Jain Journal 1975 04

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 11

APRIL, 1975
107
of their inheritance. A widow had no legal right to her husband's estate except that of mere subsistence. Marriage was widely and acutely diffused, had assumed the form of sacrament, and was generally arranged by the guardians of the parties concerned. People preferred to marry in the caste and, if possible, with the daughter of the maternal uncle. However, inter-caste unions, or those of choice, were not rare. Extra-maritorial relations were looked down upon, but those who could afford could keep concubines. The institution of courtesans was very much in evidence. Some of them were very rich and highly accomplished, and commanded the respect of the gentry and the royalty.
The Brahmana priest was trying to bind the householder's life in a series of rites, ceremonies and sacraments, which commenced even before the conception of the child and covered his entire life from birth to death, even beyond it. No doubt, only a section of the people conformed to these rules and regulations. Popular festivities and very diffused celebrations tended to make life gay. In spite of the Brahmana, society had not yet become static; it was rather in a state of transition, and was still characterised by a healthy catholicity, tolerance, charity and generosity, and loved to honour the good, the wise and the brave.
In fact, in no other age and country do we find diffused among all classes of people as earnest a spirit of enquiry, so impartial and deep a respect for all who came forward as teachers, however contradictory their doctrines might be.
The pundits of the orthodox section of the Vedicists were giving final shape to the Vedic texts, the Samritās, and writing abstruse commentaries on them which tended to make the sacrificial ritual very elaborate, complicated and rigid. The simple chanters of sac of early Vedic times had now formed themselves into an organised powerful class of religious functionaries who succeeded in creating in the popular mind the impression that a suitable combination of rites, priests and objects of sacrifice had the magical power of producing the desired effect. The fruit usually sought after was no spiritual benefit or moral edification, but some worldly gain, such as the increase in fame, power or pelf of the sacrificer, the birth of a son to him, or the destruction of his enemies. Thanks to the efforts of Tirthankaras Aristanemi and Parsva, who pioneered the movement for the revival of Sramana Dharma in the later Vedic age, sacrifices had gradually become much less frequent as well as much less bloody. The core of the Smộtis (law-books) was being framed and a strict adherence to the four-caste system and the four-stages of a man's life was being emphasised.