Chaturtha is the biggest community (endogamous group) of Digambara Jains. Chaturthas are spread all over southern and western Maharashtra and northern

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

. Chaturths are bilinguals, originally

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

speakers, but now speak

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

at home. Maharashtra has the largest population of Jains of any single state in India. Agriculture was traditionally the primary occupation among Chaturthas, but the increase in education has allowed them to branch out into fields such as teaching, medicine, business, industries, government and private services. Some of them have been Kasar.

Religious head

Bhattarka Jinasena of the Kolhapur Jain Math has traditionally served as the religious authority among the Chaturthas.

Religious organizations

The

Dakshin Bharat Jain Sabha Dakshin Bharat Jain Sabha (DBJS), also known as the South Indian Jain Association, is a religious and social service organization of the Jains in India. The organization is headquartered at Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India. The association is credi ...

is a religious and social service organization of the

Jain Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being ...

s of South India. The organization is headquartered at

Sangli Sangli () is a city and the district headquarters of Sangli District in the state of Maharashtra, in western India. It is known as the Turmeric City of Maharashtra due to its production and trade of the spice. Sangli is situated on the banks ...

, Maharashtra, India. The association is credited with being one of the first Jain associations to start reform movements among the Jains in modern India. The organization mainly seeks to represent the interests of the native Jains of Maharashtra,

and Goa.

References

{{Social groups of Maharashtra Social groups of Maharashtra Jain communities Karnataka society