Oshwal Association of the UK (OAUK) and the Institute of Jainology had jointly initiated a visit by His Grace, the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams for 7th May 2010.
This was the first visit by the Archbishop to a Jain place of worship.
He was driven across London from Lambeth Palace to the Oshwal Centre at Potters Bar.
At the Centre he was welcomed by the OAUK President and Vice President, Tushar Shah and Mr Ashok M Shah and then introduced to the Trustees and Executive Committee Members of OAUK and Directors of Institute of Jainology.
He was then escorted round the Temple Gardens and then taken in to the temple. Arshna Sanghrajka explained the significance of the various features in the gardens and the temple and at the same time outlined the salient points Jain philosophy.
Interfaith leaders, community leaders and heads of Jain organisations had been invited to attend the reception. They had assembled in the Main Hall to welcome His Grace.
OAUK President, Mr Tushar Shah formally welcomed HIs Grace and members of his party, heads of other other faith and Jain organisations and the members of the Jain community. A short video prepared by the Young Oshwals sketching the history of the Oshwal community from 1500 AD onwards to present day was shown.
Dr Harshad Sanghrajka followed this with the history of Jains in the UK and their demography.
Dr Mehool Sanghrajka made a brief presentation of the Jainpedia project.
OAUK appreciated the need for funds to manage a complex project like jainpedia and made an outright donation of £12,500 to the Institute. Navnat Vanik Association of the UK also took this opportunity to present the Institute with a donation of £2,500.
The Archbishop addressed the assembly and spoke well about Jainism and its tenets. He highlighted some of the Christian tenets with similar objectives and gave an example from Christianity related to aparigraha.
OAUK presented His Grace with a small statue of Bhagwan Mahavir and requested him to keep it in his sight to remind of his visit. The Institute presented His Grace with two sets of Jain literature detailing philosophy, history and architecture.
The guests were led to the lower assembly hall for refreshments which were freshly made by the Oshwal ladies.
After meet, greet and a lot of group photographs, the Archbishop and his party departed at 13:20.
He and other interfaith representatives were all very pleased with the event and the hospitality. A new relationship has been established which promises to cement it further with more such visits in the future.