Asati

Asati (असाटी in Hindi) is a lineage of Brahmins which are engaged into mercantile activities for last a few centuries. They are Brahmin-merchant community in Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh. The traditional population centre has been the Bundelkhand region, with their origin claimed to be from the Tikamgarh district.^[1]

Legends

K.S. Singh mentions a legend that the Asatis were originally from Ayodhya.^[2]

Origin

Asatis are originally Brahmins from Ayodhya. They started from Ayodhya with a mission to spread Hinduism in order to counter growing influence of other religions, particularly Islam and Christianity. They also sought to preserve and propagate the practices of Vedas and Hindu culture which was under threat from other religions in a broader context. They were the enlightened ones and elite Brahmin classes which were very few in number. After migration to different parts of India, they clashed with other Brahmins who were already performing priest duties at local temples. This conflict resulted in enmity and subsequent killings at the hands of local Brahmins. The Asati merged with several other religions and sects. They resorted to other means of work for economic needs. A lot many took refuge with Jainism; for the last few centuries, they have engaged in trade activities. Those which still follow Hinduism are mainly engaged in trade activities and hence, predominantly classified as a trader community.

In some texts the name is given as Asahati ^[3] or Asaiti.^[4] They may have originated from a town named Asahat ( असहट ). There is a village Mahawatpur Asahat in Fatehpur district of Uttar Pradesh. There is also a village named Asati ^[5][6]

Vardhamana Purana authored by Navalshah Chanderia in 1768 AD during British times depicts that at that time Asati's had engaged themselves in trade activities for survival and Brahminical duties became minimum. It included the Asati community among the eleven merchant communities that are partly Jain.^[7] Others include Gahoi, Nema, Porwal, Maheshwari etc.

Bramhachari Shitalprasad,^[8] the commentator of Mammal Pahud, a canonical work by Taran Swami, mentions that one of the manuscripts was copied at an Asahati temple in 1624 AD.

Distribution

The census of India, 1891,^[9] 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. This does not include Tikamgarg, Chhatarpur and Lalitpur. Russel and Hiralal in 1916 also mention a minority being Jain.

In Damoh and Chhatarpur, there are localities named Asati Ward and Asati Muhalla.

Currently, the largest concentration is in Sagar city, according to a marriage data-base.^[10]

Organization

The national organization of the Asati community is Akhil Baharatiya Asati Mahasabha. In 2011, it decided to celebrate Sharad Purnima as Asati Divas^[11][12]

Ganeshprasad Varni (1874 - 1961)

Ganeshprasad Varni, one of the foundational figures ^[13] of the modern north Indian Digambar intellectual tradition during early 20th century was an Asati.^[14] He was the founder of several schools and institutions of advanced learning including Syadwad Mahavidyalaya at Varanasi in 1905,^[15] Varanasi and Satark-Sudhataringini Digamber Jain Pathshala,^[16] now Ganesh Digamber Jain Sanskrit Vidyalaya at Sagar.

The Asati community at Baldevgarh celebrates his birthday annually^[17]

See also

• Parwar
• Gahoi
• Golapurva

References