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Jaina Community - À Social Survey
paid to the bride's father. No doubt, in the Arsha form the bride's father receives something from the bridegroom but here the father does so according to the requirements of Dharma and not with a view to sell his daughter. The Gandharva marriage is contracted completely without the consent of the parents. The Rakshasa marriage involves the forcible abduction of a girl after committing acts of violence against the kinsmen of the bride. The Paisācha marriage intentionally perpetrates violence on a girl who is placed in a very helpless condition, and that is why sometimes it is considered as the worst of all marriages.27 As these four forms of marriage are sinful, no fixed mode is prescribed by Achāryas for contracting such marriages.28
There is a diffirence of opinion as regards the most prevalent form of marriage at present in the Jaina community. According to Achāradinakara, 29 the only form of marriage that can be practised at present is the Prājā patya marriage as the other three of the approved forms of marriage, viz., Brāhma, Daiva and Arsha cannot exist in the present Kali age.30 On the other hand, Mr. C. R. Jain thinks that nowadays only the Brāhma form of marriage can be said to be prevalent as the rest have all become obsolete. 31 Since the Daiva and Arsha forms of marriage are not definitely practised now, it matters little whether the most prevalent form of marriage is called as either Brāhma or Prājāpatya.
If we compare the forms of marriage as conceived by Jainas with those of Hindus, it would be found that not only the number and names of forms are exactly the same but they do not differ in their contents also. Yet there is a significant difference between their view-points regarding the consideration of lawful and unlawful forms of marriage. According to the Hindus, the (i) Brā (ii) Daiva, (ii) Arsha, (iv) Prājā patya, (vi) Gandharva and (vii) Rakshasa, are lawful marriages, while the remaining two forms, viz, (v) Asura and (viii) Paisācha are unlawful and should never be practised.32 The Jainas, on the other hand, recommend only the first four forms, viz., the (i) Brāhma, (ii) Daiva, (iii) Arsha, and (iv) Prājā patya, as approved forms of marriage.
In the approved forms of marriage the most important point to note is that the bride is always given by her father as a gift to the bridegroom. In the absence of the father the question arises regarding the competent person to give the maiden in marriage.
