Asati

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

Asati’s originally hailed from a village near Ayodhya and later shifted to around Tikamgarh. They subsequently migrated throughout Bundelkhand.[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] Russel and Hiralal in 1916 also mention a minority being Jain.[3] Brahmachari Sitalprasad, in his introduction to an edition of the Mamala Pahuda (Taranpathi Jain text) wrote that one of his used manuscripts was copied in an Asahati temple in 1624.[1]

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 Jain. They were mainly present in Jabalpur, Damoh and Sagar, where a significant fraction (27% in Jabalpur) were Jain. 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. 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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