Pankaj Jain. Dharma in America: A Short History of Hindu-Jain Diaspora. London and New York: Routledge (Taylor & Francis Group), 2020. Pp. viii +149. ISBN 978-1-138-56545-6. Price: $ 38.98.

Abstract

The real objective of Professor Jain’s short and highly readable text is not very clear. The main title reads Dharma in America, that is, Religion, and the explanatory subtitle is “A Short History of Hindu-Jain Diaspora. But the Contents page lists topics about the socio-economic and-cultural achievements and contributions of the diasporic Indians—Hindu and Jain. His targeted readers are presumed to be aware of who the Hindus and Jains are. He never discusses the religious texts and tenets of these people he writes about, despite his brief and interesting personal autobiographical notes. Consequently, he does not tackle the vexed issue of the distinct or derivative identity of the Hindus and the Jains.
The erstwhile editor of the Times of India Girilal Jain opposed Jain separatedness. The Bharatiya Janata Party president Murli Manohar Joshi boldly declared in Antwerp in August 1992 that “Jains are the best Hindus of all.” Sādvī Dr. Sadhana of Ācārya Sushil Kumar Ashram, Delhi declared that “Jains and the other Hindus are the inheritors of a common heritage (Koenrad Elst, “Who is a Hindu?: Hindu Revivalist Views of Animism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Other Offshoots of Hinduism” [2001], ch. 7. koenradelst.bharatvani.org/books/wiah/ch7.htm. accesssed 2/22/2020)