Page Text
________________
52 : Śramaņa, Vol 62, No. 2 April-June 2011
teaching as Derrett (1980: 44) for instance on Manu. 6.46 has shown. The Jaina texts also contain many original conceptions especially on the rights of widows to inherit and to adopt a son, coloured throughout by the Jaina value of non-violence. The lasting impact of the statutes of medieval codified Jaina personal laws on the customs of Jaina castes is evident in numerous reported cases of the 19th and 20th centuries. These cases cannot be dismissed as modern fabrications, despite their somewhat artificial identification of modern customs with ancient śāstric prescriptions, which was typical for early 19th century AngloIndian law.! Already the earliest reported case on 'Jaina law', Maharaja Govind Nath Ray v. Gulab Chand (1833 5 S.D.A. (Sadra Dīvān-i 'Adālat] Calcutta Sel. Rep. 276), concludes that "according to Jaina Šāstras, a sonless widow may adopt a son, just as her husband" (citing an untraceable passage in the Ācāradinakara). The leading case is Bhagawandas Tejmal v. Rajmal Bhagawandas Tejmal v. Rajmal (1873 10 Bom. HC 241), a succession dispute within a Marwari Jaina Agrawal family involving a widow's right of adoption. Adjudicated by C. J. Westropp at the Bombay High Court, the decision was confirmed by the Privy Council in Sheosingh Rain v. Dakho (1878 ILR Allahabad 688). The final judgment distinguished between 'Jaina law' and 'custom', but affirmed Westropp's view that the Jains come under Hindu law unless they are able to provide evidence for the prevalence of different customs: "But when among Hindus (and Jains are Hindu Dissenters) some custom, different from the normal Hindu law of the country, in which the property is located, and the parties resident, is alleged to exist, the burden of proving the antiquity and invariability of the custom is placed on the party averring its existence" (Bhagawandas Tejmal v. Rajmal 1873 10 Bom HC 260). Reform oriented 'liberal' Jaina lawyers resisted the imposition of Anglo-Hindu law, which from 1858 was extensively codified, and the progressive juridical demotion of the notion of a scripture
| SR No. | 525076 |
| Book Title | Sramana 2011 04 |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Sundarshanlal Jain, Shreeprakash Pandey |
| Publisher | Parshvanath Vidhyashram Varanasi |
| Publication Year | 2011 |
| Total Pages | 120 |
| Language | Hindi |
| Classification | Magazine, India_Sramana, & India |
| File Size | 13 MB |