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From Rajasthan To Calcutta

The Jain Community in Calcutta exists...much the same way in which its serene temples do...quietly.

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From Rajasthan To Calcutta
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It's a cool, sunny winter morning and members of Calcutta's Mookim Family are preparing for a big Jain festival to take place at the family temple on January 28. They are sitting around on the long portico of their house, which is situated on one side of the temple. Descendents of Rai Badridas Seth, who established one of the first Swetambara Jain temples in Calcutta, the Mookims are amongst the first migrants of the Jain community to have arrived in Bengal. "Our ancestors originally came from Rajasthan," explains 68-year-old Jainendra Kumar Mookim, "But today we consider ourselves as much a part of Bengal as any Bengali would because we have been here for several generations." Indeed. All the members of the Mookim family speak fluent Bengali and they proudly proclaim it. "We may have the reputation of being a tight-knit community, which keeps to ourselves, but in reality we have assimilated ourselves with Bengal one hundred percent and in heart, mind and soul," says Mookim.

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Three of the many Jain temples are right in the heart of the city’s busy Shyamabazar area. "Calcutta has a large Jain community running into hundreds of thousands and we are deeply religious so you will find many temples across the city," Chanchal Mookim, a recently retired businessman, points out. It was in the early 1800s that the Jains first started arriving in Bengal. "Rajasthan was an arid and barren land and migrations to other parts of the country in search of livelihoods was a continuous process," explains Amit Nahar, an entrepreneur, who had started his own advertising agency and now runs his own travel agency. "The community spread out in different directions and one large section moved to Bengal."

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Initially, the Jains settled in North Bengal's Murshidabad district (famous for its silk). To explain the gradual movement south east towards Calcutta, Nahar cites the example of his own family. "In the early days, when our ancestors settled in North Bengal, they had become zamindars because they were gifted and sometimes entrusted with the responsibility of looking after acres and acres of land by the British or the Nawabs. They would either have donated the land or maybe collected a small rent. Our ancestors would in term have local farmers cultivate the land and get sacks of rice, grains, vegetables and other agricultural products from them in return." When the zamindaris began to disappear and the land was taken over by the government in the next couple of centuries, the community started moving towards the south. "Calcutta was the capital city of British India and so an important destination for the hardworking business community of the Jains." While the Nahars started a book business— Amit Nahar's parents ran one of the city's most successful wholesale suppliers of books from its office on Park Street— others from the Jain Community ventured into other trades. "Business and trade is in our blood," explains Chanchal Mookim. "The hardships of the deserts of Rajasthan has sharpened our entrepreneurial instincts and so establishing business come naturally to us." The Calcutta business and commercial districts are thriving with shops which are run by Jains.

While they are good at most trades, community members agree that when it comes to diamond jewellery and other gem and stone-setting businesses, it is hard to beat a Jain businessman. "The Jains are successful in business by the sheer dint of their hard work," says Kaku Das, a Bengali grocer. I am also a businessman but I lack their dedication. I like to close my shop in order to go home, have lunch and take an afternoon nap. Something I don't hear them doing." There are other reasons why the Jains can establish themselves successfully in any place, acclimatize themselves and grow roots until they become more indigenous than even the original inhabitants. "They are a non-aggressive, peace-loving people whose religion teaches them to be kind and non-violent. Their philosophy forbids taking life unnecessarily," says a Bengali theologian. "They don't clash with the locals when they migrate somewhere. They adapt." Typically, the Jains would rather not take the credit fully themselves. "Calcutta is also a friendly, cosmopolitan city," says Chanchal Mookim. "It embraces all races and religions. You can have a Bengali Hindu, a Bengali Muslim, a Bengali Christian, a Bengali Buddhist, a Bengali Sikh and even a Bengali Jain." The Jain Community in Calcutta exists...much the same way in which its serene temples do...quietly.

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