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Oswal
The Oswal (sometimes spelled Oshwal or Osval) are a Śvetāmbara Jain merchant community with origins in Osian, a town in the Marwar region of Rajasthan, India.[1][2] According to research by Colonel James Tod, Osavālas are purely of Rajput origins and they belong to not one, but several different Rajput tribes.[3][4] The Osavālas origin legend has multiple aspects, all of which include a fierce, meat-eating goddess who becomes pacified by a Jain ascetic, involving the conversion of a king to Jainism. In modern times, there are barely any Osavālas living in Osiyān, but they still regard the Mahavira temple and Sachiya Mata Temple as their "mother temples".[5] They reside in Rajasthan, Malwa, Gujarat, and Kutch.[6]
They were formerly also found in the Tharparkar district of Sindh (pre-partition).
- ^ Babb, Lawrence A. (2004). Alchemies of Violence: Myths of Identity and the Life of Trade in Western India. SAGE. pp. 164–178. ISBN 9780761932239.
- ^ Sangve, Vilas. "Jain Community: A Social Survey".
- ^ Sangve, Vilas. "Jaina Community a Social Survey".
- ^ Harlan, Lindsey (2003). The Goddesses' Henchmen: Gender in Indian Hero Worship. Oxford University Press. p. 66.
- ^ Pániker, Agustín (2010). Jainism: History, Society, Philosophy, and Practice. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 309–310.
- ^ Sangave 1980, p. 83.
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