This paper explores how mobility and technology are entangled in creating a shared mental map of the Jain world. As mendicants and other influential Jain figures travel between communities, and report to different audiences, a shared understanding of the geography and boundaries of the Jain world emerges. Although this is not new, I argue its workings merit scholarly attention as the aspects of technology and mobility that shape the shared imagination of a connected Jain world have been subject to change since the mid-19th century.
This paper examines a 1952 travelogue and social media pages of prominent Jain figures (2024-2025) to show how the use of newly adopted technologies by these travelling Jain figures provokes a reconsidering of the imagined map of Jainism, suggesting the inclusion or repositioning of previously excluded or peripheral spaces, which is essential to the integration of overseas communities into an imagined global community of Jains.