# Asati

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**Asati** is a merchant community in [Bundelkhand](/source/Bundelkhand) region of [Madhya Pradesh](/source/Madhya_Pradesh), India.

It is said that the Asatis originally hailed from a village near [Ayodhya](/source/Ayodhya) in Uttar Pradesh and later shifted to the area around [Damoh](/source/Damoh_district) in Madhya Pradesh. They subsequently migrated throughout the [Bundelkhand](/source/Bundelkhand) region.[1]

## History

In some texts the name is given as Asahati or Asaiti, but the community is mainly referred to as Asati.[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[clarification needed].[3] Brahmachari Sitalprasad, in his introduction to an edition of the *Mamala Pahuda* ([Taranpanthi](/source/Taran_Panth) Jain text) wrote that one of his used manuscripts was copied in an Asahati temple in 1624.[1] The [Taran Panth](/source/Taran_Panth) is followed by members of six communities in Bundelkhand, Asati being one of them. But note that **all Asatis do not follow Jainism**, and most of them follow Hinduism.

The community celebrates an annual Asati Diwas, on [Sharada Purnima](/source/Sharada_Purnima) every year.[4]

## Notable figures

[Ganeshprasad Varni](/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.[5][6]

## See also

- [Gahoi](/source/Gahoi)
- [Golapurva](/source/Golapurva)

## References

1. A FIFTEENTH-CENTURY DIGAMBAR JAIN MYSTIC AND HIS FOLLOWERS,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

1. 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 ||

1. [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]

1. [अखिल भारतीय असाटी महासभा की बैठक में लिए गए महत्वपूर्ण निर्णय, Dainik Bhaskar, Mar 13, 2018](https://www.bhaskar.com/mp/chhatarpur/news/MP-CHHT-MAT-latest-chhatarpur-news-020505-1260124-NOR.html)

1. The universe as audience: metaphor and community among the Jains of North India, Ravindra K. Jain, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, 1999, Page 51

1. [महात्मा गांधी की तरह थे गणेश प्रसाद वर्णी, Nai Dunia, 13 Sep 2017](https://www.naidunia.com/madhya-pradesh/chhatarpur-chhaterpur-news-1313154)

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