Prof. Dr. Lawrence A. Babb
If one looks over the conversion stories as a group, it is possible to see that the interventions by Jain ascetics often have certain interesting common features. The cure or rescue is usually accomplished by means of the ascetic's personal supernormal power, which is often mediated by substances or deities. However, and importantly, such magical power is accompanied by something else. It is not enough for a convert-to-be to be overawed by an ascetic's miraculous power; a vital ingredient is a transformation in the convert-to-he's outlook. Whether or not it is made explicit in the narrative, the assumption is that this is accomplished by means of the ascetic's updes, his teachings. The ascetic is usually said to "awaken" (pratibodh dena) the convert. The convert thereby becomes "influenced" (prabhavit) by the ascetic's teachings. He then comes to "accept" (angikar karna) the Jain dharm (Jainism).
The social and cultural personae of such converts are completely transformed. Awakened converts give up meat and liquor (mas-madira) and violence toward other beings (jiv himsa). As Nahta and Nahta put it, they abandon "meat-eating, hunting, animal sacrifice, liquor, those foods that are not to be eaten, and other things that tend toward violence and sin" (1978: 2). They lay down the sword and take up other occupations.
Sometimes the new Jains get rich. But although business is mentioned as an occupation taken up by new Jains, it does not seem to be especially stressed. These conversion accounts are mainly about how Rajputs became Jains, not about how they became businessmen. The emphasis in the clan histories is on giving up violence and coming under the protection of Jain ascetics. Their business life seems to be regarded as a kind of unintended (or not directly intended) by-product of Jainism, a method of obtaining a livelihood that does not involve violence.
How are we to interpret such tales? Taken together, they say - among other things - something like this: "We were not always as you see us now; once we were warrior-kings." And in saying this, they provide a general cultural context for a particular kind of Jain identity. It must be plainly stated again that the historicity of such claims is not at issue here; what matters is the role these assertions play in the social and cultural self-image of Osval Jains. It is true that other, non-Jain groups claim Rajput origin too; given the historical role of the Rajputs in the region, this should not surprise us.[1] The Osvals (and Srimals too), however, assert the claim of Rajput origin within a specifically Jain frame of reference, and thus for them it is a claim that establishes a specifically Jain identity. They see themselves as those who, under the influence of Jain ascetics, renounced the violent ways of warrior-kings.
The Osval Jains (and many Srimals too) see themselves as a community of intermarrying, once-royal but ritually-still-kingly clans who came to be as they are by means of the ascetic powers of Jain acaryas. They are ex-Ksatriyas who were transformed by ascetics and who are, above all, supporters of ascetics. They are also (as we saw in Chapter Three) still under the protection of ascetics - in general terms, the protection of the very ascetics who converted their ancestors to Jainism.
When told from a Jain perspective, a tale of a warrior-kingly past has plenty to resonate with, as we have seen. In a discussion of the Rajput origins of the Osvals, an Osval friend in Jaipur once reminded me of the Tirthankars: They, he said, "were Rajputs too." Of course he was right, and on more than one level. The spiritualization of martial valor is central to Jainism's message. The Tirthankars, the ego-ideals of the tradition, were also of royal origin, and they, too, renounced their royal heritage. The image of such a transformation is thus an open mythical paradigm, available as a plausible model of how groups might come to be Jains. That it is also an attractive model no doubt stems from the immensely high prestige of the Rajput/Ksatriya aristocracy, particularly in Rajasthan.
Because this symbolism of Osval origins draws so heavily on Jain images of kingship, the renunciation of kingship, and asceticism and the powers of Jain ascetics, we may say that in this context Jainism itself has become the most widely "encompassing" origin myth of the Osval Jains: a belief system that - among many other things - invests the origin myths of particular Jain groups with their widest significance.
The claim is common in northern India. It is made by many castes, including non-Jain business castes such as the Hindu Mahesvaris. It should be noted, moreover, that the patterns seen in the accounts of Osval origin reviewed here are not necessarily generalizable to other Jains, especially in other regions. This chapter is written within a Rajasthani frame of reference. Here the Rajputs loom large as the regionally dominant caste. Whether or to what degree a similar symbolism underlies Osval identity in such areas as Gujarat, where the impact of Rajput culture is much less, is an interesting question that needs further investigation. During my relatively brief stay in Ahmedabad I did not collect relevant data. John Cort (personal communication) suggests that although the Gujarati Jains have similar origin myths, they accord much less importance to the Rajput connection than do the Jains of Rajasthan. See also Cort 1989: 80, n. 18.
