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Poravāla, correctly called Poravāḍa, is a Kshatriya community that originated in southern Rajasthan, India. They are mainly of Jain or Hindu faith. The name Poravāla was applied on the basis of the names of other Bania communities (Oswal, Agrawal, Khaṇḍelavāla, etc.).
The name Poravāḍa is derived from Prāgavaṭa. The caste is divided into 24 gotras. They are also divided into three sections (from highest to lowest status): Visā, Dasā and Pañcā Poravāḍas. According to tradition the Visā and Dasā divisions arose in the 13th century. The brothers Vastupala and Tejapāla were the sons of Poravāḍa father and Śrīmāli mother. The Poravādas who chose to eat with the brothers became Dasā, and those who refused became Visā. The Visā and Dasā interdine but do not intermarry. The Visās tend to be Jain while Dasā's tend to be Vaishnav. Formerly interreligious marriages occurred between Jains and Vaishnavs of the same sub-caste.
They originated from a region east of ancient Shrimal. In antiquity, they appear to be numerous and among the wealthiest communities in the region.
Many Jain temples were built by the Porwals, including:
The Porwal community became divided into several regional communities including the Pure Poravāḍas, Soraṭhiya Poravāḍas, and Kapola Poravāḍas.
Poravāḍa Jains are mostly Śvetāmbara with some Digambar. The historian H. L. Jain has suggested that Krisha, the patron of Muni Srichandra, a Digambara monk, belonged to the same Ninanvaya clan as Vimala who built the Vimala Vasahi temple at Abu.Muni Srichandra's Kahakosu, Prakrit Text Society, 1969, H.L. Jain editor
In the 16th century, Pushtimarg was founded by Vallabha, a Brahmin scholar from Telangana Region, who proposed that in the modern age, it is too hard to follow the Jnana and Karma Margs. He proposed Pushti Marga (Raag, Bhog and Sringara used in the seva of Shri Krishna) as an alternative. A section of the Porwals converted to Pushtimarga. Those who have converted to the Pushtimarg are known as Meshri (derived from Maheshwari)The Eighteenth-Century Social Order in Surat: A Reply and an Excursus on the Riots of 1788 and 1795, by Lakshmi Subramanian, Modern Asian Studies, 1991, p. 321-365 or Vania.
Since this was a while after Swayamprabhsuri's sermons in Bhinmal, stated that they knew of his sermons at Bhinmal and that they would not accept his ideology. Swayamprabhasuri emphasized the importance of a bhāv yagya ( Homa performed mentally and not physically) to prevent animal sacrifice. He further explained with the analogy that with karma as the wood and non-violence as the sacrifice, one purifies their soul and becomes eligible for moksha. He further explained the meaning of the Ratnatraya. lost the ensuing debate, and the residents of 45000 households of the kingdom and King Padmasena accepted Jainism. However, as a token of respect to the , the name of the newly established caste was decided to be Prāgvat as the who lost were Prāgvata Brahmins. Later on, the clan came to be known as Porvāl.
It is further stated that he consecrated a temple and an idol of the 16th Tirthankara Shantinatha at Padmavati among several temples and icons he consecrated at various villages and towns surrounding Padmavati.
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