The Sarawagi or Saraogi or Sarawgi Jain community, meaning a Jain Śrāvaka , is also known as the Khandelwal . They originated from Khandela , a historical town in northern Rajasthan.
49-620: 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, although the term is sometimes also used by Jain Agrawals in Rajasthan. The Khandelwals have 84 divisions. The legendary origin of these divisions is given in a 17th-century book, "Shravakotpatti Varnanam". It mentions how
98-446: A Vedic sacrifice Yajña, sacrifice, is an act by which we surrender something for the sake of the gods. Such an act must rest on a sacred authority ( āgama ), and serve for man's salvation ( śreyortha ). The nature of the gift is of less importance. It may be cake (puroḍāśa), pulse ( karu ), mixed milk ( sāṃnāyya ), an animal ( paśu ), the juice of soma-plant (soma), etc; nay, the smallest offerings of butter, flour, and milk may serve for
147-800: A number of reasons for this shift, based on both the Old Avestan and the Young Avestan material. As regards Old Avestan, the Gathas show strong linguistic and cultural similarities with the Rigveda , which in turn is assumed to represent the second half of the second millennium BC. As regards Young Avestan, texts like the Yashts and the Vendidad are situated in the eastern parts of Greater Iran and lack any discernible Persian or Median influence from Western Iran. This
196-533: A sacred fire, often with mantras . Yajna has been a Vedic tradition, described in a layer of Vedic literature called Brahmanas , as well as Yajurveda . The tradition has evolved from offering oblations and libations into sacred fire to symbolic offerings in the presence of sacred fire ( Agni ). Yajna rituals-related texts have been called the Karma-kanda (ritual works) portion of the Vedic literature, in contrast to
245-560: A sacred fire, sometimes with feasts and community events. It has, states Nigal, a threefold meaning of worship of the deities ( devapujana ), unity ( sangatikarana ) and charity ( dána ). The Sanskrit word is related to the Avestan term yasna of Zoroastrianism . Unlike the Vedic yajna , however, the Yasna is the name of a specific religious service, not a class of rituals, and they have "to do with water rather than fire". The Sanskrit word
294-523: A symbol of their impending marital union, and the groom announcing his acceptance of responsibility to four deities: Bhaga signifying wealth, Aryama signifying heavens/milky way, Savita signifying radiance/new beginning, and Purandhi signifying wisdom. The groom faces west, while the bride sits in front of him with her face to the east, he holds her hand while the Rig vedic mantra is recited in the presence of fire. The Saptapadi (Sanskrit for seven steps/feet ),
343-519: Is an umbrella term for two Old Iranian languages , Old Avestan (spoken in the mid-2nd to 1st millennium BC) and Younger Avestan (spoken in the 1st millennium BC). They are known only from their conjoined use as the scriptural language of Zoroastrianism . Both are early Eastern Iranian languages within the Indo-Iranian language branch of the Indo-European language family . Its immediate ancestor
392-459: Is attested in roughly two forms, known as "Old Avestan" (or "Gathic Avestan") and "Younger Avestan". Younger Avestan did not evolve from Old Avestan; the two differ not only in time, but they are also different dialects. Every Avestan text, regardless of whether originally composed in Old or Younger Avestan, underwent several transformations. Karl Hoffmann traced the following stages for Avestan as found in
441-560: Is classified as Eastern Old Iranian. But the east–west distinction is of limited meaning for Avestan, as the linguistic developments that later distinguish Eastern from Western Iranian had not yet occurred. Avestan does not display some typical (South-)Western Iranian innovations already visible in Old Persian, and so in this sense, "eastern" only means "non-western". Old Avestan is closely related to Old Persian and largely agrees morphologically with Vedic Sanskrit . The Avestan language
490-488: Is commonly called Yajna is really the chaste life of the student of sacred knowledge, for only through the chaste life of a student does he who is a knower find that, What is commonly called Istam (sacrificial offering) is really the chaste life of the student of sacred knowledge, for only having searched with chaste life of a student does one find Atman (Soul, Self) || 1 || — Chandogya Upanishad 8.5.1 The later Vedic Upanishads expand
539-460: Is fire. Agni and yajna play a central role in Hindu weddings . A typical Hindu marriage involves a Yajna, with Agni being considered the witness of the marriage. Various mutual promises between the bride and groom are made in front of the fire, and the marriage is completed by an actual or symbolic walk around the fire. The wedding ritual of Panigrahana , for example, is the 'holding the hand' ritual as
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#1732869412722588-467: Is further related to Ancient Greek ἅζομαι (házomai), "to revere", deriving from the Proto-Indo-European root *Hyeh₂ǵ- ("to worship"). Yajna has been a part of an individual or social ritual since Vedic times . When the ritual fire – the divine Agni , the god of fire and the messenger of gods – was deployed in a Yajna, mantras were chanted. The hymns and songs sung and oblations offered into
637-489: Is interpreted such that the bulk of this material, which has been produced several centuries after Zarathustra, must still predate the sixth century BC. As a result, more recent scholarship often assumes that the major parts of the Young Avestan texts mainly reflect the first half of the first millennia BC, whereas the Old Avestan texts of Zarathustra may have been composed around 1000 BC or even as early as 1500 BC. The script used for writing Avestan developed during
686-672: Is the Brahmin of sacrifice" and the goal of sacrifice was complete release and liberation ( moksha ). The blessings offered ranged from long life, gaining friends, health and heaven, more prosperity, to better crops. For example, May my rice plants and my barley, and my beans and my sesame , and my kidney-beans and my vetches, and my pearl millet and my proso millet , and my sorghum and my wild rice, and my wheat and my lentils , prosper by sacrifice ( Yajna ). Yajnas, where milk products, fruits, flowers, cloth and money are offered, are called homa or havan . Kalpa Sutras list
735-501: Is the most important ritual in Hindu weddings, and represents the legal part of Hindu marriage. The couple getting married walks around the Holy Fire ( Agni ), and the yajna fire is considered a witness to the vows they make to each other. In some regions, a piece of clothing or sashes worn by the bride and groom are tied together for this ceremony. Each circuit around the fire is led by either
784-611: The c. 12th century texts of Neryosang Dhaval and other Parsi Sanskritist theologians of that era, which are roughly contemporary with the oldest surviving manuscripts in Avestan script. Today, Avestan is most commonly typeset in the Gujarati script ( Gujarati being the traditional language of the Indian Zoroastrians). Some Avestan letters with no corresponding symbol are synthesized with additional diacritical marks, for example,
833-673: The Taittiriya Shakha 2.10 of the Krishna Yajurveda ). Tadeusz Skorupski states that these sacrifices were a part of ritual way of life, and considered to have inherent efficacy, where doing these sacrifices yielded repayment and results without the priests or gods getting involved. These Vedic ideas, adds Skorupski, influenced "the formulation of Buddhist theory of generosity". Buddhist ideas went further, criticizing "the Brahmins for their decadence and failure to live in conformity with
882-470: The /z/ in zaraθuštra is written with j with a dot below. Avestan has retained voiced sibilants, and has fricative rather than aspirate series. There are various conventions for transliteration of the Avestan alphabet , the one adopted for this article being: Vowels: Consonants: The glides y and w are often transcribed as < ii > and < uu >. The letter transcribed < t̰ > indicates an allophone of /t/ with no audible release at
931-576: The Avesta , a collection of Zoroastrian religious literature composed in the language, the name of which comes from Persian اوستا , avestâ and is of obscure origin, though it might come from or be cognate with the Avestan term 𐬎𐬞𐬀𐬯𐬙𐬁𐬬𐬀𐬐𐬀 , upastāvaka , 'praise'. The language was sometimes called Zend in older works, stemming from a misunderstanding of the Zend (commentaries and interpretations of Zoroastrian scripture) as synonymous with
980-674: The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (~800 BCE), Chandogya Upanishad , Kaushitaki Upanishad and Pranagnihotra Upanishad . The Vedic text Satapatha Brahmana defines a sacrifice as an act of abandonment of something one holds of value, such as oblations offered to god and dakshina (fees, gifts) offered during the yajna. For gifts and fees, the text recommends giving cows , clothing, horses or gold. The oblations recommended are cow milk, ghee (clarified butter), seeds, grains, flowers, water and food cakes (rice cake, for example). Similar recommendations are repeated in other texts, such as in
1029-645: The Jnana-kanda (knowledge) portion found in the Vedic Upanishads . The proper completion of Yajna-like rituals was the focus of Mimansa school of Hindu philosophy . Yajna have continued to play a central role in a Hindu's rites of passage, such as weddings. Modern major Hindu temple ceremonies, Hindu community celebrations, or monastic initiations may also include Vedic Yajna rites, or alternatively be based on Agamic rituals. The word yajna ( Sanskrit : यज्ञ , romanized : yajña ) has its root in
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#17328694127221078-499: The Sasanian period ". The Avestan language is only known from the Avesta and otherwise unattested. As a result, there is no external evidence on which to base the time frame during which the Avestan language was spoken and all attempts have to rely on internal evidence. Such attempts were often based on the life of Zarathustra as the most distinct event in the Avestan period . Zarathustra
1127-414: The 3rd or 4th century AD. By then the language had been extinct for many centuries, and remained in use only as a liturgical language of the Avesta canon. As is still the case today, the liturgies were memorized by the priesthood and recited by rote. The script devised to render Avestan was natively known as Din dabireh "religion writing". It has 53 distinct characters and is written right-to-left. Among
1176-503: The 53 characters are about 30 letters that are – through the addition of various loops and flourishes – variations of the 13 graphemes of the cursive Pahlavi script (i.e. "Book" Pahlavi) that is known from the post-Sassanian texts of Zoroastrian tradition. These symbols, like those of all the Pahlavi scripts, are in turn based on Aramaic script symbols. Avestan also incorporates several letters from other writing systems, most notably
1225-583: The Avesta itself, due to both often being bundled together as "Zend-Avesta". Avestan and Old Persian are the two attested languages comprising Old Iranian , and while Avestan was localized in the northeastern parts of Greater Iran according to Paul Maximilian Tedesco [ de ] (1921), other scholars have favored regarding Avestan as originating in eastern parts. Scholars traditionally classify Iranian languages as "old", "middle" and "new" according to their age, and as "eastern" or "western" according to geography, and within this framework Avestan
1274-516: The Brahmanic legacy of the ancient Brahmins", who claimed the Vedic ancients "lived in self restraint, were ascetics, had no cattle, no gold, and no wealth". The Buddha sought return to more ancient values, states Tadeusz Skorupski, where the Vedic sages "had study as their grain and wealth, guarded the holy life as their treasure, praised morality, austerity and nonviolence; they performed sacrifices consisting of rice, barley and oil, but they did not kill
1323-613: 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. 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
1372-594: The Sanskrit yaj meaning 'to worship, adore, honour, revere' and appears in the early Vedic literature, composed in 2nd millennium BCE. In Rigveda, Yajurveda (itself a derivative of this root) and others, it means "worship, devotion to anything, prayer and praise, an act of worship or devotion, a form of offering or oblation, and sacrifice". In post-Vedic literature, the term meant any form of rite, ceremony or devotion with an actual or symbolic offering or effort. A yajna included major ceremonial devotions, with or without
1421-510: The adhvaryu, the udgata and the Brahma. The functions associated with the priests were: The central element of all Vedic sacrifices is the ritual fire, which is essential regardless of the complexity of the ceremony. Three ritual fires are traditionally used during a Vedic sacrifice. These are the householder's fire ( garhapatya ), the southern fire ( anvaharyapacana or daksinagni ), and the offertorial fire ( ahavaniya ). Oblations are offered into
1470-510: The bride or the groom, varying by community and region. Usually, the bride leads the groom in the first circuit. The first six circuits are led by the bride, and the final one by the groom. With each circuit, the couple makes a specific vow to establish some aspect of a happy relationship and household for each other. The fire altar or the Yajna Kunda is square. Avestan language Avestan ( / ə ˈ v ɛ s t ən / ə- VESS -tən )
1519-691: The city of Jaipur, which is the largest center. संवत १५४८ वर्षे वैशाख सुदी ३ श्री मूलसंघे श्री जिनचन्द्रदेव साह जीवराज पपडीवाल नित्यं प्रणमंति सहर मुडासा राजा स्योसिंघ A dedicatory Inscription of Jivaraj Papdiwal of samvat 1548 The term Sarawagi is also used by are Agarwal Sarawagis from Churu as well as other districts of Rajasthan. They are a section of Agrawal Jain community. Yaj%C3%B1a Traditional Yajna ( Sanskrit : यज्ञ , lit. 'act of devotion, worship, offering in fire', IAST : yajña ) also known as Hawan in Hinduism refers to any ritual done in front of
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1568-446: The cows". In Vedic rituals, the sacrifice is offered by a patron known as the yajamana . Commonly translated as "sacrificer", yajamana doesn't personally perform the sacrifice but rather hires priests for it. The yajamana acts as the patron, and the sacrifice is conducted for his benefit. Vedic ( Shrauta ) yajnas are typically performed by four priests of the Vedic priesthood : the hota,
1617-501: The dialogues are part of a dramatic representation and discussion of spiritual themes. The Vedic sacrifice ( yajna ) is presented as a kind of drama, with its actors, its dialogues, its portion to be set to music, its interludes, and its climaxes. The Brahmodya Riddle hymns, for example, in Shatapatha Brahmana's chapter 13.2.6, is a yajna dialogue between a Hotri priest and a Brahmin priest, which would be played out during
1666-470: The entirety of present-day Afghanistan as well as parts of Tajikistan , Turkmenistan , and Uzbekistan . The Yaz culture of Bactria–Margiana has been regarded as a likely archaeological reflection of the early " Eastern Iranian " culture that is described in the Zoroastrian Avesta . It is not known what the original speakers of Avestan called the language. The modern term "Avestan" comes from
1715-508: The extant texts. In roughly chronological order: Many phonetic features cannot be ascribed with certainty to a particular stage since there may be more than one possibility. Every phonetic form that can be ascribed to the Sasanian archetype on the basis of critical assessment of the manuscript evidence must have gone through the stages mentioned above so that "Old Avestan" and "Young Avestan" really mean no more than "Old Avestan and Young Avestan of
1764-399: The fire were a form of hospitality towards the Vedic gods. The offerings were believed to be carried by Agni to the gods; the gods in return were expected to grant boons and benedictions , and thus the ritual served as a means of spiritual exchange between gods and human beings. The Vedangas , or auxiliary sciences attached to the Vedic literature, define Yajna as follows: Definition of
1813-444: The fire. Among the ingredients offered as oblations in the yajna are ghee , milk, grains, cakes and soma . The duration of a yajna depends on its type, some last only a few minutes whereas others are performed over a period of hours, days or even months. Some yajnas were performed privately, while others were community events. In other cases, yajnas were symbolic, such as in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad hymn 3.1.6, where "the mind
1862-726: The following yajna types: The Vedic yajna ritual is performed in the modern era on a square altar called Vedi ( Bedi in Nepal), set in a mandapa or mandala or kundam , wherein wood is placed along with oily seeds and other combustion aids. However, in ancient times, the square principle was incorporated into grids to build large complex shapes for community events. Thus a rectangle, trapezia, rhomboids or "large falcon bird" altars would be built from joining squares. The geometric ratios of these Vedi altar, with mathematical precision and geometric theorems, are described in Shulba Sutras , one of
1911-454: The friction of meditation, one may see the Deva who is hidden, as it were". The nature of Vedic sacrifice and rituals evolved over time, with major changes during the 1st millennium BCE, changes that influenced concepts later adopted by other traditions such as Buddhism. Early Vedic period sacrifices involved animal sacrifice, but the rituals were progressively reinterpreted over time, substituting
1960-416: The idea further by suggesting that Yoga is a form of Yajna (devotion, sacrifice). The Shvetashvatara Upanishad in verse 1.5.14, for example, uses the analogy of Yajna materials to explain the means to see one's soul and God, with inner rituals and without external rituals. It states, "by making one's own body as the lower friction sticks, the syllable Om as the upper friction sticks, then practicing
2009-481: The offerings and making it non-violent or symbolic, with the superiority of knowledge and celebration of sound of mantra replacing the physical offerings. Ultimately, the external rituals were reformulated and replaced with "internal oblations performed within the human body". These ideas of substitution, evolution from external actions ( karma-kanda ) to internal knowledge ( jñana-kanda ), were highlighted in many rituals-related sutras, as well as specialized texts such as
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2058-468: The precursors to the development of mathematics in ancient India. The offerings are called Samagri (or Yajāka , Istam ). The proper methods for the rites are part of Yajurveda , but also found in Riddle Hymns (hymns of questions, followed by answers) in various Brahmanas . When multiple priests are involved, they take turns as in a dramatic play, where not only are praises to gods recited or sung, but
2107-815: The purpose of a sacrifice. — Apastamba Yajna Paribhasa-sutras 1.1 , Translator: M Dhavamony In the Upanishadic times, or after 500 BCE, states Sikora, the meaning of the term Yajna evolved from "ritual sacrifice" performed around fires by priests, to any "personal attitude and action or knowledge" that required devotion and dedication. The oldest Vedic Upanishads, such as the Chandogya Upanishad (~700 BCE) in Chapter 8, for example state, अथ य द्यज्ञ इत्याचक्षते ब्रह्मचर्यमेव तद्ब्रह्मचर्येण ह्येव यो ज्ञाता तं विन्दतेऽथ यदिष्टमित्याचक्षते ब्रह्मचर्यमेव तद्ब्रह्मचर्येण ह्येवेष्ट्वात्मानमनुविन्दते ॥ १ ॥ What
2156-624: The ruler Girakhandel of Khandela was planning to sacrifice one thousand Jain monks in a naramedha yajña . However, with the assistance of goddess Chakreshvari , muni Jinasena persuaded the ruler to give up violence. The ruler along with his eighty-three chiefs became Jain Śrāvakas, giving rise to eighty-four gotra . The Khandelwal Digambar Jain Mahasabha was founded by Lunkaran Pandya of Jhalarapatan and Padam Chand Benara of Agra (both then living in Bombay ) on 28 Feb. 1916 in Bombay. The first convention of
2205-432: The vowels, which are mostly derived from Greek minuscules. A few letters were free inventions, as were also the symbols used for punctuation. Also, the Avestan alphabet has one letter that has no corresponding sound in the Avestan language; the character for /l/ (a sound that Avestan does not have) was added to write Pazend texts. The Avestan script is alphabetic , and the large number of letters suggests that its design
2254-416: The yajna ritual before the attending audience. Who is that is born again? It is the moon that is born again. And what is the great vessel? The great vessel, doubtless, is this world. Who was the smooth one? The smooth one, doubtless, was the beauty (Sri, Lakshmi ). What is the remedy for cold? The remedy for cold, doubtless,
2303-458: Was due to the need to render the orally recited texts with high phonetic precision. The correct enunciation of the liturgies was (and still is) considered necessary for the prayers to be effective. The Zoroastrians of India, who represent one of the largest surviving Zoroastrian communities worldwide, also transcribe Avestan in Brahmi -based scripts. This is a relatively recent development first seen in
2352-547: Was the Proto-Iranian language , a sister language to the Proto-Indo-Aryan language , with both having developed from the earlier Proto-Indo-Iranian language ; as such, Old Avestan is quite close in both grammar and lexicon to Vedic Sanskrit , the oldest preserved Indo-Aryan language . The Avestan text corpus was composed in the ancient Iranian satrapies of Arachosia , Aria , Bactria , and Margiana , corresponding to
2401-545: Was traditionally based in the 6th century BC meaning that Old Avestan would have been spoken during the early Achaemenid period . Given that a substantial time must have passed between Old Avestan and Young Avestan, the latter would have been spoken somewhere during the Hellenistic or the Parthian period of Iranian history. However, more recent scholarship has increasingly shifted to an earlier dating. The literature presents
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