Rise and Glory History of Halari Visa Oshwals

Author(s): Rati Dodhia
Publisher: Rati Dodhia

Page 46

Chapter 6. Origin of Oshwal Community
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Utpal Kumar. King Bhimsen was follower of Saivat religion so he appointed his younger son, Sur Sunder as the crown prince because Shri Punj the elder son had adopted Jaina religion from Acharya Shri Swayamprabh Surishwar, fifth head of the Parshvanath monastic order. When Sur Sunder became King his ministers were two businessmen, brothers Udheran and Uhad. Udheran had property worth eighteen million gold coins while Uhad was owner of property worth 990,000 gold coins. Uhad asked his brother to lend him 100,000 gold coins for a business deal. The account then continues as above.
The legendary tales of Birth of Oshwals.
There are several different stories in folklores regarding the birth of Oshwal community.
The first head of the Lord Parshvanath's monastic Order was Shri Shubhdatt Gandhar, followed by second, Shri Haridatt Surishwar, third, Arya Samudra Surishwar, forth, Shri Keshi Shraman Surishwar who was contemporary of Lord Mahavir. The fifth Shri Swayamprabh Surishwar went to Maru Land. Here after giving a sermon converted hundreds of thousands people to Jainism. He is considered to be the founder of Shrimal sect. He ordained Vidyadhar Ratnakund as a monk who took the name Ratnaprabh Suri and became the sixth head of the Parshvanath monastic order 52 years after the salvation of Lord Mahavir.
Seventy years after the salvation of Lord Mahavir, that is 400 years before Vikram Samvat, Shri Ratnaprabh Suri went to Upkeshpur with his 500 disciples. King Upaldev and citizens of Upkeshpur were worshipers of Goddess Chamuda Devi. As the citizens of Upkeshpur were not familiar with the Jaina tradition of offering alms to ascetics, the Jaina monks were unable to get any food so Suriji decided to leave the city and ordered his disciples to prepare for the departure. But at the request of Goddess