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During the ancient and medieval periods of Indian history, Jainism was a widely-spread religion all over the country, perhaps mainly due to royal patronage and/or protection. In modern times however, the number of its adherents has been reduced to minuscule proportions counting as low as about 1.2 million in 1921. Subsequently, the Jain population increased to about 1.6 million in 1951 census, and to about 4.5 million in 2011. Though small in number, today the Jains are to be found in all the states and union territories of India. This major trading community is highly concentrated in the western half of the country, particularly Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.

This anthology consisting of ten chapters written by distinguished experts on the subject, delineates the major demographic trends in the Jain population dynamics of India as they unfolded from census to census, from 1881 to 2011. Inter alia the book also highlights the socio-demographic problems and prospects of the Jain community in terms of urbanization, inter-state migration, low fertility rate, skewed gender ratios and their impact on marriage, highest literacy and yet the low work participation rate among the Jain women, etc. The book also includes a chapter on the population of Jains who live abroad, and another on under-enumeration of Jain population in Delhi in 2011 census.

The book would be a useful compendium for the experts as well as lay persons on the subject of Jain population and demography as it consolidates the available knowledge, census data and its analysis at one place.

Contents: Introduction/Prakash C. Jain. 1. Jain Population in India, 1881–1941/Kingsley Davis. 2. Jains as a Minority in Indian Society and History/Jagdish P. Sharma. 3. Jain Population, 1881–1971/Vilas A. Sangave. 4. Jains in India: How Many and Where?/M.K. Jain. 5. A Demographic Analysis on the Jains/M.K. Jain. 6. Jains in the Censuses of 1991 and 2001/Prakash C. Jain. 7. Jain Population and Demography, 2011/Prakash C. Jain. 8. Some Notes on the Jain Diaspora/Prakash C. Jain. 9. Jain Population Predicament: Need to Learn from the Parsi and Jewish Situations/Sulekh C. Jain and Yashwant K. Malaiya. 10. Under-Enumeration of Jain Population : Evidence from Two Delhi Surveys/Shugan C. Jain and Prakash C. Jain.