Jaina Political Thought

SR No.: 006595
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: G C Pandey
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 132
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 8 MB

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Eng.
of love or at the time of marriage. If one partitions the property among his sons, the wife is entitled to a smilar share. After the death of the father, the mother is entitled to half as much share as a son, since she has to carry on the relations with kinsmen. After her death, her property is equally shared. If there is a single daughter, she and her son are entitled to full inheritance. In connection with wives belonging to different castes, different rights
ated. The position of a Sudra wite and her children was very low. They were entitled to only food and clothes. In case of property of a Sudra. of course, the wife and the children had all the rights. It is throughout implied that marriage with a woman of the same or lower caste was permissible. This system of anuloma marriages is, in fact, supported in other Jaina texts also. If the husband becomes fallen. lost, insane, an ascetic, or dead, the wife became the full owner of all his wealth. In the absence of a child a man or a woman could adopt a son with the full knowledge of kinsmen and the king.
Five types of children are said to be recognised in the Jaina tradtion -- one's own, freely given by a kinsman, purchased, the younger brother and the son of the daughter. Of these, the first two are the principal sons. The other three are secondary. All these five are intitled to inheritance. The other eight types of sons which are mentioned in the Brahmanical tradition are not accepted in the Jaina tradtion. They are called Putra - kalpa, i.e.,like a son but not a son. They are said to be debarred from inheritance and it is added that they have been imagined in other traditions merely to justify particular interests.
On the death of a person the right of inheritance is traced in the following succession -- wife, son, nephew, kinsmen who are sapindas son of the daughter, kinsmen till the 14th generation, kinsmen by gotra, kinsmen in general,the king. The king should use such wealth in charity.
Under exceptional circumstances, if the sons were of bad character and fallen from the right conduct, he could be turned out of the house after taking the consent of kinsmen and officers of the state.
Although the daughter-in-law becomes the sole heir if her husband is dead, the son-in-law, the mother-in-law and the son of the sister cannot inherit as they belong to a different gotra. The wealth given to a woman at the time of marriage or afterwards by parents, relations, uncles, aunts, elder sister, and husband constitutes stri-dhana. Whatever the woman brings from her parental home in the form of ornaments etc. and whatever is given to her by her in-laws at the time of her marriage, or whatever is given by her brother, or by the women of her husnand's house -- these constitute the livefold stri-dhana. It belongs fully tothe woman.The husband may seek help out of it in the case of some great calamity. In all these matters of
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