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The Social Atmosphere of Present Jainism
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That reformatory work of this kind can hope to succeed even in present India, is shown by the example of the Jainas of the Punjab, who are heard to have formed, some years ago, one single great circle of common messmateship and intermarriage, and who are now collectively known as Bhāvadā, which name is likely to abolish the few caste distinctions which still survive. Examples of great circles in which at least the sub-caste is ignored in the case of marriages, are the Mārawadi and Bābū Jainas of Eastern Rājaputānā, the United Provinces, and Bengal, all of whom form a unity, and the Jainas of the Deccan on the other side, who are at least partly united. Both are cases, it is true, in which small numbers of Jainas are spread over vast areas. Still they show what is possible where there is good will and tolerance.
There are also instances of such Jaina communities in Gujarat in which certain messmateship and intermarriage circles comprise even members of different chief castes, as is the case with the intermarriages between member of the Daśa-poravāla, Dasaśrīmāla and Dasa-osavāla castes of Pāțana. This is, however, not due to progress nor reform, but it is the outcome of a time honoured local usage.
On the other hand, there are some such circles in Gujarat and Kathiāvāda, as comprise heterodox members of one and the same caste as the result of which intermarriages between Jainas and Vaisnavas occur. Still instances are relatively rare.
Leaving aside those few exceptions, as well as the ideal unity existing in the great brotherhood of the Southern Digambara Jainas, the social atmosphere of present Jainism is a very unwholesome one, with its regrettable tendency of sacrificing religious ideals to material advantages, and the incomprehensible want of courage on the part of the less prejudiced amongst its followers. For the future of Jainism, it seems to admit of prospects little short of distressing.
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