H. Jay Dinshah

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H. Jay Dinshah (November 2, 1933, to June 8, 2000), whose full name was Hom Jay Dinshah, was born in New Jersey, United States. His father was a United States citizen who was born in India and whose ethnicity was Parsi, and his mother was a United States citizen whose family was of German ancestry. Jay Dinshah founded the American Vegan Society[1] early in 1960 and later that year married the English-born Freya Smith, whose parents were active in the Vegan Society (of England), who contributed to the early growth of the American Vegan Society, and who is president of the American Vegan Society today. The American Vegan Society is headquartered at Malaga, New Jersey, on a family-owned parcel of land which they call "Suncrest", or "the Suncrest Educreational Center". The center is characterized by vegan publishing and outreach, vegan archiving, spiritual inspiration, providing people with an experience of vegan living, vegan food preparation demonstrations, maintenance of a small vegan garden, and extensive networking.

The two children of Jay and Freya Dinshah are Daniel and Anne.

A lifelong vegetarian, in 1957, Jay Dinshah became vegan. After its founding, Dinshah served the American Vegan Society as its president, and as an editor of its publication, Ahimsa magazine (1960-2000)

Ahimsa was a quarterly publication that explored compassionate living ("Ahimsa" meaning "dynamic harmlessness") as a philosophy, practical aspects of vegan living, and personal and cultural resources for vegans. They include vegan menus and recipes, and news about food. The American Vegan Society continues to publish a quarterly periodical, now titled "The American Vegan, with the subheading "Ahimsa lights the way." The American Vegan Society is now run by Freya Dinshah, Jay Dinshah's widow, and an AVS Board of close comrades in vegan living and outreach, nearly all of whom live within a short driving distance of Suncrest.

The American Vegan Society, follows views similar to Natural Hygienists but enhances them with Jainist attitudes of ahimsa and the elimination of all animal products and clothing apparel.

Jay was co-organiser of the 23rd World Vegetarian Congress in 1975, held in Orono, Maine, which was hosted by the North American Vegetarian Society (NAVS) and sponsored by the International Vegetarian Union (IVU).

From this event, the American Vegan Society and the North American Vegetarian Society were formed, and a movement to found and develop modern vegetarian organizations in North America was born, tapping the energies, insights, and resources of parallel movements throughout Europe and India.

Always of a tense temperament, Dinshah died in 2000 aged 66, reputedly of a chronic heart ailment unrelated to diet. The International Vegetarian Union memorialized Jay Dinshah in their IVU News issue of October 2000 [2].

That same year, he was posthumously awarded the prestigious (among global or international vegetarians) Mankar Memorial Award [3]during the 2000 World Vegetarian Congress, held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

American Vegan Society History

A decisive and historic of the usage and meaning of the term 'vegan' was accomplished through the success of the American Vegan Society under the Dinshahs. Although the term 'vegan' had, since its coining in 1944 in England by Donald Watson (and possibly others), usage could refer either to merely an entirely plant-based diet (without spiritual or philosophical or ethical underpinnings) or to a purely plant-based diet ONLY in terms of those principles and motivations (which is represented by AVS).

Under their seemingly indefatigable energies and their "evangelical" enthusiasm for promoting veganism AS "dynamic harmlessnes" ("Ahimsa" derived from the Sanskrit, meaning "not to harm"), Jay and Freya Dinshah, beginning almost immediately after their founding AVS on the parcel of land the Dinshah brothers inherited from their father, organized a number of conferences, and conducted vegan promotional tours.

In 1961, the American Vegan Society organized and carried out a Coast to Coast Crusade for Veganism across North America, including various parts of Canada and the USA. In 1965, the American Vegan Society organized and carried out North Atlantic Lecture Tour (Iceland, Britain, Europe). In 1967 and 1968, the American Vegan Society organized and carried out an international ("Round the World") Lecture Tour. Through these efforts, Jay Dinshah managed to lecture to vegetarian audiences in 19 different nations, on 5 continents, with the benefit of local interpretation into a dozen languages by ad hoc local polyglots, reputedly found widely in some communities of widely-traveled vegetarian entrepreneurs.

The name of the AVS quarterly, Ahimsa, was changed in 2001 to American Vegan.

Today, countless vegan organizations (and animal rights organizations and organizations bearing the name 'vegetarian) promote this purer form of veganism, in the self-effacing and missionary spirit of AVS in which the message is far more important than any of the messengers. The word vegan did not appear in most English dictionaries published in the USA until the late 1970s or the mid-1980s. By the mid-1990s, a much clearer appreciation of the meaning and implications of the word 'vegan' (AS 'ahimsa' or dynamic harmlessness) had pervaded American consciousness. Even if they didn't practice veganism, most younger Americans now know what veganism is, though idiosyncratic practices continue to dim the clarity of 'ahimsa'.

American Vegan Society conventions

1995, 8th International Vegan Festival, in San Diego California, AVS cohosted with VUNA (Vegetarian Union of North America) and Vegans International (VI).

Alternate conferences and conventions were held, largely in the northeastern US (New Jersey and New York) but also in California (Arcata), Colorado (Denver), Oregon (Portland), and Washington, often sharing logistical responsibilities with local and regional vegetarian societies. For a number of years, beginning in 1989, convention proceedings were videotaped.

The Dinshahs conducted weekend workshops, cooking classes, and other educational programs at Suncrest in Malaga, as early as 1969.

Incomplete List American Vegan Society conventions

• 1969 - Malaga NJ: Educreational Program
• 1987 -
• 1989 - Arcata CA (videotaped)
• 1991 - Denver CO (videotaped)
• 1993 - Portland OR (videotaped)
• 1995 - San Diego California: 8th International Vegan Festival, cohosted with VUNA (Vegetarian Union of North America) and Vegans International (VI)
• 1997 -

The American Vegan Society mentored and enabled the growth toward independence of VUNA, the Vegetarian Union of North America, the IVU's North American regional arm, by cosponsoring biennial conventions with VUNA. Alternate AVS conferences and conventions were held, largely in the northeastern US (New Jersey and New York) but also in California (Arcata CA - 1989), Colorado (Denver CO - 1991), Oregon (Portland OR - 1993), and Washington, often sharing logistical responsibilities with local and regional vegetarian societies. For a number of years, beginning in 1989, convention proceedings were videotaped.

Jay and Freya Dinshah conducted weekend workshops, cooking classes, and other educational programs at Suncrest in Malaga, as early as 1969.

Positions Held in Vegetarian Organizations

• International Vegetarian Union (IVU), Executive Vice-President
• The Vegan Society (England), Vice-President
• North American Vegetarian Society, Founder and President, 1974-1979
• American Natural Hygiene Society, Acting Executive Director, 1983
• Vegetarian Union of North America, first President, 1987-1989
• Better Eating Coalition (various vegetarian and vegan groups) - late 1990s.

Publications by H. Jay Dinshah

• Out of the Jungle, 1967, 1995
• Here's Harmlessness, 1964, 1993 - (an anthology edited by Jay Dinshah)
• Health Can be Harmless
• Song of India
• Numerous magazine articles (>250) and other writings

The AVS mailing address is: American Vegan Society (AVS). 56 Dinshah Lane. PO Box H. Malaga, NJ 08328. 609-694-2887

External links

• http://www.AmericanVegan.org
• http://www.VegSource.com
• http://www.vegsource.com/articles/dinshah.htm
• http://www.ivu.org/people/politics/dinshah.html International Vegetarian Union (IVU)
• http://www.vegsource.com/articles/dinshah_inquirer.htm The Philadelphia Inquirer
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayastha - deemed of the Kayastha caste, prized in India over the Brahmins
• "The Life of a Karma-Yogi", "research and preparation by the Staff of Ahimsa Magazine", published by The American Vegan Society, 1973