Cultural Study of Nisitha Curni

Author(s): Madhu Sen
Publisher: Sohanlal Jain Dharm Pracharak Samiti Amrutsar

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l viI conduct of the Jaina monks. The classical Sanskrit texts deal mainly with the highest strata of society and its lofty idealism. In contrary, the NC. gives a realistic representation of the culture and the day to day life of the Indians of that age.
The aim of the present work is to critically study the text in all spheres of cultural perspective. Being a commentary on an ancient text it may be submitted here that much of the cultural material belongs to a former age and has filtered down to our author in the form of tradition. Thus, the material available can be classified into two groups-ancient and contemporary. The former is revealed by historical, semi-historical and legendary stories, illustrations and injunctions which specifically belong to their respective period, while the latter is the original contribution of the author which is of more importance from the cultural point of view. All possible efforts have been made to supplement and corroborate this information with the other available contemporary sources so as to give a comprehensive picture of the cultural life of the period.
The subject-matter has been treated in eight chaptersinitiating with Introduction with a view to introduce the author, the contents, the place and time of its origin. Continuing in the next chapter the work deals with Polity and Administration and startlingly reveals a disturbed state of political administration in spite of well-developed political ideologies. The third and the fourth chapters comprise Social Life and Material Culture in which the structure of society, family and marriage, customs and beliefs, food habits, dress and articles of toilets and the pastimes have been studied. The Jaina attitude towards the women has been kept in view specifically while discussing the social status of the women. It can be fairly well deduced from the study of these chapters that a sense of materialistic concept had entered the minds of the people making it essential for the individuals to be conscious of their status in society.
Economic Life and Fine Arts also contribute to strengthen the significance of material prosperity, i.e. economic prosperity.