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23rd Jain Tirthankar Shree Parswanath's first Pattadhar were Shree Shubhadntacharya, second were shree Haridattasuri, third were Samudrasuri and fourth were Shree Keshishraman. Shree Keshishraman became Acharya during the time of Shree Mahavir Swami. He was also very close to Shree Gautam Swami. Shree Swayamprabhsuri were their Pattadhar, who was leader of Vidhyadhar Kul and master of knowledge and many arts.
Shree Swayamprabhsuri eliminated many superstitious believes of Yagya and Hawans, and directed his followers towards pure non-violent religion. He was great saint and travelled a lot to spread non-violent message. He understood and believed that Jain Religion (non-violence) cannot be spread until people accept it within their Cast system. During that time, Hawans (sacrifice) was popular in the region of Abu, hence to make people aware of non-violence, he started his journey to Abu along with his 500 followers.
Acharya Swayamprabhasuri marched towards Shrimalpur (current Bhinmal) Acharya Swayamprabhasuri marched towards Shrimalpur Town from Abu (in 470 B.C. - 57 years after Shree Mahavir Swami's Nirvana). At that time, King of Shrimalpur - Jayasen was busy in organizing a grand Yagya. On arrival in Shrimalpur, Acharya Shree debated with Bramhin Pandits on the topic of Sacrifice during Hawan / Yagya. In the debat Acharya Shree came out winner on convincing everyone including King Jaysen that "Non-Violence" is the most important Karma of life. Bramhin families and Kshatriya families, including King Jaysen decided to start following Jainism within their clan system/standards.
This can be treated as the FIRST incident of accepting Jainism by a huge mass or a complete kingdom, hence remembered as initiation of Jainism in society.-
A Jain Follower group living in eastern side of Shrimalpur were being called as "Pragvat" (currently Porwal) and others were being called "Dhanotkata" or "Shrimal" based on their financial status.
A discipline of Acharya Shree travelled to Padmavati, where he helped Yagya organizers to understand importance of Non-Violence and stopped Yagya. Like Shrimalpur, Bramhin and Kshyatriya families including King Padamsen adopted Jainism. This is how Acharya Swayamprabhasuri helped in establishing Shrimal and Pragvat (Porwal) group of Jainism followers.
Jainism followers from Shrimalpur and Padmavati (Eastern Region) started being called PRAGWAT (Porwal) group. Due to effectiveness and respect of people and King of the region, the whole region started being recognized as Pragwat.
Pragwat Region: Sirohi District, North-West part of Palanpur District, Godwad Region, Kubhbhalgadh of Medpat Region and Purmandal.
Town of Shrimalpur (currently known as Bhinmal) was established during the time of Shree Mahavir Swami. Town was initially adopted by wealthy, high category and intelligent people, hence the name SHREEMALPUR. It is believed that this area was luxury and enjoyment place for Laxmi Devi. Majority of residents of Shrimalpur belong to Bramhin and Vaishya cast. Back then, Shrimalpur used to compete with Avanti and Rajgruhi in terms of prosperity of the town.
Acharya Swayamprabhsuri passed away to Heavens in Vikram Samwat 57 at Shentrujay Tirth. Whole his life Acharya promoted philosophy of Jainism. Following this noble cause, his great discipline Shree Ratnaprabhsuri also dedicated his life towards expanding knowledge of non-violence and Jainism. Acharya Ratnaprabhsuri spread message of Jainism in the town of Osiya, built by younger brother of King of Shrimalpur. People of Osiya adopted Jainism on the blessings of Acharya Ratnaprabhsuri and started being called OSWAL Shravak Sangh (Oswal Jain Followers).
It is believed that origin of three groups of Swetambar Jain followers - Shrimal, Porwal and Oswal is Rajasthan and the center of the origin is Shrimalnagar.
It is believed that Malalakshmi is Goddess of Shrimal Clan, Ambika is Goddess of Porwal Clan and Sachiya Devi is Goddess of Oswal.
"Pragwat" is a Sanskrit word, while "Porwal" is commonly used in spoken language. Porwal is from Marwadi language of Rajasthan, which suggests a strong bond of Porwal community with Rajasthan.
Adoption of Jainism as Clan Religion by Jain Followers -
Shree Mahavir Swami established Shree Chaturvigh Sangh (four cast community) irrespective of cast of Jainism follower, so people from all or any cast started following non-violent Jainism philosophy. Clan of these people were free to follow any religion, hence there was no restriction in the cast of clan to follow Jainism. Acharya Swayamprabhsuri and Ratnaprabhsuri who started giving Diksha based on Clan-based standards. This activity helped different clans to pass on the teachings and learning of Jainism to their following generations.
Acharya Swayamprabhsuri and Ratnaprabhsuri educated people to live day-to-day life with care of committing as little as possible sin. Followers were advised to business where production, storage and transport are done with possibly least sin. Over the period of time, followers developed kindness and helping attitude toward others. In times of need, people used to donate food and money to less fortunate people. They used to believe that hurting very little to any sole is a sin. All creatures of nature were being treated the same as they all have sole. Jain followers at that time used to be very wealthy, so that even Kings Wealth was not as much as some of the business people's. People used to spend their excess money in helping poor and building temples. Majority of business network of India was under Jain follower's hand.
Existence of Gautra was never mentioned until beginning of Vikram Samwat 6th century. Leaders of different clans inspired followers to start writing clan details in around Vikram Samwat 8th century. None of these documents are available which proves that current clans (Gautras) existed before Vikram Samwat 8th Century. All other literatures suggest that current clans (Gautras) got initiated after 8th Century. These documents explain few of current Gautra and Surnames. It is worth reminding you that Acharya Swayamprabhsuri originated Shrimal and Porwal clans (Jain Followers) 57 years after Shree Mahavir Swami's Nirvana, while Acharya Ratnaprabhsuri originated Oswal group 70 years after that. Other Acharyas originated Agrawal, Khandelwal, Badherwal etc clans who followed Jainism.
Jain Community and Religion is completely free from Cast and Race. It can be adopted by any one of any color or cast. Currently there are some follower groups that are being termed as Cast. Porwal (Pragvat) follower group is made up of many higher clans, majority of them belong to Bramhin and Kshatriya Cast. Gautra for most of the clans are named after their original Bramhin or Kshatriya Gautra - example: Kashyap Gautra, Chauhan Clan. Later clans started giving out their surnames. You can see different surnames in same family's different clans. This happened due to different clans of same original family adopted Jainism at different times, and started their clans to be identified based on their Guru. Example: Solanki family's different clans adopted Jainism at different times, and started adopting surname like "Buta Solanki" - where Buta adopted Jainism hence, started calling their surname as "Buta" and "Solanki" as Gautra. Some people adopted their resident Town or Village name as their surname and kept original family name as their Gautra - example: "Badgama" as surname and "Solanki" as Gautra. Some people adopted surname from their business - example: "Gandhi" because of their business of perfume.