Saravagi
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The Khandelwal Jains are also known as Sarawagi or Saraogi, meaning a Jain shravaka ¹. They originated from Khandela, a historical town in northern Rajasthan.

The Sarawagi community owes its name to a strong historical association with Jainism. Also technically the term Sarawagi or shravaka is applicable to all Jains, the Khandelwal Jains is the only community that has used it extensively.

The Khandelwals have 84 divisions. The legendary origin of these divisions is given in a 17th century book "Shravakotpatti Varnanam" ². It mentions how a the ruler Girakhandel of Khandela was planning to sacrifice one thousand Jain monks in a naramedh yajna. However with the assistance of goddess Chakreshvari, muni Jinasena persuaded the ruler to give up violence. The ruler along with his 83 chiefs became Jain shravakas, giving rise to the 84 gotras.

Organizations

The Khandelwal Digambar Jain Mahasabha was founded by Lunkaran Pandya of Jhalarapatan and Padmachand Bainara of Agra (both then living in Bombay) on Feb. 28, 1916 in Bombay³. The first convention of the Mahasabha was held in 1920, where the publication of "Khandelwal jain Hitechchhu" was initiated. Several regional branches of the Mahasabha were established, however they all became inactive around 1932.

A large section of Sarawagi's are Agarwal Sarawagis. They are from Churu and adjoining districts of Rajasthan.

The Mahasabha has been revived recently, its current office is in Lucknow.

It has recently several published directories. So far the community count has been done for 1794 towns with 29,944 families and 185,556 individuals. This does not include the city of Jaipur, which is the largest center.

Prominent Khandelwal Jains

• Jivaraj Papriwal (who installed 100,000 pratimas during 1480-91)
• Pandit Todalmal (1719-1766) [1]
• Poet Bhudhardas (Samvat 1750-1806) [2]
• Poet Budhjan, sam. 1820-1895 ⁴.
• Sir Seth Bhagchand Soni of Ajmer
• Tarachand Barjatya founder of Rajshri Productions
• Late Seth Hiralalji Badjatya (Jeweller)
• Late Sir Seth Hukamchand Kasliwal of Indore, Pioneering Indian industrialist

See also

• Jainism
• Jainism in Rajasthan

References