[2][3] Per the 2011 census, there are 4,451,753 Jains in the 1.35 billion population of India, the majority living in Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka.

[4][5][6][7][8] Like most ancient Indian religions, Jainism has its roots from the Indus Valley civilization, reflecting native spirituality prior to the Indo-Aryan migration into India.

[9][10][11] Other scholars suggested the Shramana traditions were separate and contemporaneous with Indo-Aryan religious practices of the historical Vedic religion.

[12] In August 2005, the Supreme Court of India ruled that Jainism, Sikhism (and Buddhism) are distinct religions but are inter-connected and inter-related to Hinduism, so these three are part of wider broader Hindu religion, based on the historic background on how the Constitution had come into existence after.

[17] Though Jains already had minority status in 11 states of India including Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, in 2005 a petition was filed with Supreme Court of India, by community representatives, which was also backed by the National Minorities Commission.