Sarak

Saraks (from Sanskrit Śrāvaka) is a jain community in Jharkhand, Bihar, Bengal, and Orissa. They have been followers of some aspects of Jainism, such as vegetarianism, since ancient times, however, were isolated and separated from the main stream of the Jain community in western, northern, and southern India.

The Saraks lost contact with Jains in the rest of India after its conquest by Ikhtiyar Uddin Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khilji. Contact with the Digambara Bundelkhand Jains was reestablished when the Parwars Manju Chaudhary (1720–1785) was appointed the governor of Cuttack by the Maratha Empire.

Saraks are concentrated in Purulia, Bankura and Burdwan district of West Bengal and Ranchi, Dumka and Giridih districts and Singhbhum region of Jharkhand. The Saraks belonging to most of Jharkhand and West Bengal are Bengali speakers while those living in historical Singhbhum region speak Singhbhumi Odia

To bring saraks in main stream jains shullak shri ganesh prasad varni ji took huge efforts  in sarak region post varni ji under guidence of aachary shri gyansagar ji founded sarak trust for betterment of sarak community. After Samadhi of Aachary Shri gyansagarji trust who was working on that stalled because of absence of guidance.

Other streams of jains are encroaching sarak community. Jain Sangh Pune(JSP) under guidance of aacharya shri vidyasagar Ji maharaj, muni shri Akshay sagar ji maharaj,muni shri pranamya sagar ji maharaj,muni shri vir sagar ji majaraj decided to start working on sarak region.

Jain Sangh Pune(JSP) organized 10 days first camp of Jainism during paryushan parva of 2022 at 19 different locations.

In 2024 new locations, new people, camps and blessings from acharya pravar and munishri with news paper coverage

https://epaper.enavabharat.com/editionname/Puneplus/NAVABHARAT_PSU/page/2/article/NAVABHARAT_PSU_20240802_2_2