Asati

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

Origin

K.S. Singh [1] mentioned that the Asatis originally hailed from a village near Ayodhya and later shifted to around Tikamgarh.They subsequently migrated throughout Bundelkhand.[2]

History

In some texts the name is given as Asahati or Asaiti.[2]

Navalshah Chanderia, who wrote Vardhamana Purana in 1768 AD at Khataura, included the Asati community among the eleven merchant communities that are partly Jain.[3]

Sitalprasad, in his introduction to an edition of the Mamala Pahuda wrote that one of his used manuscripts was copied in an Asahati temple in 1624.[2]

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.

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]

See also

References

  1. ↑ KS Singh 1998, India's communities, Anthropological Survey of India
  2. 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
  3. ↑ 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 ||
  4. ↑ Census of India, 1891, Volumes 11-12, India. Census Commissioner, 1893, Table XVI
  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
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