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STUDIES IN JAINISM caityālaya (temple) and performed Jinapujā (worship) with great devotion. Then at the fixed lagna(auspicious moment), she was carried to the Svayamvaramandapa, where all the guests, royal and otherwise, were present and from whom she selected a youth of her choice, and placed garland round his neck. Then followed the performance of Jinapujā, a great feast and rejoicings. The bride and bridegroom were to observe the recorded rites consisting of the Jinapuja and "Saptapadi denoting mutual consent." In case the marriage was not according to the Svayamvara rule, the Only difference made was that there were no Svayamvaramandapa and the ceremonies in it. Instead, the Vagdana ceremony took place, which was but a kind of betrothal. The bridegroom with his relatives and friends came on the fixed date to the house of the bride and then the avove rites were observed. But in later times. under the influence of the Vedic Brāhmaṇas, the worship of Agni, Vināyaka etc. entered into the Jaina marriage and is to be found to this day. 32 These ceremonies in the name of Jaina marriage are useless and worth abandoning. So the marriage among the modern Jainas is not of the same kind throughout. In South India, even widow-marriage is permissible since the mediaeval times, though in earlier Jaina literature not a single instance of it is to be traced. But the Jaina Šāstras declare that if after the marriage has taken place, either of the couples finds any defect in the other within the time prescribed for honeymoon and complains of it, then that marriage is null and void and the bride is free to marry again.33
The object of Marriage The object of marriage in Jainism is twofold : viz, (I) to give a legitimate outlet to sensual feelings so that the human being may rightly live a useful life, enjoying the fruits of Dharma, Artha and Kāma, 34 and thus be entitled to attain the great object-the Mokşa; (2) and to promote the cause of
32. Adipurāna, 38, 127-131. 33. Trivarnācāra, ch II. 171-173. 34. Nītivākyāmrta. I
| SR No. | 006565 |
| Book Title | Studies in Jainism |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Ramkrishna Mission Institute of Culture Culcutta |
| Publisher | Ramkrishna Mission Institute of Culture Culcutta |
| Publication Year | 1997 |
| Total Pages | 182 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 11 MB |