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Kshullak Ganeshprasad Varni (Hindi:पूज्य 105 श्री गणेश प्रसाद वर्णी, Gujarati: શ્રી ૧૦૫ ક્ષુલ્લક ગણેશપ્રસાદ વર્ણી Kannada:ಶ್ರೀ ೧೦೫ ಕ್ಷುಲ್ಲಕ ಗಣೆಶಪ್ರಸಾದ ವರ್ಣೀ) (Born: 1874 – Died:5 December 1961) was one of the foundational figures of the modern Indian Digambar intellectual tradition during early 20th century. He was the founder of several schools and institutions of advanced learning including Syadwad Mahavidyalaya at Varanasi in 1905, Varanasi and Satark-Sudhataringini Digamber Jain Pathshala , now Ganesh Digamber Jain Sanskrit Vidyalaya at Sagar.

Many of the Jain scholars today are products of the institutions found by Ganeshprasad Varni. Sahajananda Varni was one of his disciple. While Jinendra Varni never heard him speaking, he was deeply influenced by him and had compiled a volume "Varni Darshan" to commemorate Ganeshprasad Varni's birth centenary in 1975.

Early life
Ganesh Prasad Ji Varni was born to Hira Lal and Ujyari Devi in village Hansera in district Lalitpur (U.P.), who belonged to the Asati community. While the Asatis are mostly Vaishnava, his father had a deep faith in the Namokar Mantra. He used to live in a Jain neighborhood and visit the Jain temple near his house in Mandawara. Influenced by lectures there, at the of 10, he took a vow to take meals before sunset through out his life. During his yajnopavita ceremony, he had an argument with the priest and his mother, and declared that he will be a Jain henceforth. his He passed the middle examination at the age of 15. He did not have any aptitude for shop-keeping, his father's profession, and became a school teacher.

He came into contact with a religious minded lady Chiranjibai of Simra through Karorelal Bhaiji, a spiritual man of Jatara. She developed much affection for him and treated him like her son. She supported his desire of obtaining advanced religious education spiritual development.

Education
At that time there were no advanced scholars in the Bundelkhand region. He studied at Jaipur, Khurja, Bombay, Mathura, Varanasi and other places with great difficulty. Because of his lack of funds, he occasionally had to starve accept humiliations. he studied with Pt. Panna Lal Backliwal and Baba Gurdayal at Bombay to pass Ratnakarand_Shravakachar and Katantra-panchsanndhiki examinations. There he also met Pt. Gopaldas Baraiya, whith whom he studied Nyayadipika and Sarvarthsidhi after he had studied of Nyaya (logic) and grammar at Khurja. He was sometimes turned down by reputed Brahmin teachers. He studied under Pt. Ambadas Shastri at Varanasi. He then studied at Chakauti and Navadweep to acquire the Nyayacharya degree.

Establishment of Educational Institutions
Based on his experience of encountering the difficulties in obtaining advanced Jain education, he strongly felt the need for establishing Jain educational institution at Varanasi. He received a donation of one rupee from someone. He used it to by 64 postcards, and sent them to some potential Jain donors. With the assistance of prominent Jain philanthropists like Babu Devkumar of Arrah, Seth Manek Chand, J.P. of Bombay etc. he established the famous Syadwad Mahavidyalaya at Varanasi in 1905. Baba Bhagirath Varni served as the superintendent (supervisor) of the institution. Even though Ganeshprasad was a founder of the Syadwad Mahavidyalaya, he accepted the rules imposed by Bhagirath Varni. A number of influential Jain scholars have been a product of this institution. With the help of Pt. Motilal Nehru, he was able to get Jain studies introduced at Banaras Hindu University.

Later with encouragement of Balchand Savalnavis, and the support of Kandya, Malaiya, and other families and Singhai Kundanlal etc. he helped establish the Satark-Sudhataringini Jain Pathshala which is now the well known Ganesh Digamber Jain Sanskrit Vidyalaya at Sagar.

He also helped establish these:


 * Sri Kund Kund Jain (P-G) College, Khatauli, 1926
 * Jain Higher Secondary School Sagar ,
 * Mahavira Jain Sanskrit Uchchatar Madhamik Vidyalaya, Lalitpur, 1917
 * Varni Jain Inter College, Lalitpur
 * Shri Ganesh Prasad Varni Snatak Mahavidyalaya, Ghuwara.
 * Varni Jain Gurugul, Jabalpur
 * Shri Parshwanath Brahmacharya Ashram Jain Gurukul, Khurai, 1944

After inspiring and helping establish these institutions, he left the administration to local volunteers, without bothering to remain in control, and moved on.

Spiritual Passage
He adopted a life of renunciation and took the vow to celibacy to became Varni. He led a simple and aesthetic life and dedicated himself to the study and teaching of Jain philosophy.

He took 10th Pratima in 1944, and became a kshhullak in 1947.

He travelled extensively in India. He had donated his only wearing apparel, the Chadar, at a public meeting held in connection with Azad Hind Army at Jabalpur in 1945. It was immediately auctioned for Rs. 3000/- for raising the funds for the army.

At the age of 87, sensing his impending end, he retired to Isri Udasin Ashram which he had himself helped establish. He took the vows of a Jain Muni with the name Muni 108 Ganeshkirti. He passed away in his final meditation (Samadhi-maran) on 5th ecember, 1961.

Works
His two-volume autobiography Meri Jevan Gatha has become a major source of information about the Jain society of his time. It is written in a fluid and very readable style.

The recordings of his lectures on the Samayasar have been re-discovered and digitized. They have also been published as a book

A publishing house named Shri Ganeshprasad Varni Jain Granthmala, Varanasi, named after him has published a number of important Jain texts.

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aa
Asati (असाटी in Hindi) is a merchant community in Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh. The traditional population centre has been the Bundelkhand region, with their origin claimed to be from the Tikamgarh district.

Legends
K.S. Singh mentions a legend that the Asatis were originally from Ayodhya.

Origin
In some texts the name is given as Asahati or Asaiti. They may have originated froma town named Asahat ( असहट ). There is a village Mahawatpur Asahat in Fatehpur district, UP. There is also a village named Asati

Navalshah Chanderia, who wrote Vardhamana Purana in 1768 AD (sam 1825) at Khataura, included the Asati community among the eleven merchant communities that are partly Jain. Others include Gahoi, Nema, Porwal etc.

Shitalprasad, the commentator of Mamal Pahud, a canonical work by Taran Swami mentions that one of the manuscripts was copied at an Asahati temple in 1624.

Ganeshprasad Varni
Ganeshprasad Varni, one of the foundational figures of the modern north Indian Digambar intellectual tradition during early 20th century was an Asati. He was the founder of several schools and institutions of advanced learning including Syadwad Mahavidyalaya at Varanasi in 1905, Varanasi and Satark-Sudhataringini Digamber Jain Pathshala , now Ganesh Digamber Jain Sanskrit Vidyalaya at Sagar.