Missing Jain sadhvi remains untraced

There was no clue about missing Jain Sadhvi Ojaswinibai Maha Satiji till Tuesday evening. The Sadhvi, who belongs to Dariyapuri Aath Koti Jain Sangh, had hinted to her family members about the torture from the president of the Jain Sangh, Pramukh Shah.

However, Shah has denied the allegations and said he has proofs to show that all allegations are fake.

Kiran Pandya, the brother of Sadhvi Ojaswinibai Maha Satiji (Archana Pandya before she took diksha), said: "My sister was inclined to Jain religion since her childhood and she shad joined Dariyapur Aath Koti Sthanakvasi Jain Sangh at the age of  9.

She studied Jain scriptures and got diksha and became Ojaswinibai Maha Satiji at the age of 18. Though we are Brahmins, we follow Jain rites and rituals better than many Jains."

Pandya further said, "I had got a phone call in the middle of the night on November 14 at 1:30am that my sister was missing from the evening of November 13 from the Sthanakvasi Jain Upashray, Vasana. Initially, Vasant Shah, president of Vasana Upashray, refused to admit that my sister had gone missing from his Upashrya.

But after he was questioned by the media, he called us today and handed over a letter to us, saying that my sister had left a letter before she disappeared from the Upashraya. But the handwriting of the letter is not sister's."

He also alleged that Pramukh Shah was torturing her.  "My sister had complained to us that for last four years, Pramukh Shah was harassing her. He was not allowing her to talk with any shravaks (Jain followers). He was forcing her not to talk with anybody and insisting that she should do every communication through him only."

However, Pramukh Shah denied the allegations. "I can't clarify things on phone. But I can say that the allegations are wrong and I have proof for it," he said.

Origin and significance of Anoop Mandal sect
— Paras K Jha. Ahmedabad

As claimed by its followers, Anoop Mandal is a 125-year-old cult. It was founded by a Kshatriya known as Anoop Das in Pali district. A book on Jainism was also published by foreign researchers for the followers of the cult.

As mentioned in the book, 'The Assembly of Listeners: Jains in Society' edited by Michael Carrithers and Caroline Humphrey and published in 1991 by Cambridge University Press, "Anoop Mandal was started in 1920 by Anoop Das, who was influenced in Europe by communism and fought in Turkey in the year 1914. He gave a class character to the social hierarchy in which Jains held high economic status and were able to capture administrative power."

The book further says, "His movement had certain distinctive features. He used indigenous terms and language to criticise the Jains. His focus was on lower castes, which were economically deprived, but he excluded Harijans...... Folklore was created, which projected Jains as outsiders, exploiters and non-Hindus. Harchand Soni, a comrade of Anoop Das, wrote catchy verses that got popular and were sung by followers as bhajans. The movement inculcated a feeling of hatred for Jains, and a number of village-dwelling Jains were raided by Anoop Mandal workers. Religion was used as a means to start a class war."

On the other hand, while talking about Anoop Das, Amrut Prajapati, national president of Anoop Mandal, said, "He was born at Bangadi village of Pali district in Rajasthan and belonged to the Chauhan dynasty. The sufferings he saw around him during his childhood compelled him to find solutions to everyday problems. Initially, he worked in the army of erstwhile Jodhpur state as a labour, following which he met his spiritual guru Bhavaninath, who asked him to give up his job and work for his ultimate goal of finding solutions to worldly pains."

"Anoop Dasji went to the cave of king Nal to meditate, and there he was enlightened. He wrote about all the knowledge he had acquired and his experiences in a book titled 'Jagathitkarni'. It was in this book that he had clearly mentioned that the Jains are the root cause of all worldly problems and the whole world will have to unite against them to save the earth," said Prajapati.