Jaina Philosophy

SR No.: 006901
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Virchand R Gandhi, Kumarpal Desai
Publisher: World Jain Confederation
Publication Year: 2009
Total Pages: 298
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 5 MB

Page 255

The Jaina Philosophy my impression is right, that she is left to provide for herself unless the estate of her husband is left to her and is sufficient.
Perhaps, it is this which necessitates remarriage and the establishment of new ties of the same nature in a different direction and with a new mother-in-law who may be appreciated in the same way, so that now she is related by marriage to two families, and is, in our conception, a member of neither. You will, therefore, ask me, what is the difference in my country? It is this: the daughter-in-law becomes a member bona fide, not legally; per se not incidentally, of the family into which she marries. If she is left a widow she does not need to remarry in order to obtain the comforts and the protections of home, but the home in which she is, is her home, with all that the word implies, so long as she lives, and it is the duty and the sacred pleasure of the members of the family to provide for her to love her and protect her just the same as if her husband were by her side. I do not mean to say that under no circumstances is remarriage permissible.
On the contrary there are certain classes of people and religious communities who live on the lowest plane of spirituality whose widows do remarry but we say that the reasons for that remarriage are unworthy and pertain entirely to that nature which we call “animal.” I do not pass judgment on either of these modes of life at this time. What I desire to do is to present the contrast, which will account for the unfavorable impressions which your system has made upon me. It may be that your philosophers and socialists can present many reasons for this state of things and many arguments in its defense, but to the Hindu mind, the basic principle of the family and the ties which bind into unity its several members, are violated by you, and that for this reason it must be impossible for you to attain the highest social state.
Another thing that I have learned is that divorce-is a common and sometimes a coveted feature in your social civilization. I will
246 CM