The Oshwal community was founded 70 years after Lord Mahavir’s nirvana (i.e. Vikram Savant 400 or 457 BC) in the city of Osiya which is located about 32 miles from Jodhpur in State of Rajasthan, when some people from a warrior caste (Kashtriya) were converted to Jainism. Because of religious and political persecutions, and difficult economic conditions, a large contingent of Oshwals moved from Rajasthan to Sindh (which is now in Pakistan) around tenth century and a further mass migration followed from Sindh to Kutch in sixteenth and seventeenth century. Some of them, after a stay of merely 25 years, moved to Halar with Jam Rawal in circa 1520 AD.
The history of Halari Visa Oshwals begins from the period when Jam Rawal conquered several small kingdoms in Kathiawad and formed a vast kingdom with Jamnagar as its capital. He provided land for settlement of Oshwals in 52 villages of Halar region. Once again, Oshwals in Halar region faced an adverse environment as the land and the weather conditions were not conducive for agriculture. Therefore some people went to other parts of India mainly Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Madhya Pradesh and Hydrabad. At the end of nineteenth century a few young men ventured and migrated to Madagascar and East Africa. Halari Oshwals continued to migrate to East Africa until 1950’s. After the three East African countries became independent in early 1960’s, a number of the Oshwals moved to the United Kingdom. The number of Halari Oshwals in the United Kingdom has continued to grow as migration from East Africa has continued for several reasons such as better opportunities both in business and professional fields and better education facilities. In early 1960’s, a small number of professional Halari Oshwals from India and East Africa started settling in the United States of America and Canada and the number of Halari Oshwals in these countries is growing. Halari Oshwals are also settling in Australia and other parts of the world for better opportunities.
The first half of the nineteenth century in East Africa and second half in both East Africa and the UK proved to be a defining period for the Oshwal community. Building on its members’ basic characterisitics of hard work, integrity and entrepreneurship, and with the core tenet based on Jainism, the community set up various institutions in the fields of education, sports and social welfare which succeeding generations enhanced to build a viable (and if we may say enviable) foundation for growth and world-wide recognition. Details of this community’s progress in East Africa can be found (for our gujarati readers) at the following link:
http://www.oshwal.org/oshwaluk/Pages/OAUK/History/Gujarati%20Oshwal%20History%201999.pdf
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