Dr. Rati Dodhia of Rhode Island has recently written history of Oshwals in English. The book, titled “Rise and Glory – History of Halari Visa Oshwals”, was distributed to all Oshwals living in the USA and Canada. A limited number of copies were provided to our community associations in India, Kenya and U.K. for distribution to Oshwal members. The book is now available online, here: http://oshwal-usa.org/history/ The book provides information about our origin, hardships our ancestors faced and how they overcame them, migration to various places, entrepreneurship and traditions. Posts in this category provide links to other websites containing informations on the history of the Oshwal community.
Submitted 16th May 2013
Translation and explanation of Pratikramana Stotras in English
By Rati Dodhia [Email address: rdodhia #AT# gmail.com - replace #AT# with @ ]
Preface
Jaina scriptures have prescribed six necessary duties for a Jaina householder, which are: sämäyika, chaturvimashati stava, vandanaka, Pratikramana, käyotsarga and pratyäkhyäna. Pratikramana is the central theme of these necessary duties as all the other five are included in it.
Submitted 26th December 2012
(note: this is part 2/2 of a series by Rati Dodhia [Email address: history #AT# oshwal-usa.org - replace #AT# with @ ]. See here for Part 1 “I am Proud to be Oshwal”)
Birth of Oshwal Sect
City of Osiya is closely related to the origin of Oshwal community. Its original name was Upkeshpattan or Upkeshpur, located in state of Rajasthan 32 miles north of city of Jodhpur. It is an ancient city built during Lord Mahavira’s time more than 2600 years ago. It was ruled by King Upaldev. He appointed his childhood friend Uhad as his chief minister.
Lord Mahavira attained nirvana about 2607 years ago. 70 years after that, Shri Ratnaprabh Suri the sixth head of Lord Parshvanath’s monastic order with his disciples went to Upkeshpur to spend the rainy season (chaturmas). While he was there a tragic event took place. King’s son was bitten by a poisonous snake. No one was able to help. One of the disciples of Suriji suggested the king to go to his guru. The king with body of the prince went to the place where the acharya was staying and begged him to revive the prince. Acharya agreed with condition that in return he will have to accept Jaina religion. Read the rest of this entry »
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Submitted 21st December 2012
Halari Visa Oshwals is a very small community originally settled since last 560 + years in the Halar district around Jamnagar city in the western part of Gujarat, India. Prior to settlement in Halar, the community’s roots were in Rajasthan and Kutchh. In Halar, the community’s main source of livelihood was agriculture as the majority of the members were illiterate. From Halar the community families mass migrated mostly to Mumbai, East Africa and United Kingdom to earn livelihood and for advancement. Currently the total worldwide Halari Visa Oshwal Community population is around 80,000 in number.
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Submitted 21st December 2012
(note: this is part 1/2 of a series by Rati Dodhia [Email address: history #AT# oshwal-usa.org - replace #AT# with @ ]. See here for Part 2 “Origin of Oshwal Community”)
Like many people of our community I knew practically nothing about our history when I was in school, collage and immigrated to the United States. When first time I read about history of Oshwal community which was in late 1970, I realized what I had missed. This not only reaffirmed the richness of our culture and traditions and but also made me more proud of being born in this noble community. My search for more information about our origin and exemplary progress during the last 120 years resulted in my book titled: “Rise and Glory, History of Halari Visa Oshwals”. The book is posted on our web site: http://www.oshwal-usa.org/history/ Read the rest of this entry »
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Submitted 24th April 2012
Like many people of our community I knew practically nothing about our history when I was in school, college and immigrated to the United States. When first time I read about history of Oshwal community which was in late 1970, I realized what I had missed. This not only reaffirmed the richness of our culture and traditions and but also made me more proud of being born in this noble community. My search for more information about our origin and exemplary progress during the last 120 years resulted in my book titled: “Rise and Glory, History of Halari Visa Oshwals”. The book is posted on our web site: www.oshwal-usa.org.
Many people will wonder why I am writing these articles about our community. The reason is I want everyone, young and old, boy or girl and man and woman out there to be proud of being born in this community as much as I am or even more. Read the rest of this entry »
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Submitted 16th November 2010
This book is a collection of 25 articles written in Gujarati by the late Somchand Ladha Deva Shah (Gudka) of Navagam, Kenya and U.K. These articles were published in Oshwal Community’s publications – “Halari Bandhu” and “Oshwal Samachar” of Mumbai and “Oshwal News” of London. He diligently studied books on Jain religion written in several languages including Pratik. This gave him a clear understanding of the link between the origin of Oshwals and the Jain religion. Oshwals were originally a warrior community known as Kashtriya and some members of this community, living in what is now as known as the City of Osiya in Rajasthan, started practicing Jainism. The book goes into details of Oshwals migration to Sindh, Cutchh, Halar (Jamnagar District), Kenya and U.K. The book describes changes in Oshwal community from warriors to farmers in Halar to successive progression over the last 100 years from clerical jobs to small shop owners to international industrialists and bankers.
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Submitted 15th April 2009
[image title="glimpses-of-heritage" size="full" id="1210" align="left" linkto="http://www.oshwal-usa.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/glimpses-of-heritage.pdf" ]This is a book on this Oshwal history compiled by Keshavlal M. Shah of the U.K., available for download here: Glimpses of Heritage [PDF, 2.2MB]
Introduction
Shri Keshavlalbhai the son of Shri Makanji Bhoja Dhara and Smt. Ratnabai, was born in NAVAGAM in India in 1926. He studied in Gujarati upto 4th standard and though he wanted to study more, due to the circumstances he had to go to Kenya in 1937 at the age of 11 years. He had to return to India after about two years due to the prolonged illness of his father,who died in 1941. During this period Shri Keshubhai looked after his father and also assumed total responsibility for his family, including his mother. He is a kind hearted person and has a very helpful nature, and hence he took care of his father most religiously without any regrets.
Shri Keshubhai had to leave Navagam for Bombay, to earn a decent living, as he had to support his mother and-family. He had small brothers and sisters, and there were no proper means of income in absence of his father, yet, he did not lose heart and on the contrary made up his mind to do hard work and earn money. As Navagam was a very small place, the opportunities were very less, hence he decided to try his luck at a much bigger and well established business centre like Bombay and started earning. Read the rest of this entry »
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Submitted 27th December 2007
Please find an announcement for a newly published volume under the title “Gujaratis in the West”. The following link includes publishing details as well as a further link to sample pages: http://www.c-s-p.org/Flyers/Gujarati-s-in-the-West.htm
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Submitted 15th October 2007
Dr. Rati Dodhia of Rhode Island has recently written history of Oshwals in English. The book, titled “Rise and Glory – History of Halari Visa Oshwals”, was distributed to all Oshwals living in the USA and Canada. A limited number of copies were provided to our community associations in India, Kenya and U.K. for distribution to Oshwal members. The book is now available online, here: http://oshwal-usa.org/history/
Submitted 1st September 2003
Link: http://www.movinghere.org.uk/stories/story88/story88.htm
This story is a translation from a Gujarati article “My Mother” by Sumati Shah and it has a lot of depth and very moving information that we all can relate to. The translation was done by Bhadra Patel.
Submitted 1st September 2003
I am in the process of writing history of Halari Visa Oshwals in the USA in association with Dr. Rati Dodhia of Rhode Island who is writing history of Halari Visa Oshwals world-wide.
I have collected some information, e.g. Jethalal Khimchand Kachara Gudka of Navagam/ Kenya/ Mumbai was the first Oshwal to have studied in the USA. He came to New York in 1946 and stayed for three years. In 1948/1949, four more Oshwals came to the USA for studies. They were (i) Jayantilal Nemchand Fulchand Shah of Kansumara/ Kenya, (ii) Keshav Premchand Popat Chandari of Champa Beraja/ Kenya and his brother (iii) Manu Chandaria, and (iv) Dhiru Premchand Vrajpal Shah of Padana/Kenya. Read the rest of this entry »
Submitted 7th August 2003
Map of Halar, with all names in English, according to 2001 Census. Villages in capital letters have Oshwal inhabitants. Villages in small letters do not currently have Oshwal inhabitants, but did at one time.
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Submitted 23rd July 2003
Link: http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Gujarati_language
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Submitted 13th June 2003
Link: Oshwal and Gotra History on Oswals.net by Smart Solutions
This is a commercial site; however, it contains two interesting sections:(a) Oshwal History by Shri C.M. Lodha of Jodhpur. It discusses in details three different versions of Oswals’origin. (b) Gotra History provides information about the origin of our several Ataks.
Submitted 4th June 2003
Link: History of Kutch
From the Asanjo Kutch website. Information on Kutch, a region near Halar, that is part of the Oshwal community’s history. The Asanjo Kutch website is a commercial portal created to give Kutchi businesses a presence on the internet.
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