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.[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 Jain text) wrote that one of his used manuscripts was copied in an Asahati temple in 1624.[1] 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]
1 2 3 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
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