Overview
The Jain Academic Bowl is a team competition for young Jains which is held biennially at the JAINA conventions. This competition tests the overall knowledge of students on Jain Philosophy, Jain History, Jain Conduct, Jain Literature, Ritual sutras, Tirthankars, Revered Jain personalities, the Jain Way of Life, and more. It also tests the ability of participants to answer quickly.
This competition is in a “Jeopardy” type of format. The participant teams “buzz in” to answer the questions. JAB is a great experience for all participants. It helps increase their knowledge of Jainism, provides opportunity to forge new friendships with Pathshala students in North America, and much more.
In the end, every participant is a winner because of the immense knowledge they acquire and the fun that they have as a participant in this team competition.
The Jain Academic Bowl Manual, also known as a Compendium of Jainism, is compiled using all Jain Pathashala textbooks and reference books of JAINA Education Material.
The JAB manual contains 6 sections:
- Basics
- Philosophy
- Conduct
- Rituals
- Jain History Literature & Sects
- Stories
It is a 400+ page manual, and all JAB questions will be created using this manual. All questions developed in the team packets should be based off the content in the JAB manual.
In the competition for Beginners Team and Juniors Team : Section K & L are excluded from the competition. For Senior Team, No Chapters are excluded; the entire manual is included for the competition.
What is JAB:
The Jain Academic Bowl is a fun-styled, knowledge-based team competition in a “jeopardy” format for young Jains which has been held biennially at the JAINA conventions for over two decades. Pathshala students, teachers, and coaches enjoy preparing and participating for this three-day long tournament, where the participants get to demonstrate their knowledge on Jain Philosophy, Jain Conduct, the Jain Way of Life, and much more. It also tests the ability of participants to answer speedily as this competition involves “buzzing in” to answer the questions.
Origin & History
The origin of this tournament date back to 1993 when two young Jains, Tejas Doshi and Saurabh Dalal, decided to form teams of pathshala students to compete in the first ever JAB tournament. This was received very well by other centers and immediately grew in popularity at every convention thereafter. Several other volunteers have helped carry on the torch through the years, namely Pradipbhai and Darshanaben Shah, Mukeshbhai Doshi, Pravinbhai Shah, Arpan, Shibani, and countless others.
During its initial years, the tournament had only one category in which the participants competed in. There are three game rounds named as Round 1 or the Individual Team Round, Round 2 or the Category Round, and Round 3 or the Grab Bag Round. Due to its instant success and the high demand from other Jain centers, the participants were divided into a Junior category of 14 years old and younger and Senior category of 21 years and younger. There are intense and fierce competitions amongst teams, at times to a point of deep contention over the answers to the questions. To help resolve such confrontations amicably, different Pathshala teachers were contacted, and with their efforts and many hours of hard work a JAB manual was created as a reference guide. Games were streamlined with the use of the JAB manual at all times, and participants competed in Junior and Senior categories.
The most recent upgrade in JAB is the addition of Beginner category of 12 years and younger. This category allows participants and sanghs who have never participated in a JAB tournament to compete against similarly equipped teams and not be intimidated by the more experienced JAB sanghs.
JAB at Present:
The growth of JAB through the years has been amazing as we measure its success by the number of participants and enthusiasm from Jains around the world. Due to the pandemic, JAB 2021 was the first ever tournament to be played virtually. 11 Pathshala centers across North America participated with a total of 220 participants who along with 5 international centers, played an astonishing total of 68 game hours. An event of this magnitude is only possible with the help of many parents, teachers, and other volunteers who selflessly give their countless hours to prepare for the tournament. Due to the popularity of this tournament, it is also conducted biennially during the YJA conventions.
JAB Admin Team
The success of JAB is the result of a synchronized teamwork by the JAB Admin committee. The current JAB Committee is led by Shweta Daftary (Dallas, TX), along with the support of Pravinbhai Shah (Raleigh, NC), who has many prior years of JAB experience along with his immense knowledge in Jainism, Raj Salecha (Los Angeles, CA), who provides technical expertise to keep JAB current with the technology, Harsh Shroff (Chicago, IL), who helps overlook all admin aspects and tournament rules and Megha Doshi (Ashburn, VA). Youth Admin members Deshna Doshi (NJ), Harshita Jain (NJ), and Vaarin Shroff (IL) help with the JAB manual layout , coordinating the moderators for smooth conducting of the games, timing, and score keeping and other admin aspects. The real unsung heroes of the JAB tournament are the moderators, without whom this entire event cannot be held. These young Jains are typically members of the YJA and YJP organizations who give their time selflessly to help run the entire JAB event from asking questions during the game, to score keeping and to time keeping.
Summary
Overall, JAB is a great experience for both the participants and the audience. The participants enjoy forging new friendships with Pathshala students nationwide, and the Pathshala centers build camaraderie with each other. In the end, every participant is a winner because of the immense knowledge they acquire and the fun that they have during this team competition.
The JAB Admin team has been working hard to host the next JAB tournament, the details of which will be announced soon. Along with the JAINA Convention committee, the JAB Admin team is striving diligently to make this a smoothly run global event with maximum participation to enable learning about Jainism in a fun, enthusiastic manner.