Jaina Community a Social Survey

SR No.: 007019
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

Page 203

Marriage and Position of Woman
177
are examples when women actually fought battles.217 In the first quarter of the 10th century A.D. figures a remarkable Jaina woman administrator, Jakkiyabbe, and it is stated that she was skilled in ability for good government, and protected the Nāgarakhanda 70 (a name of a place).218 It is recorded that a Jaina lady Saviyabbe accompanied her husband on horse-back to the battlefield and fell fighting in the battle of Bagiyur.219 It appears from Epigraphia Carnatica that the office of Nādagauda, an important rural official, was held by a Jaina woman. An inscription dated A.D. 918 shows. that a Jaina widow was a Nādagauda and was distinguished for the skill and ability of her management. It states that though a woman she well protected her charge with pride in her own heroic bravery.220 In the 16th century A.D. when the Jaina queen Bhairavadevi, while ruling over the kingdom of Gerosoppe. was attacked by the neighbouring Saiva Saradāra, she faced the enemy bravely and defeated him in the battle.221
Legal Status :
Under the Jaina Law not only men but women also have always had their maintenance and property rights. A Jaina person's regard for the female sex does not admit of his sending out the female members of his family to work among men. All women fall in one of the two categories-daughters and wives. They are either born in the family, and are its daughters, or have been brought into it by marriage, in which case they are wives. Maintenance must always be provided for both classes of women by the male members of the family; and it must be adequate and ample.122 A woman is allowed to have her special property known as Strīdhana. Strīdhana thus denotes property over which a woman is allowed to have her own more or less absolute sway in normal times. According to Jaina Law the following kinds of property are termed Strīdhana. .. 1. The Adhyagnikệta (whatever is given in the presence of
the sacred fire) i.e. to say ornaments, etc. which are received
by a girl from her parents at the time of her marriage... 2. The Adhyāhavanika (that which is brought) is what the
young bride brings from her father's house in the presence
of her father and brothers. J..12