1. There are many Hindus as well as Jains among the Khandelvals and also the Agravals. There are Hindu Osvals as well.

2. I was unfortunately unable to obtain sufficient materials to investigate Srimal clan origin mythology. During the period I was in Jaipur, Bhutoriya's Osval history had recently appeared, and in this volume he makes the assertion that the Srimals are a branch of the Osvals (1988: 186-93). This obviously contradicts the view of many Srimals that their caste emerged earlier, and infuriated a local Srimal notable and author whose opinions were of great interest to me. But I was unable to obtain sufficient data to pursue these issues. An enlightening and concise discussion of the Srimals can be found in Lath 1981: 105-9.

3. On these temples, see Dhaky 1967, 1968; Meister 1989.

4. For a useful discussion of Osval origin myths in English, see K. C. Jain 1963: 94-100.

5. The source for this appears to be the Upkes Gacch Pattavali , written in 1306 C.E. For an English translation, see Hoernle (1890).

6. Bhutoriya takes these details from a book called Jain Sampraday Siksa that was authored by a Khartar Gacch yati by the name of Sripalcandraji and published in Bombay in 1910. This version is very close to the one in the Upkes Gacch Pattavali .

7. One of Bhutoriya's sources, Yati Ramlalji's book Mahajan Vams Muktavali (published in 1910), maintains that the king had three sons, and that the king was of Parmar (Rajput) lineage (1988: 68); Bhutoriya believes it unlikely that the king was Parmar and thinks that this view arises from a confusion of Utpaldev of Bhinmal with a ninth- to tenth-century Parmar ruler of Abu who had the same name.

8. In another version, Uhar had "99 lakh " (9.9 million) and his older brother "18 kror " (180 million). Uhar lived outside the fort. He asked his brother for a loan of one lakh to enable him to live in the city (Bhutoriya 1988: 69). In yet another version (Handa 1984: 9), Puñj drives Utpaldev away by his taunts.

9. This version is apparently based on the Upkes Gacch Caritra , a text written in Sanskrit verse and dating, according to Bhutoriya (1988: 156), from the thirteenth to fourteenth century.

10. The caste genealogists, however, seem to prefer the date of v.s. 222 (Bhutoriya 1988: 113).

11. There is, however, at least one version in which a rich Brahman's son is the one bitten; Brahmans and Baniyas then convert to Jainism (Handa 1984: 13). However, virtually all versions I have seen state that the Osvals are (or are mainly) of Ksatriya origin.

12. Bhutoriya takes this version from Ramlalji's Mahajan Vams Muktavali , which is dated 1910.

13. The theme of the ascetic who has difficulty obtaining alms would seem to be recurrent. Bhandarkar (1912: 100) reports a local tradition that Osiya was originally known as Melpur Pattan. An ascetic named Dhundli Mall once sent his disciple into the village for alms, but without success. He cursed the village, which became '' dattan " (buried), and was only repopulated when Utpaldev came with his followers.

14. Which Bhutoriya takes from the Upkes Gacch Pattavali (and to which he assigns the date 1345) (1988: 156). I discover some discrepancies between Bhutoriya's version and Hoernle's translated version of the Pattavali .

15. That is, she was prepared to die on her husband's funeral pyre.

16. For a general discussion of lineage goddesses in a rural context, see Mayer 1965: 184-88.

17. The story also illustrates an interesting aspect of lineage goddess traditions, namely, that even though these are goddesses associated with agnatic ties, the traditions of their worship are passed down by women who enter these lineages by means of marriage. My friend's mother heard the story, of course, from her mother-in-law. On these issues, see Harlan 1992: Ch. 3.

18. A major Hindu festival falling in the lunar month of Asvin (September/October).

19. This is an issue on which I do not have good material. A systematic survey of lineage goddesses would reveal much about the migratory past of Osval and Srimal clans and lineages.

20. One couple whom I met casually reported that their lineage goddess is a goddess who appears to be a parochial Saciya Mata. Her temple is at a place called Badli (in Jodhpur District), and they insisted that she is not the same as the goddess at Osiya.

21. Navratri means "nine nights." The term refers to a festival occurring twice yearly—in the lunar moths of Caitra (March/April) and Asvin (September/October)—and dedicated to the goddess. With regard to food offerings, the pujari told me that while there is no strict rule about taking the goddess's prasad away from Osiya, it is nevertheless the case that if you come here for some special purpose and give the goddess a food offering, you should not take it outside Osiya. Otherwise some mistfortune will occur. "We've seen this with our very eyes," he told me. This parallels the rule at Nakora.

22. On the role of the goddess in Jainism, on Jain kuldevis , and on the conversion of non-Jain goddesses into Jain goddesses, see Cort 1987; also Granoff 1989b.

23. This story comes from the Upkes Gacch Pattavali . However, I was told the same basic tale by the pujaris of the Saciya Mata temple at Osiya. According to a version given by Handa (1984: 14), Saciya Mata was the tutelary deity of the Samkhala Parmars, and Utpaldev built her temple after he founded Osiya.

24. Handa (1984: 17) speculates (I believe plausibly) that the goddess's name derives from the word sattvik , meaning "pure," and in this context refering to her new vegetarian purity. On the other hand, a parallel etymology might link the word to sati , a woman who has immolated herself on her husband's funeral pyre. Past satis are widely venerated in Rajasthan, and Saciya Mata may represent a Jain echo of this theme.

25. These details about the Bahi Bhats are drawn from Bhutoriya (1988: 109).

26. In a niche at the Mahavir temple at Osiya are two coiled snakes. One of

     the pujaris at the Saciya Mata temple informed me that these are the snakes in the story. (In one version of the story there are two snakes: one to put the poison in, the other to suck it out.)

27. This story is clearly part of a gotra origin myth. It concludes by telling how Bhagvan Singh's son, Labhraj, acquired the reputation of a healer, which is why his descendants became known as the Vaidya gotra (Bhutoriya 1988: 111-12).

28. This is evidently from the Upkes Gacch Pattavali .

29. A story of milk falling spontaneously on the ground where an image of a deity is buried is common in mythologies of temple origin in India.

30. Bhandarkar (1912: 100-101) reports a slightly different version. Utpaldev (Uppaladeva in this telling) built the temple of Saciya Mata, who was in fact the clan goddess of the Samkhla Paramaras. When Ratanprabh (Ratnaprabhsuri) came he failed to convert anyone, and finally hit on the snake scheme. When the king and his subjects became Jains, Saciya Mata was infuriated because they would no longer give her living sacrifices, so she cursed the people and made them leave the town. But as a result of their prayers she relented to the extent of allowing them (the Osvals) to make offerings to her after marriages, as is in fact done today. But no Osval should pass the night in the city lest she retaliate with a misfortune. I believe this is the version identified as a Brahman version by Dhaky (1967: 63-64).

31. That is, they were worshipers of Visnu. In this connection it is of great interest that Dhaky (1967: esp. pp. 66-67) has argued convincingly that the temple of Saciya Mata (as opposed to the Mahavir temple) replaced an original shrine that was dedicated to a goddess who, though nonvegetarian, was a Vaisnava goddess.

32. On Vaisno Devi, see Erndl 1993.

33. According to Harlan's persuasive analysis, the sati tradition acts, in part, to resolve contradictions involved in these images. When a warrior dies he has been sacrificed by his lineage goddess on the battlefield, but at the same time this represents a failure of the lineage goddess in her role as domestic protectress and also a failure of the wife as the lineage goddess's emulator, who protects her husband by means of the self-sacrifice expected of all pativrats . Resolution is achieved when the wife becomes a sati : "Symmetry is reestablished only through a further sacrifice, that of the wife on behalf of her husband" (1992: 224).

34. Harlan points out that some men participate with women in fasting on such occasions as Navratri (1992: 88).

35. There are inconsistencies between these bodies of legend with regard to particular clans. See, for example, the references to the Bhandari gotra in Bhutoriya (1988: 175, 181) and Bhansali (1982: 163).

36. For an excellent discussion of these myths, and wonderful retellings of some of them, see Granoff 1989b.

37. Within the universe of these tales, Jindattsuri was responsible for more conversions than any other ascetic.

38. Winner of the famous debate with the Caityavasis. See Chapter Three.

39. An extremely important early Khartar Gacch acarya , though not revered as a Dadaguru.

40. Bhansali identifies this mendicant as belonging to the Sander Gacch (1982: 219). I have no additional information about this gacch.

41. As Granoff also points out, the same theme is expressed in the story of Jindattsuri's subduing of sixty-four yoginis (1989: 206).

42. In general usage, a brahm is the malevolent ghost of a Brahman who died in an unsatisfied state. See Parry 1994: 231-32.

43. It seems possible that the category of vyantar supernaturals arose, in part perhaps, as a reservoir for the assimilation of such beings to the Jain cosmos. See Granoff 1989b: 202-3, n. 13.

44. As Granoff points out (1989a: 369-70), this tale parallels the story, apparently dating from the fourteenth century, of Hemacandra's miracle at Somesvara in which he instructs King Kumarapala to worship the linga (while he himself is in meditation). When the king does, a minute image of Siva emerges and instructs the king on the superiority of Jainism. The conquest of Siva by the ascetic's power is also a theme in biographies of Siddhasena and Samantabhadra (ibid.: 365-68). Here, however, it is the Tirthankar, not Siva, who appears because of the ascetic's powers. As Granoff points out, these tales play off numerous Saiva accounts of miraculous appearances by Siva at or out of lingas .

43. It seems possible that the category of vyantar supernaturals arose, in part perhaps, as a reservoir for the assimilation of such beings to the Jain cosmos. See Granoff 1989b: 202-3, n. 13.

44. As Granoff points out (1989a: 369-70), this tale parallels the story, apparently dating from the fourteenth century, of Hemacandra's miracle at Somesvara in which he instructs King Kumarapala to worship the linga (while he himself is in meditation). When the king does, a minute image of Siva emerges and instructs the king on the superiority of Jainism. The conquest of Siva by the ascetic's power is also a theme in biographies of Siddhasena and Samantabhadra (ibid.: 365-68). Here, however, it is the Tirthankar, not Siva, who appears because of the ascetic's powers. As Granoff points out, these tales play off numerous Saiva accounts of miraculous appearances by Siva at or out of lingas .

45. 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.

46. This ambiguity seems to parallel the ambiguity of kingship itself in the wider Jain tradition. How is one to be a Jain king? There have indeed been such, but the institution of kingship is finally suspect; thus, legendary kings (including Rsabh himself) renounce kingship in the end in favor of the spiritual heroism of the ascetic. See Dundas 1991.

47. I should reiterate that this is not, of course, to accept the historicity of clan origin mythology. But the clans exist.