Page Text
________________
Marriage and Position of Woman
The question of divorce is intimately connected with that of dissolution of wedlock. Divorce is the demand by one of the partners to the marital union to be allowed to break the bond of marriage. All things cannot be foreseen before marriage and there is considerable element of chance. Hence the demand to cut as under the marital tie is more commonly put forward when people do not find their mates in the relation that they had thought or imagined that they would be.162 As the possibility of marital relations getting strained always remains, it is the duty of social law-givers to make provision of divorce under specific conditions so that maximum of conjugal happiness could be ensured for every person. Though like early Christianity, Hinduism also held that the marriage union was indissoluble, still if we carefully examine the earlier Dharma-sastra literature, we find that divorces were permitted under certain well-defined circumstances. Kautilya, while giving detailed rules of divorce for the couples who found it impossible to live with each other, expressly declares that marriages consecrated according to the Brahma, Daiva, Arsha and Prajapatya forms cannot be dissolved at all.16 It has been noticed above that Hindus have given permission to a wife to re-marry under the five cases of legal necessity and it can be said that this permission clearly presupposes the possibility of divorce from the earlier marriage.164 As the same circumstances are prescribed by Jaina law-givers for remarriage of a woman, it appears that divorce was allowed by the Jainas under specific conditions. It should be remembered that as the Jaina religion is not concerned with marriage, like other customs connected with the institution of marriage, the rules regarding divorce are governed by local customs. It can be said that in general the custom of granting divorce is not observed under any circumstances by practically all Jaina castes except to a little extent by the castes of Bogara and Saitavala. Divorce is permitted among the Bogāras on the ground of the wife's unchastity, barrenness or ill-temper. Such divorced wives remarry by the same rites as widows. Divorce is recognised among the Saitavalas and divorced wives marry by inferior rites.165
167
12. THE POSITION OF WOMAN
The general attitude of men towards women was not consistent in its approach. In Jaina literature we come across several state
| SR No. | 007019 |
| Book Title | Jaina Community a Social Survey |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Vilas Sangve |
| Publisher | Popular Book Depot Bombay |
| Publication Year | 1980 |
| Total Pages | 484 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 12 MB |