the saraks () (from sanskrit śrāvaka) is a 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 body of the jain community in western, northern and southern india and have been hindu bengalis ever since. the governments of india and west bengal both have classified some of the saraks under other backward classes since 1994 but many of them have been in the general category from the beginning itself.