Jain Journal 1991 10

SR No.: 520104
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication
Publication Year: 1991
Total Pages: 58
Language: English
Classification: Magazine, India_Jain Journal, & India
File Size: 3 MB

Page 28

Status of Woman in Jaina Society
Vilas Sangave
Religion and Society are closely bound together in Indian life and the former influences the social life of a people to a great extent. The religious independence given to Jaina women had its repurcussions in the social field also. Equality of opportunity accorded to women in the religious sphere was manifest in several social spheres of action.
In ancient times almost in all patriarchal societies the birth of a girl was an unwelcome event and this gave rise to practices like the female infanticide and neglect of female children. The custom of infanticide of girls crept into some sections of Hindu society during the medieval period and at the time of the advent of the British rule in India the evil custom was confined to a microscopic minority in Hindu society. As the whole Jaina philosophy is based on the main principle of ahimsa or non-injury to living beings, it could not be expected at all that female infanticide might have been practised in Jaina society at any time. Similarly, we do not find that female children were purposefully neglected even though they might have been regarded as a burden on the family. According to Jaina Law the unmarried daughters and sisters are entitled to maintence out of the family property and the expenditure on their marriage must be met from the same source. Further, in the absence of the father, the guardianship of the younger sisters upto the time of their marriage devolves on their elder brothers.
The females were not only spiritually and physically not neglected, but in education also they were given equal treatment with the males from the very beiginning. During the period of the ascendency of the Jainas in India, it is patent that the family, the Church, the school and the state served as powerful agents for the spread of education among
women.
As a result of this high type of education received by women, many women used to enter the teaching profession and to remain unmarried throughout the life in order to carry on their spiritual ex