Bagherwal Digambar Jain community originated from Baghera

Baghera

Baghera is a village in Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh, India....

 a princely state in Rajasthan

Rajasthan

Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...

 (in India). Presently this town is situated in Ajmer district

Ajmer district

Ajmer District is a district of the state of Rajasthan in western India. The city of Ajmer is the district headquarters.Ajmer District has an area of 8,481 km², and a population of 2,180,526 ,Three main groups are; Hindu 1,869,044, Muslim 244,341, Jains 47,812...

 of Rajasthan.

History

Stone inscriptions from the eleventh century A.D. refer to this community as located in Chittorghar, Ranthambore and Mandalgarh

Mandalgarh

Mandalgarh is a city and a municipality in Bhilwara district in the Indian state of Rajasthan.-History:The place, situated at a distance of 54 km towards South-East of Bhilwara...

 at various times. During the Mughal invasion in the twelfth century, the community left these forts and spread to villages and towns of Rajputana and Madhya Pradesh. About six hundred years ago, three hundred families migrated to Maharastra from Chittor under the leadership of Jijaji and Punaji Khatod. This group settled in Maharastra.

All community members are followers of the Jain religion (Digambar). The community has built Jain temples in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharastra. Kirti Stambh

Kirti Stambh

Kirti Stambh or "Tower of Fame" is situated at Chittorgarh fort in Rajasthan, India. The 22 metre high tower was built by a Bagherwal Jain merchant Jijaji Kathod in 12th century. It is a seven story intricate structure with a cramped stairway of 54 steps and is full of figures from Jain...

, built by one of the community members, Jijaji Kathod, at Chittor fort is a historical monument. It is a seven story structure built in the twelfth century AD.

Pandit Ashadhar, a scholar of Jain philosophy

Jain philosophy

Jain philosophy deals extensively with the problems of metaphysics, reality, cosmology, ontology, epistemology and divinity. Jainism is essentially a transtheistic religion of ancient India. It is a continuation of the ancient tradition which co-existed with the Vedic tradition since ancient...

, writer of about 100 manuscripts in Sanskrit

Sanskrit

Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...

was born in this community.

Bagherwal Today

Currently Bagherwal families are settled mainly in South west Rajasthan (Haroti, Mewar), North West Madhya Pradesh (Malwa) and Maharastra (Vidarbh). Bagherwal population is about thirty thousands. Main occupation of the community is Trade and Agriculture.
Now this community has spread to Delhi, Mumbai, Nagpur, Karnataka, and Uttar Pradesh. Few families have settled outside India in Australia, England, Germany, Thailand and United States.

There are 54 Gotras: Harsora, Khatod, Todh, Thag, Kuchila, Lambabans, Sethiya, Babriya, Dungerwal, Dhanopiya, Kotia, Katariya, Madiya, Bagda, Thathediya, Kherkhadiya, Bagdiya, Golwal, Jogiya, Pitaliya, Borkhandiya, Karda, Ketagi Bhanwar, Bhandari, Sabdra, Chamariya, Chanwariya, Ugatiya, Sanwala, Sarwadiya, tajlanda, Nabhaipura, Barmunda, Bhandsali, Sakuniya, Panwariya, Aadujiya, Mohiwal, Thola, Satoriya, Mandliya, Badalchat, Charhadiya, Pipaliya, Doraya, Narpatiya, Nigotia, Jathaniwal, Surlaya, Sarpatiya, Dhanotia, Dugeriya, Harsola, Samriya

Organization

A national level organization of the community Akhil Bharatvarshiya Digambar Jain Bagherwal Sangh was established in 1956 at Bijjoliya. There are five regional organizations covering Kota, Bundi, Malwa, Mewar and Dakshin regions. The community has established a charitable trust ‘Bagherwal Parmarthik Trust’ for welfares of its community members. It was established in 1983. It provides scholarships to students, assistance to widows and medical help.

Community publications

• Bagherwal Web Side

• Bagherwal Sandesh (Monthly news magazine)
• Bagherwal Samaj Sandesh (Monthly news magazine)

Books Published About Community

• Bagherwal Jati Ithias by Vidhyadhar Johrapurkar
• Pandit Ashadhar. Vyaktitva and Kratitava by Nemi Chand Dongaonkar