Oswal

The Oswal (sometimes spelled Oshwal or Osval) are a Śvetāmbara Jain merchant community with origins in Osian, a town in the Marwar region of Rajasthan, India.

[3][4] The Osavālas origin legend has multiple aspects, all of which include a fierce, meat-eating goddess who becomes pacified by a Jain ascetic, involving the conversion of a king to Jainism.

According to a legend, in 457 BC, Ratnaprabhasuri was at Mount Abu, and demi-goddess Chakreshvari appeared before him and urged him to spread the word of Jainism and save animals from religious violence in Maru Pradesh.

In such situation, it was getting difficult for monks to survive and Ratnaprabhasuri ordered all his disciples to begin moving to another city.

Due to this relationship between them and knowing that the monks sent by Chakreshvari were going away, Chamunda met Ratnaprabhasuri and urged him to stay for chaturmasya.

When he was being taken for cremation, Chamunda took the form of a white-clad Jain monk and told the people that he was still alive and then disappeared.

The water collected after washing Ratnaprabhasuri's feet was splashed on the prince's face and he was instantly revived.

[7][11] He delivered an impactful sermon on the various bodies a soul wanders in and how rare a birth a human is.

[12] Further, he preached about establishing Jain temples, installing icons of Tirthankaras, and worshipping them regularly.

The Brahmins began by stating the lack of devotion in Jains and questioning Jainism's antiquity.

Ratnaprabhasuri's disciple Vīrdhawalopādhyāya countered this claim by stating accounts of Jainism in the Brahmin scriptures.

He knew that Chamunda was preparing one using sand and the milk of a cow, so he asked the residents to keep patience.

According to scriptural and local legends, one day, the cowherd saw his cow discharging milk at a part in the village.