Chaturtha

Chaturtha is the biggest community (endogamous group) of Digambara Jains.

Chaturthas are spread all over southern and western Maharashtra and northern Karnataka, They are kshatriya.

Chaturths are bilinguals, originally Kannada speakers, but now speak Marathi at home.[1]

Maharashtra has the largest population of Jains of any single state in India.[2]

Agriculture was traditionally the primary occupation among Chaturthas, but the increase in education has allowed them to branch out into fields such as teaching, medicine, business, industries, government and private services. Some of them have been Kasar.

Religious head

Bhattarka Jinasena of the Kolhapur Jain Math has traditionally served as the religious authority among the Chaturthas.[3]

Religious organizations

The Dakshin Bharat Jain Sabha is a religious and social service organization of the Jains of South India. The organization is headquartered at Sangli, Maharashtra, India.[4] The association is credited with being one of the first Jain associations to start reform movements among the Jains in modern India.[5][6] The organization mainly seeks to represent the interests of the native Jains of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Goa.

See also

• Jainism in Mumbai
• Jainism in Maharashtra
• Jainism in North Karnataka
• Jainism in Karnataka
• Acharya Shantisagar
• Acharya Vidyasagar

References

1. Maharashtra Ka Jain Samaj. By Mahavir Sanglikar
2. Sangave, Vilas. Aspects of Jainism. Delhi: Bharatiya Jnanapitha, 1997
3. Rajarshi Shahu Chhatrapati Papers, Ed. Appasaheb Ganapatrao Pawar, Kolhapur (Princely State), Published 1978 Shahu Research Institute
4. Kumar Suresh Singh; B. V. Bhanu (2004). Maharashtra. Popular Prakashan. p. 368. ISBN 978-81-7991-100-6.
5. Michael Carrithers; Caroline Humphrey (1991). The Assembly of Listeners: Jains in Society. Cambridge University Press. p. 235. ISBN 978-0-521-36505-5.
6. Ian S. Markham; Christy Lohr Sapp (2009). A World Religions Reader. John Wiley & Sons. p. 72. ISBN 978-1-4051-7109-0.