________________
284
bottom of this fact. The truth, however, must be conceded, that thousands of persons who inarty and start out in the separate and independent way of which I have spoken, apart from the family of the husband, soon, for some cause, grow tired of each other, and are separated by the strong hand of your legal civilization by divorce. With us, what you call divorce is not known, except in the lowest class of society, which class is not of the Aryan origin-in other words, not real Hindu. What I mean to say, with more explicitness, is, that Hindu jurisprudence and Secred books do not provide for or recognize divorce. The reason of this, which I may not do more than state, is found in our conception of the ground and reasons for marria ge and the family tie. These are Sacred and inviolable, and they hold through all circumstances, and cannot be weakened nor set aside. Marriage in our view is spiritual as well as physical matehood. The husband and wife are one and indivisable in this view; they have not two roads, and two destinies, and separate attractions, and different ob jects, whether of desire of devotion. They are one in thought, in purpose, in religious devotion, in Sacred relations, with a destiny in the true light, that is also not devided. It is, of course, impossible to bring before our limited view in this earthly state, the full and perfect relations, and the blissful conditions of the perfected souls of men and women, but the Hindu' widow is forever a wife, and prays every day
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org