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[edit | edit source]
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[edit | edit source]
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[edit | edit source]
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[edit | edit source]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ 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
- ↑ 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 || - ↑ [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]
- ↑ Census of India, 1891, Volumes 11-12, India. Census Commissioner, 1893, Table XVI
- ↑ अखिल भारतीय असाटी महासभा की बैठक में लिए गए महत्वपूर्ण निर्णय, Dainik Bhaskar, Mar 13, 2018
- ↑ The universe as audience: metaphor and community among the Jains of North India, Ravindra K. Jain, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, 1999, Page 51
- ↑ महात्मा गांधी की तरह थे गणेश प्रसाद वर्णी, Nai Dunia, 13 Sep 2017