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

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Jaini Community--A Social Survey
factors which hinder the effective increase in the Jaina population. Even though the fertility of Jaina women is showing some signs of improvement, it is a fact that it is less than that of Tribal, Chris. tian, Sikh and Muslim women and it may take many decades for the Jaina women to reach the fertility rate of Tribal, Christian or Sikh women. 169 Further, compared with the others, the Jaina girls are married at an early age. In the Bombay Presidency, according to the 1931 census, the highest number of infant girls married was that of Jainas and the Jainas, along with the Hindus, showed very high figures for marriages of girls under the age of fifteen. 170
As the conditions among Jainas are practically the same all over India, the custom of child-marriage was found everywhere among the Jainas and now, though the age of marriage among the Jainas is increasing, the Jainas, in comparison with the others, seem to be an early marrying community. Since the Jaina females are married early, they are required to bear the incidence of childbirth at a comparatively early age and this has considerably told upon their health and has finally resulted in high rate of female mortality. The child-marriage thus makes the problem worse by increasing the deficiency of females. In still another way the child-marriage affects the growth of population. The highest proportion of widowed females in the Jaina community can pos sibly be attributed to its widespread practice of child-marriage. With the exception of a few widows belonging to some particular castes, all widows in general are effectively debarred from remarrying. Naturally the existence of an unusually large number of widows in the reproductive period and the prevalence of bap on widow-remarriage, render nearly 20% of the already deficient female population worthless from the point of view of growth of population.171 Thus the factors like the deficiency of females, practice of comparatively early marrage, low fertility of women, high rate of female mortality, large number of unmarried males and great proportion of young widowed females effectively de barred from remarriage, have all combined together to lower the growth of Jaina population. In a way these factors have helped to increase the clandestine sexual relations in the Jaina community. The presence of young widows and young wives of old people on the one hand and compulsorily unmarried males