Taran-swami and his Taran-panth

By Prof. Yashwant Malaiya, Colorado



The 15-16th century was an age of transition in India.During this time several reform movements arose in Jainism. Lonkashah of Gujarat founded his Dhundhiaorder in Sam 1508 (1451 AD), The Terapanth (Atyadhmamovement) among the Digambaras arose in Sam. 1683 in Agra. The main founders of this movement were BanarasiDas of Agra and Amarchand of Sanganer. Taran-swami inBundelkhand [1] founded his Taranpanth sect of the Digambaras in Sam. 1563 (1506).


The Digambra Terapanth movement was againt thedomination of the Bhattarakas. They opposed worship ofvarious minor gods and goddesses. Some Terapanthipractices, like not using flowers in worship, graduallyspreadthroughout North India among the Digambaras. The Taran-panthis on the other hand, traditionally donot have idols in their shrines at all.Taranswami was a remarkable philosopher and author. Hewas born in Pushpavati (now Bilahari near Katni). Hisfather was a government officail there. His mama(uncle) lived in Sironj, where a Bhattaraka institution was present. When he was 8 years old, whileaccompanying his father to Sironj, he came across Bhattarak Shruta-kirti[2]. The Bhattarak persuaded theboy to start attending the lectures where "Samayasar"was discussed. Later Taran-swami organized his group atmeditated and preached at Semalkheri, Sukha andRakh.His samadhi is at Nisaiji in Dist Guna.


He wrote 14 books. His language is very unique, being ablend of Prakrit, Sanskrit and Apabhransha. Note thatat this time Jains have not been using Prakit forseveral centuries. His language was perhaps influencedby his reading of the books of Acharya kundakunda.Copies of his books are very hard to obtain. I thinkKanjiswami has some lectures based on Taranswami'sbooks.


The number of Taranpanthis is very small. Their shrinesare called Chaityalya (or some times Nisai/Nasia[3]).At the altar (vimana) they have a book instead of anidol. The Taranpanthis were originally from 6communities. These days they are gradually mergingwith other Jain in the area. In recent past, some ofthem have been followers of Kanjiswami of Songarh.
One interesting note. Rajneesh/Osho was born in aTaranpanthi family.


Notes
[1] Bundelkhand region is Lalitpur (UP), Guna, Sagar,Tikamgarh, Chhatarpur, Damoh districts and nearby region.The Taranpanthis are mainly found here.



[2] This Shrutakirti may be the same one who wroteDharma-Pariksha, arivansha-purana and Parameshthisarin Apabhramsha. His teacher's teacher was Devendrakirti who originated from Gujarat and hadplaced his students at the Bhattarak seats of Surat aswell as Chanderi in Bundelkhand region.

[3] The term Nasia for a temple may have been derived from the practice of saying "Jay jay jay,nisahi, nisahi, nisahi" when one enters a temple.