Asati is a merchant community in Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh, India.

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] 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.

The community celebrates an annual Asati Diwas.[4]

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.[5][6]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 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. ↑ अखिल भारतीय असाटी महासभा की बैठक में लिए गए महत्वपूर्ण निर्णय, Dainik Bhaskar, Mar 13, 2018
  5. ↑ The universe as audience: metaphor and community among the Jains of North India, Ravindra K. Jain, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, 1999, Page 51
  6. ↑ महात्मा गांधी की तरह थे गणेश प्रसाद वर्णी, Nai Dunia, 13 Sep 2017
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