Jain Diaspora: An Examination of the Performative Practices of Jain Diaspora Associations in Belgium

Introduction

Migration of Jains around the globe and a growing diasporic consciousness has induced processes of articulation, mobilisation and negotiation to acquire an independent identity and secure continuation of the Jain religious traditions in new contexts. In 2010, the Jain community in Belgium in association with the Jain Cultural Centre Antwerp (JCCA/VZW) inaugurated the Shankeshwar Pareshwanath Jain Derasar (Temple) and Meditation Centre at Wiljrik in Antwerp. By forming diaspora associations and creating a place of worship, the Jain diaspora in Belgium has not only established a “new geography of belonging” (Vertovec 1997) but also played an instrumental role in articulation of a matrix of cultural, religious, socio-political, economic and historical elements that inform its diasporic identity.

Its performative practices of asserting a negotiated sense of belonging invite us to think of such forms of diasporic architecture and associations as rich spaces of communication when addressing issues of religion, identity, free expression and representation in both private and public sphere within the realm of diaspora studies. Many researchers would argue that this could be considered true of many other South Asian diasporic communities like the Sikh or the Hindu diaspora who create places of worship to rebuild solidarity and ensure inter-generational transmission of culture (Gallo 2012; Knott 2009; Krause 2008; Hirvi 2010). Thus, what is it that still makes the analysis of performative practices of articulation of Jain diasporic identity in Belgium, a relevant and necessary case study?

The Jain diaspora in Belgium has been chosen for this study for its distinct migration history (different than many other religious diasporic communities and also some Jain diasporic communities in the world) and its distinctive religious traditions which involves promotion of vegetarianism, ahimsa, anekaantvaad (many-sided truths) and ecological harmony. Unlike many other immigrants, this comparatively small group in Belgium holds considerable financial means and contrasts the financial straits that characterize many Diaspora communities. The impact of this Jain capital-linked diaspora group is tremendous on Indian economy as it has been playing a crucial rule between India and the global industry. Given its strong family ties and economic connections in India, ambivalence with respect to its national identity has been less of an issue than negotiating its religious identity. It is in this context that this research paper aims to show the complex processes underlying the Jain diasporic group’s performative practices of acculturation in the Belgian public sphere and hopes to add to the growing research body of Jain diaspora studies.

In order to meet the aims, this paper draws on several research papers concerning South Asian diasporic material cultures and basic fieldwork that was carried out between May 2015 and August 2015 amongst Jain immigrants including the authorities of JCCA whom I spoke to during my visit to the temple and the meditation centre in Antwerp and members found with the help of the official Facebook page of JCCA. Based on these investigations and to provide an in-depth discussions on the performative practices of Jain diaspora in revealing, negotiating and mobilising their religious diasporic identity, I have divided the paper into three sections to examine the following basic questions: Who exactly constitute the Jain diaspora in Belgium and since when? Where mainly are they located in Belgium? What are their performative practices and activities and how have they carved out a place for themselves in the religious landscape of Belgian society? What is the impact and why is such a study significant within the broader realm of diaspora studies?

Jain Diaspora in Belgium

The Jain diaspora in Belgium constitutes mainly of merchants and their families who migrated during the British colonisation period in India along the trade networks of the diamond business and eventually settled in Antwerp. As compared to the Jains in UK who migrated twice, first from India to South Africa, and in the 60s - 70s to England or the USA, the Jain merchants now living in Antwerp migrated internally from regions in the state of Gujarat (mostly Surat and Palanpur) to Mumbai in India and then to the shores of the Antwerp in Belgium. With their families, the Jain merchants established themselves in Antwerp after World War II and since 1960s the Jain community in the diamond sector grew. Today Belgium hosts a well-organised Jain community consisting of about 400 families, numbering about 1500 persons, most between 40 and 60 years old with Belgian nationality or an unlimited residence permit. In the early humble days, the Jain merchants settled close to the diamond centre, where many Jewish families engaged in the same trade lived as well.

However, today many Jain families live in the posh locality of Wiljrik, a suburban area in Antwerp and some also live in Edegem and Schoten districts. The Jain diaspora consists of various subgroups of the Svetambara tradition. Only one family belongs to the Digambara tradition. The members of the families are spread over two main branches of the Svetambara: The Deravasi (temple-worshippers) and the Sthanakvasi (meditators in an empty hall). While Deravasi and Sthanakvasi are equal in number, a small group of around thirty families belongs to the Shrimad Rajchandra Movement, and around ten families are Terapanthi (sect of Jains who follow Acharya Bhikshu Swami’s 13 religious principles) (Roos 2011). A majority of these Jain families who are involved in the diamond trade rely on the large cheap skilled workforce in India to cut cheap diamonds and the Indian industry relies on Jain traders in Antwerp and other world centres of rough diamond trade to get their roughs and find markets. Santosh Kedia, a diamond trader explained how most Jain diamond traders were helped by links to diamond-processing facilities in cities like Surat in Gujarat, where skilled labour is abundant and costs are as little as a tenth of the European equivalent. “For us, sending rough diamonds to India for processing isn’t outsourcing as much as homesourcing.” In the past 20 years, the Indian share of Antwerp’s €29-billion a year diamond revenues has grown from a meagre 25 per cent to roughly 70 per cent (while the Jewish share has fallen from 70 per cent to approximately 25 per cent) according to the Antwerp World Diamond Center. During January-September 2014, India’ export to Belgium stood at € 3.27 billion in which gems and jewellery constituted around 47% of total export to Belgium and India’s import from Belgium stood at € 6.52 billion in which unworked diamonds constituted 83.2 % of total imports from Belgium. It is further interesting to note that majority of the companies engaged in this bilateral trade are run by Jain Gujaratis living in Antwerp. In 2006, five of the eleven board members elected in the Antwerp World Diamond Centre were Indians, majority being Jains and in the same year, the Belgian king Albert II awarded the title of baron to Dilip Mehta, a Jain diamond merchant who has been residing in Belgium since 1973.

These facts and figures clearly demonstrate that the Jain diasporic group in Belgium, “an upwardly mobile class of rooted cosmopolitans” (Appiah 1997: 618), has extremely close relations with both the Belgian and the Indian government and its economically powerful position has aided an easier dialogue with the public sphere of both countries. Being an occupationally homogenous and affluent community, the socio-cultural needs of this community demanded a common place to assert its distinctive religious identity from other members of the religious Indian diasporic communities and create spaces through which they could communicate the project of Jainism, show a progressive emancipation of the community in Belgium and express its emotional ties with India.

Monumentalising a Peaceful Identity

The Jain diaspora in Antwerp facilitated the building of “Shri Shankheshwar Parshvanath Jain Derasar (Temple)” and the “Jain Upashraya (Meditation Centre)” in Wiljrik which was inaugurated in 2010, about 15 years later since the temple’s first stone was laid. The first of its kind on the European continent and one of the biggest Jain shrines outside India, it was built with the help of 12 diamond trading members of the JCCA, the SCI (Sports Club of India (Antwerp), the Belgian government and craftsmen hired from India.

The construction of the temple, mediation centre and the sports complex around it brings to fore the ways in which the Jain diasporic community attempts to renew the relationships within and beyond the community in urban diasporic context. As stated above, the Jain community in Antwerp consists of worshippers of temple (Deravasis) and meditators (Sthankavasis) who have different set of rituals in practicing Jainism. However, the presence of both the temple and the meditation centre in one complex fosters a kind of unity amongst its members as they come together to organise various activities and celebrate annual festivals like Gyan Puja and Paryushan on the same days unlike many of their counterparts in India. Bearing in mind the feasibility of inviting Jain monks (who as per their faith do not use any means of motor transport to travel) and other issues stimulated by conditions of ‘diaspora’ coupled with the concept of religious pluralism, Jains not only in Belgium but all over the world seem to have undergone a religious self-consciousness to realize that the hegemonic faith underpinning previous contexts are no longer operational. Like many other religious diasporic communities, they have attempted to rationalize and justify elements of belief and practice to members of their own faith and other faiths. The diasporic Jain seems no longer a Jain happening to live abroad, but one beginning to be transformed by one’s diasporic conditions and experiences. Both questions “What shall I believe” and “How shall I believe it?” thereby become relevant in their context. Like many other religions, they face the dilemma of keeping aspects associated with past religious practice that contain the fundamentals to the continuation of their unique religion and other aspects that no longer seem fundamental, relevant and feasible. Thus, the process of searching for an adaptive strategy in the specific diasporic conditions becomes the attempt to distinguish what is essential in the religion and what is not.

In order to spread awareness about Jainism as a way of life and shape it into a world religion, the selected principles of vegetarianism, ahimsa (non-violence), anekaantvaada (many sided truth) and ecological harmony have appeared to be high in the agenda of the Jain diasporic pro-activism all over the world and especially in Belgium. The promotional video which was broadcasted during the inauguration of the temple sent these message loud and clear as it lay the agendas and motives behind the creation of the temple and the meditation centre. The architecture and the process of the building of the temple itself provides useful insights into some of its adaptive and promotional strategies of Jain principles. By using solar energy and minimum water, the temple was erected using large stack of Makrana marbles imported from India and without any use of iron and cement. Besides, with the help of the Belgian government, the JCCA took initiatives to plant 108 (being an auspicious number for Jains) trees in the suburban areas of Antwerp thereby spreading the message of ecological harmony, asserting the temple as a “monument of peace” in tandem with the city’s branding campaign slogan “the city belongs to everybody” and values “ecological harmony” and “peace”.

Besides, the anjanshaala of the idol (the process of according it with divinity) was done in 2007 in Gujarat in India as per the rules of the Jain traditions carried out by Jain monks, who have a massive following in both India and abroad (most of whom vow to not use motor-based means of transport and therefore make limited travels). When the main idol was brought to Antwerp, a huge procession was carried which not only indicates a celebration of the success of creating a place of worship but also claiming an interaction with the public sphere in Antwerp, gaining public visibility of differences and providing an heterogeneous understanding of their religion which remained secluded from the rest. According to Paresh Sanghvi, a diamond trader and one of the trustees of the temple: “The temple showcases the rich traditions of our religion and culture. We will not be here one day, but this temple will continue to remain a symbol of our tradition for the future generations. This temple not only strengthens the bonding between Jain community people in Antwerp, but also among other Indian communities living in Antwerp. Antwerp has been very warm to the Indian community, and the temple is our way of giving something back to the city. It would not have been possible to build the temple without support from authorities”

Besides, although the temple is primarily a marker of religious identity, it also projects a national feeling or belonging to India as the president of JCCA states: “We have projected a good profile of the Indian community in tune with India’s rich cultural heritage. The Jain temple and the Cultural Centre will become a major attraction to the city of Antwerp. Also, got messages from Gujarat Chief Minister and the Governor of the Province of Antwerp. The Governor said that the temple tells us that the Jain community has taken Antwerp in their hearts and intends to stay forever. It is now a landmark for Belgium, Flanders, the province and the city of Antwerp.” These comments highlight the spatial importance of religious places in relation to wider socio-economic and political context. For the local leaders in Belgium, there seems to be a recognition of religious pluralism in a symbolic way and ensure their city remains in a global network and a billion dollar trade. However, it is also important to highlight the fact that a public visibility of religious places and activities brings them closer to the sociological reality of immigrants and in their activities in the realm of public scrutiny and surveillance.

In addition to the fact that the Jain religious traditions are now more in the realm of public than they have ever been before, what is crucial at this point is to highlight the impact of the creation of these places in the lives of Jain women, most of them who have always been in the private realm of homes carrying out individual culturally- inherited religious practices. Thus, the interest of this study also lies in the impact of the presence of temple on the daily life of Jain women and their feelings of home, belonging and identity. Given the fact that most of them have engaged only in household work since only the men in the family have been involved in the male-dominated business of diamonds, it is significant to examine how the lives of women have intertwined with the existence of the temple and the meditation centre itself. The setting is different but we try to follow all the rituals with no difference at all!- Jain woman resident in Wiljrik “Visual signifiers have metonymical qualities, they resonate with the past, but are positioned in the present” (Tolia-Kelly 2010). The presence of the temple offers multisensory recollections of the past, nodes of belonging to India, but is constituted in Belgium reflecting the dynamic value of visual religious culture and diasporic identity – an ambivalent relationship. The temple in Antwerp seem to reflect a collage of images, many social moments and shared spaces back into the Indian homes where like in Belgium, their houses were mostly in the same complex as the Jain temple. By absorbing oneself into the daily activity of going to the temple, conducting “pooja” and praying, they secrete a historical context to these rituals. As they trigger memories they operate on many scales of time, their reflectivity enhances the meaning of the place of worship personally, culturally and these rituals in turn produce new meanings and memories for the women, and their families. The scent, touch, sight and sound of stavanas (devotional songs), temple bell, scent of camphor, incense, sandalwood, the feel of making “gahuli” (auspicious symbolic patterns drawn with rice) or the sight of religious icons are of real textures, referencing religious rites and practice.

These practices also form a part of situating and socialising their children and bringing to the centre the Jain principles and highlighting their social and personal significance. Besides, the Jain women in the diaspora belonging to different sects have now begun to socialise and share their narratives more often as they have a common place that allows for greater dynamism in everyday life. While the men are most often busy travelling with regards to their diamond business or organising cricket matches in the sports complex (next to the temple), the first and second generation women have begun to organise their daily life around the temple and take initiatives at the micro level to organise charity events, talent competitions and several religious activities. Although several decades have passed, one still sees very few Jain women engaging with the public sphere of Belgium and the diamond trading business still remains a sector dominated by the Jain male diaspora. From the above analysis, one can infer that the resources of the economically self-sustaining Jain capital-linked diaspora allows it to alter and engage with the local, cultural and religious landscape to leave their religious trademark in the form of symbolic diasporic capital structures like the temple and the meditation centre, thus marking a shift away from practising in the invisible private sphere.

Intra-networking Through Internet

However, as mentioned earlier, the development of religious diasporic infrastructure does not automatically imply smooth transmission of religious traditions of home in new contexts. The continuation and the transmission of Jain traditions in the diaspora rely on certain adaptive strategies of its lay community and their ability to maintain transnational ties with Jain spiritual leaders and their religious centres. Electronically mediated communication which facilitates the exchange of information and transnational consumption hereby plays a pivotal role. According to the JCCA board member, “the temple unites not only the community, but also the East and the West. It includes Antwerp in a sacred route of yatra (pilgrimage) and attracts different spiritual leaders such as Art of Living Foundation’s Sri Ravi Shankar” (Mehta 2010).

Given the community’s affluence, it easily affords access to various media and to communication technologies that it can control and manipulate in order to connect to (or disconnect from) individuals and communities in their neighbourhood or in distant places. The JCCA, through its official Facebook page and the Jain Ashram, through its official website constantly update content related to its religious activities to inform members of the Jain Diaspora around the world and Jains back in India thereby keeping them in the same loop. Although not at a grand scale like other online portals maintained by the JAINA in the US, the JCCA promotes the Jain principles of ahimsa, ecological harmony and vegetarianism by uploading didactic videos of Jain monks in India preaching the religion, sharing factual information regarding activities of Jains in India and abroad and advertising its own religious events and activities. These new social worlds on the internet not only help them with an intra-networking of information with Jains in Belgium and elsewhere but also develop and maintain relations across distance with family, kin, and communities most of whom form a significant part of their multi-national diamond business.

This cosmopolitan condition where there is constant mobility and mediation, the Jain diaspora in Belgium show that identity is not only about what is inside a group and continuity, but also about negotiating the limits of representation in the social spaces where they find themselves. The Jain trader diaspora has constantly made efforts to inform itself of the politics and the culture of India, Belgium and other sections of the diaspora communities around them to construct a world of “critical proximity” (Beck, 2002: 24. They are married to places in different worlds and cultures and live their diasporic identity as “multi-positioned in symbolic and geographical spaces”. As one of the Jain traders blatantly mentions, “We are married to our business. We will work at night and on the weekend. And we are willing to work this hard even for small margins.” There seems to be a capitalist desire in some to project an image of the community as upwardly mobile transnational businessmen distant from the desire of an inward looking religious or nationalistic identity. But on the other hand, there seems to rise an ambivalent relationship between these identities as he also continued “You can go to a cocktail party if it’s necessary for business. But that doesn’t mean you should drink yourself (Jains are forbidden from alcohol by religious strictures). Never be ashamed of who you are. I think our challenge is really to learn how to keep some distance between ourselves and the Belgians on the one hand, and learn from them on friendly terms, on the other.”

Besides, Aditya Jasani, another diamond trader maintains, “Most of us still live like expats. We have one foot here, but another foot in India. Belgium is for business only. It’s not our home.” Interestingly, the best-financed cricket club in Belgium, “Blommaert” also called the “Antwerp Indians”, whose members comprised the prosperous diamond traders does not sportingly permit anyone not of Indian origin to join their club. Moreover, one observes hardly an inter-religion marriage cases amongst this community as most marriage seem to an outcome of deals between two trading giants of the same community. Also, despite the community’s public statements about the temple’s value to Belgian society (publicity video claimed it enhanced “the glory of Belgium” and was intended as a “return gift to the country” from the Jain community), the only outsiders visible amongst the celebration of the opening ceremony of the temple were a clutch of waiters.

These contrasting viewpoints enables a reflection on the globalization of Jainism and the ambivalent transformation of Jains into cosmopolites of their own sort. One of the key principles stressed by many Jain diaspora communities across the globe is that of “anekaantavaad” that is relative pluralism or multiple viewpoints to generate a dialogue that helps in narrowing down areas of conflicts and promotes peace. In this paper, I argue that the places of worship created by the Jain diaspora and their use of the internet are itself sites of “anekaantvaad” that allow for a ventilation of several encounters with the private and the public sphere to engender new sensibilities and bring to fore the shuttering ambivalences of this community.

Conclusion

This research has shown that within an accommodative framework, institutionalising the concept of respect and encounter in the public sphere consisting of several diaspora communities, the local government can play a significant role in bridging and strengthening relationships by facilitating the creation of places and spaces for mutual exchange, dialogue and exposure to diversity. In addressing the basic questions mentioned in the introduction of this paper, I have tried to provide a basic framework to systematically work with the travelling definitions of diaspora by taking into account (a) aspects of historically conditioned structure (Who? Where? When?) (b) their performative and articulatory practices of different identities (What? How?) (c) the role and the intervention of the respective governmental authorities in different countries and the resultant impact of negotiation, and contestation within and between personal and public identities.