Asati Explained

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.

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. 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

• Gahoi
• Golapurva

Notes and 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 लहेपल्लिवार इकवीसम कहे ||
   पोरवार बाइसौं धारढढतवाल तेईस निहार
   चौवीसम माहेश्वरवारइतने 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. https://www.bhaskar.com/mp/chhatarpur/news/MP-CHHT-MAT-latest-chhatarpur-news-020505-1260124-NOR.html 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. https://naidunia.jagran.com/madhya-pradesh/chhatarpur-chhaterpur-news-1313154 महात्मा गांधी की तरह थे गणेश प्रसाद वर्णी, Nai Dunia, 13 Sep 2017