogamous groups, some of which in Ahmedabad
do not exceed 500 souls�.1 Many of these causes still hold good for the
Jaina community even to the present day, and
it is obvious that unless strenuous efforts are made by the
Jainas to remove these causes, their
proportion to general population will not appreciably increase.
2. REGIONAL DISTRIBUTION
The Jaina community is spread all
over India, right from Kashmir to Kerala and
from Gujarat to Nagaland. The total
Jaina population and the distribution of
Jaina population and
Jaina Households
1. Census of India, 1931, Vol.I, Part I, p.
389.
according to 1981 census in the States and Union Territories are given in
Appendix I. From this Appendix it is evident that even though the
Jainas have dispersed over the entire country,
they show signs of concentration in certain States only. The percentage
distribution, in the descending order, of the Jaina
population in States and Union Territories as per 1981 Census is given in
Appendix II.
From this Appendix II it is clear that the
Jainas are concentrated largely in the Western Region of India. The
Maharashtra State has got the maximum
population of the Jainas among the different
States and Union Territories of India and this State accounts for more
than one-fourth (i.e. 29.31 per cent) of the total population of the
Jainas. Maharashtra
is followed by Rajasthan (19.47 per cent), Gujarat (14.60 per cent) and
Madhya: Pradesh (13.89 per cent) and these four States account for more
than three-fourths (i.e. 77.27 per cent) of the total population of the
Jainas. The States of Karnataka (9.29 per
cent) and Uttar Pradesh (4.42 per cent) stand next in importance from the
point of view of concentration of the Jaina
population. Thus in these six States 89.98 per cent of the
Jainas are concentrated and the rest 10.02 per
cent of the Jainas are scattered over the
remaining 23 States and Union Territories of India.
