The Assembly of Listeners
Jains in Society

The Jains have exerted an influence on Indian Society and religion out of proportion with their relatively small numbers.

Michael Carrithers (Edited by), Caroline Humphrey (Edited by)

9780521365055, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 4 April 1991

344 pages
23.7 x 15.9 x 2.5 cm, 0.632 kg

Review of the hardback: ' … a volume whose imaginative conception and meticulous execution cannot fail to win one's respect.' Ethnos

The Jains have exerted an influence on Indian Society and religion out of proportion with their relatively small numbers. The Assembly of Listeners: Jains in Society addresses the sociology of the Jains and discusses the notion of the 'community' based on religious affiliation in India. Topics covered include Jain ideals and identity; women in the Jains community; popular Jainism; Jain reform and Jain identity in the UK. This collection is an important theoretical addition to the study of Indian society, which has previously focused mainly on caste and class politics as the fundamental social units. With much recent fieldwork providing unique information on the ethnography of the Jains, this study will prove indispensable to any scholar interested in this little-known but highly influential social group.

List of illustrations
List of contributors
Acknowledgements
Introduction Michael Carrithers and Caroline Humphrey
1. Jains as a community: a position paper Michael Carrithers and Caroline Humphrey
Part I. Jain Ideals and Jain Identity: 2. Jain ideals and Jain identity Michael Carrithers
3. Somadeva Suri and the question of Jain canon K. R. Norman
5. Women and the reproduction of the Jain community Josephine Reynell
Part II. Local Jain Communities: 6. Local Jain communities Caroline Humphrey
7. The Jain merchant castes of Rasthan: some aspects of the management of social identity in a market town Christine M. Cottam Ellis
8. Jain shopkeepers and moneylenders: rural informal credit networks in south Rajasthan J. Howard M. Jones
9. A study of Jains in a Rajasthan town N. K. Singhi
Part III. Jains In The Indian World: 10. Jains in the Indian world Michael Carrithers
11. The Digambara Jain warrior Paul Dundas
12. Is there a popular Jainism? Padmanabh Jaini
13. Fairs and miracles: at the boundaries of the Jain community in Rajasthan Caroline Humphrey
Part IV. New Jain Institutions In India and Beyond: 14. New Jain institutions in India and beyond Caroline Humphrey
15. Reform movements among jains in modern India Vilas Sangave
16. Orthodoxy and dissent: varieties of religious belief among immigrant Gujarati jains in Britain Marcus Banks
17. The foundations of community among southern Digambar Jains: an essay on rhetoric and experience Michael Carrithers
Conclusion Michael Carrithers and Caroline Humphrey
Glossary and pronunciation
Select bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography [JHMC]