(RNS) — Dr. Jasvant Modi has had a front-row seat to the growth of the Indian community in the United States since he immigrated in 1975.
When he arrived, “there wasn’t a place where we could get together and celebrate our rituals or festivals or even a social activity,” he told RNS. “It was the beginning of the Indian community.”
Gradually, Hindu immigrants sprouted hundreds of houses of worship across the country, from single-deity altars in old church buildings to sprawling campuses with architecture rivaling India’s own.
But still, Modi, a retired physician who has lived in Los Angeles since 1983, said Jains like himself — followers of a minority Indian religion that emphasizes nonviolence and who do not believe in a ‘creator’ God — were misunderstood. When asked “Are you a Hindu?” by his patients and colleagues, Modi responded, “Not exactly.”
“Many of the principles of Jainism are kind of related to Buddhism and Hinduism, but we are not actually Hindu,” said Modi.
This misunderstanding extended to academic settings, Modi said, adding that some religious studies departments at the time hadn’t even discussed Jainism.
Dr. Jasvant Modi. (Courtesy photo)
“We felt that university education is a gnan mandir (temple of knowledge),” he said. “Somebody needs to take an initiative to make ourselves known and to change the narrative.”
A group of Jain immigrants set out to make that change starting in the early 2000s, and their grassroots efforts have paid off in the academic world. Since 2010, over 30 American universities have adopted either Jain studies lectureships, endowed chairs, distinguished professorships or postdoctoral fellowships thanks to large, individual donations from Jain families like Modi’s.
Revealed to the public last month, Modi donated $1.5 million to establish the Bhagawan Abhinandan Endowed Chair for Jain Studies and Religions of South Asia at the University of California, Los Angeles, the first endowed professorship in the field at the university.
Modi and his wife, Meera, have also given hundreds of thousands of dollars to create university programs, including at UC Santa Barbara and California State University’s Long Beach and Northridge campuses — donations he credits to his Jain beliefs.
“In Jainism, there is a value of aparigraha, which means nonpossessiveness,” said Modi, who owns and operates several assisted living facilities. “That means if you have more than you need, you should give for the benefit of other people.”
Sulekh Jain, founder of JAINA, the largest Jain organization in the U.S., said this Jain value is …