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'''Asati''' (असाटी in [[Hindi]]) is a merchant community in [[Bundelkhand]] region of [[Madhya Pradesh]].<br />
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It is said that the Asatis originally hailed from a village near [[Ayodhya]] in Uttar Pradesh and later shifted to around [[Damoh district|Damoh]] in Madhya Pradesh. They subsequently migrated throughout the [[Bundelkhand]] region.<ref name=":0">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</ref><br />
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==History==<br />
In some texts the name is given as Asahati or Asaiti.<ref name=":0" /><br />
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Navalshah Chanderia, who wrote Vardhamana Purana in 1768 AD at Khataura, included the Asati community among the eleven merchant communities that are partly Jain.<ref>Shri Vardhaman Purana, Ed. Pannalal Jain Sahityacharya, 1942, p.417, <br />
गृहपति आठारम तिहि शाख, उनविन्शति में नेमा भाख <br><br />
वीसम नैत असैटी लहे<br />
पल्लिवार इकवीसम कहे ||<br><br />
पोरवार बाइसौं धार<br />
ढढतवाल तेईस निहार<br><br />
चौवीसम माहेश्वरवार<br />
इतने लौं कछु जैन लगार ||<br />
</ref>{{Original research inline|date=June 2018}} Russel and Hiralal in 1916 also mention a minority being Jain.<ref>[The tribes and castes of the Central Provinces of India,<br />
by Russell, R. V. and R.B. Hiralal 1916, London : Macmillan and Co., limited, p. 142]</ref><br />
Brahmachari Sitalprasad, in his introduction to an edition of the ''Mamala Pahuda'' ([[Taran Panth|Taranpanth]]i Jain text) wrote that one of his used manuscripts was copied in an Asahati temple in 1624.<ref name=":0" /> The [[Taran Panth]] is followed by members of six communities in Bundelkhand, Asati being one of them.<br />
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==Distribution==<br />
[[File:Varnijinainagiri.jpg|thumb|Statue of [[Ganeshprasad Varni]] at [[Nainagiri]] ]]<br />
The census of India, 1891,<ref>Census of India, 1891, Volumes 11-12, India. Census Commissioner, 1893, Table XVI<br />
</ref> reported 3,071 Asatis in the British ruled districts, of which 450 were Jains. They were mainly present in Jabalpur, Damoh and Sagar, where a significant fraction (27% in Jabalpur) were Jains. Smaller number were present in Bhandara, Gondia, Nagpur and Chhindwara, where all of them were Vaishnava.<br />
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The community celebrates an annual Asati Diwas.<ref>[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]</ref><br />
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==Notable figures==<br />
[[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.<ref>The universe as audience: metaphor and community among the Jains of North India, Ravindra K. Jain, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, 1999, Page 51</ref><ref>[https://naidunia.jagran.com/madhya-pradesh/chhatarpur-chhaterpur-news-1313154 महात्मा गांधी की तरह थे गणेश प्रसाद वर्णी, Nai Dunia, 13 Sep 2017]</ref><br />
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==See also==<br />
*[[Gahoi]]<br />
*[[Golapurva]]<br />
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==References==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Social groups of India]]<br />
[[Category:Indian castes]]<br />
[[Category:Social groups of Madhya Pradesh]]<br />
[[Category:Bania communities]]<br />
[[Category:Bundelkhand]]</div>UpdateBot