Taran Panth

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The Taran Panth sect of Digambar Jainism was founded by Taran Swami in Bundelkhand in 1506^[1]. Taran Swami is also referred to as Taran Taran, the one who can help the swimmers to the other side, i.e. towards nirvana.

During this time several reform movements arose in Jainism. Lonkashah of Gujarat founded his Dhundhia order in Sam 1508 (1451 AD). The Terapanth (Atyadhma movement) among the Digambaras arose in Sam. 1683 in Agra. The main founders of this movement were Banarasidas of Agra and Amarchand of Sanganer near Jaipur.^[2]

The Digambra Terapanth movement was against the domination of the Bhattarakas. They opposed worship of various minor gods and goddesses. Some Terapanthi practices, like not using flowers in worship, gradually spread throughout North India among the Digambaras. The Taranpanthis on the other hand traditionally do not have idols in their shrines at all.

The birth name of Taran Swami is not known. He was born in Pushpavati (now Bilahari near Katni) in the Parwar Jain comunity. His father was a government official there. His uncle lived in Sironj, where a Bhattaraka institution of Balatkara Gana was present. When he was 8 years old, while accompanying his father to Sironj, he came across Bhattarak Shruta-kirti. The Bhattarak persuaded the boy to start attending the lectures where "Samayasar" was discussed. Later Taran Swami organized his group and meditated and preached at Semalkheri, Sukha and Rakh. His chief disciples were Ruiaraman and Kamanavati. His samadhi is at Nisaiji in Dist Guna. A mystical account of his life, perhaps an autobiography, is given in Chhadmastha Vani.

The language in his 14 books is very unique, being a blend of Prakrit, Sanskrit and Apabhramsha. Note that at this time Jains had not been using Prakrit for several centuries. His language was perhaps influenced by his reading of the books of Acharya Kundakunda.

Commentaries on six of the main texts was written by Brahmachari Shitala Prasad in 1930s. Commentaries on other texts have also been done recently. Kanji Swami has some lectures based on Taran Swami's books. Osho had included Shunya Svabhava and Siddhi Svabhava as among the boks that influenced him most ^[3].

The number of Taranpanthis is very small. Their shrines are called Chaityalya (or sometimes Nisai/Nasia). At the altar (vimana) they have a book instead of an idol. The Taranpanthis were originally from 6 communities. These days they are gradually merging with other Jains in the area. In the recent past, some of the Taranpanthi have been followers of Kanji Swami of Songarh.

Osho (Rajneesh) was born into a Taranpanthi family.