Jains of Maharashtra

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Jainism has been present in Maharashtra since ancient times. The oldest inscription in Maharshtra is a Jain inscription. It is in a cave near Pale village in Pune district of Maharashtra. This 2nd century B.C.E. inscription is in Prakrit language and contains the Namokar Mantra.

Marathi language was born from a Prakrit language called Jain Maharashtri. The first Marathi inscription is carved at Shravanabelagola, Karnatak near the left foot of statue of Bhagwan Bahubali inscribed in C.E. 981.

Maharashtra was ruled by many Jain rulers like Rashtrakutas and Shilahars. Many of the forts in Maharashtra are built by kings from these dynasties and thus Jain temples or their remains are found in many of the forts. Texts such as Shankardigvijaya and Shivlilamruta suggest that a large fraction of the people in Maharashtra were follower of Jainism in the ancient period.

Large Jain populations exist in Maharashtra in several regions.

The native Jains of Maharashtra today are endogamous communiites and generally do not intermarry with the Jains who have arrived of North India. They are all Digambaras and are divided into four large communities:

Saitwal, mainly agriculturists, as well as tailors
Chaturtha, mainly agriculturists

It is clear that the Chaturths and Panchams in south Maharashtra are migrated mostly from Bijapur and Mudbidri region of Karnataka. This migration took place between 9th to 17th century. The later migrants were Desais (Deshmukhs) in that region.

In an inscription of Samant Nimbdev (The general of Bhoj II of Shilahar Dynasty of Kolhapur), he says, he filled the villages in the state by gentleman, soft speaking and religious Jains.

The Shilahar kings and there generals were staunch followers of Jainism. The Sawants of Sawantwadi and south Maharashtra are descendents of these generals, while the Shelars are descendents of the Shilahars. In south Konkan, the surname Sawant is found both in Marathas and Jains. While in south Maharastra, all the Sawants are followers of Hinduism.

In Sangli and Kolhapur districts, I have found following Maratha surnames in Chaturths and Panchams: (Of course these surnames are rare in Jains): Salunkhe, Suryavanshi, Chavan, Bhosale, Jagtap, Kadam, Salavi, Jadhav etc.

Before 2 years myself and Professor Pradeep Phaltane of Institute for Jain Social studies visited Helvis (The people who keep records of genealogy) in Sangli, Kolhapur and Belgaum districts. We found that many Chaturth, Pancham, Maratha and Lingayat families of this region are from same genealogical linage. One of such famous example is the genealogy of Karmveer Bhaurao Patil. His ancestors were from Mudbidri and they were Jain Desais. Three brothers of the family migrated to Panhala, Dist. Kolhapur, the elder settled there as he got `Patilki' of Panhala. The second brother went to Aitwade in Sangli district and became a Patil there. The last brother went to Yelgaon in Karad Taluka of Satara district and he too became Patil

Today the descendents of the elder brother in Panhala are Lingayat Panchams. The Descendents of second brother in Aitwade are Jain Chaturths and the descendents of the brother at Yelgaon are Hindu Marathas.

Marathas in South Maharshtra has 2 origins. Some migrated there from North and some from South. The southern Marathas and Jains have common lineages while the northern Marathas and Jain have no common lineages.

Kundal in Sangli district was Capital of Chalukya kings. Today Kundal is a Jain teerthkshetra. At this place Chalukay emperor Jaysimha II took Sallekhana (Death by fasting, the Jain way of death in last stages of life). There are many other examples that tell that Marathas were follower of Jainism in medieval period

Panchama, various professions
Bogara or Kasara, coppersmiths

and three small communities:

Upadhyayas,
Kamboja and
Harada.

Each of the four major communiites led by its own spiritual leader (Bhattaraka), who head an institution termed Matha.

The emigrant Jains have a large population in Maharashtra. Majority of them are from Rajasthan and Gujarat. Some of them are from Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Some of these communities have been in Maharashtra for centuries, and are now indistinguishable from the native residents of Maharashtra. They are divided in following large groups: