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 46

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Jaina Community-A Social Survey
tories (likę Tripura and Arunachala Pradesh) where they are very. sparsely populated and are settled there temporarily for business purposes.
There are various causes which contribute to the deficiency of females, viz. (i) concealment of females, (ii) excess of males at birth, (iii) female infanticide, (iv) neglect of female children, (v) higher female mortality and (vi) religious conversion of males. It is very difficult to say which of these factors are responsible for creating disparity among males and females in the Jaina community. The Jaina population being literate and intelligent would not indulge in concealing the females at the time of the census. Since the exact figures of sex of children at birth are not available we cannot say whether there is any excess of males at birth in the Jaina community. The Jainas are sufficiently advanced and as such there could not be any possibility of practising female infanticide by them. It is true that in a society where the female children are considered to be a burden, they are liable to be neglected. But this neglect perhaps arises out of the economic condition of parents and as economic condition of the Jaina community is comparatively good, there are very less chances of females being neglected. Female mortality is different at various age-periods. The death rate among females is higher than that of males in the 5-10 years age-group. This is due to the neglect of female children which varies to some extent with economic circumstances and, as said above, female mortality on this account must be low in the Jaina community. A study of specific death rate shows that after the age of 5, only in the 40 and over agegroups, the female death rate is lower than that of male. This means that the female death rate is higher in age-period 5-40. If the female ratio for any community is declining it might be due to the fact that the mortality amongst women aged between 5 and 40 might be more than offsetting the female superiority in the age groups 1 to 5 years and over 60 years. There is every probability that female death rate between the age-period 5-40 might be higher in the Jaina community as many Jaina females are married at an early age and are called upon to bear children too early and possibly too often. But, due to the lack of figures of female death rate at various age-periods it is difficult to pronounce to what extent the high female mortality is responsible for the deficiency of females in the Jaina community. No religious conversion