Asati

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Asati (असाटी in Hindi) is a merchant community in Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh.

It is said that the Asatis originally hailed from a village near Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh and later shifted to around Damoh in Madhya Pradesh. They subsequently migrated throughout the Bundelkhand region.[1]

History

In some texts the name is given as Asahati or Asaiti.[1]

Navalshah Chanderia, who wrote Vardhamana Purana in 1768 AD at Khataura, included the Asati community among the eleven merchant communities that are partly Jain.[2][original research?] Russel and Hiralal in 1916 also mention a minority being Jain.[3] Brahmachari Sitalprasad, in his introduction to an edition of the Mamala Pahuda (Taranpanthi Jain text) wrote that one of his used manuscripts was copied in an Asahati temple in 1624.[1] The Taran Panth is followed by members of six communities in Bundelkhand, Asati being one of them.

Distribution

Statue of Ganeshprasad Varni at Nainagiri

The census of India, 1891,[4] reported 3,071 Asatis in the British ruled districts, of which 450 were Jains. They were mainly present in Jabalpur, Damoh and Sagar, where a significant fraction (27% in Jabalpur) were Jains. Smaller number were present in Bhandara, Gondia, Nagpur and Chhindwara, where all of them were Vaishnava.

The community celebrates an annual Asati Diwas.[5]

Notable figures

Ganeshprasad Varni, one of the foundational figures of the modern North-Indian Digambar intellectual tradition during early 20th century was born into an Asati family.[6][7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 A FIFTEENTH-CENTURY DIGAMBAR JAIN MYSTIC AND HIS FOLLOWERS, Taraj Taraj Svami and the Taraj Svami Panth, John E. Cort, Studies in Jaina history and culture: disputes and dialogues, Taylor & Francis, 25 May 2006, p.h 302
  2. ↑ Shri Vardhaman Purana, Ed. Pannalal Jain Sahityacharya, 1942, p.417, गृहपति आठारम तिहि शाख, उनविन्शति में नेमा भाख
    वीसम नैत असैटी लहे पल्लिवार इकवीसम कहे ||
    पोरवार बाइसौं धार ढढतवाल तेईस निहार
    चौवीसम माहेश्वरवार इतने लौं कछु जैन लगार ||
  3. ↑ [The tribes and castes of the Central Provinces of India, by Russell, R. V. and R.B. Hiralal 1916, London : Macmillan and Co., limited, p. 142]
  4. ↑ Census of India, 1891, Volumes 11-12, India. Census Commissioner, 1893, Table XVI
  5. ↑ अखिल भारतीय असाटी महासभा की बैठक में लिए गए महत्वपूर्ण निर्णय, Dainik Bhaskar, Mar 13, 2018
  6. ↑ The universe as audience: metaphor and community among the Jains of North India, Ravindra K. Jain, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, 1999, Page 51
  7. ↑ महात्मा गांधी की तरह थे गणेश प्रसाद वर्णी, Nai Dunia, 13 Sep 2017
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