Jain Monks And Nuns Who Left It All Up: From Diamond Heiress To Plastic Baron

Sadhvi Pragya Shree in a joyous mood after reading Jain religious beliefs | Praveen Jain | ThePrint

The Jain faith has a long-standing custom called Bal Diksha in which young children, sometimes as young as 8, give up their lives in the outside world to become monks or nuns in order to pursue their spiritual quest of achieving moksha (salvation from the never-ending cycle of rebirth).

Walking barefoot, only consuming one meal a day, and avoiding electricity and modern technology are all aspects of the monastic lifestyle.

The majority of the Jain population, according to the Pew Research Center, comes from wealthy families. Therefore, when their offspring give up the material world, they typically do so by abandoning safe family businesses. Most Surat-born young Jain nuns and monks have interesting backstories because their lives frequently involve leaving the diamond industry.

To get a closer look at the monastic life, photo editor Praveen Jain tracked the lives of a select group of people, the majority of whom were Jain sadhus and sadhvis from diamond trading families in Surat. In order to determine whether Jain children who are receiving training are qualified to take the vows of renunciation in the future, he also monitored their daily lives.

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