________________
Marriage and Position of Woman
165
Niyoga (or levirate ). As male issues do not count at all for the salvation of a Jaina, it is obvious that the custom of Niyoga was not observed by the Jainas in ancient times.
| 11. DISSOLUTION OF WEDLOCK When the parties enter the marital union they do so with a view to remain in it for a considerable period of time. The marital relations are regarded more or less durable and this durability really distinguished marital relations from other ordinary sexual relations. The ideal of marriage in India is that the marital bond should of necessity be permanent and that the dissolution of wedlock should not be allowed. 145 Marriage means constant adjustment of relations between husband and wife and it is likely that the expected compatibility between the partners may not be realised in full or in part during the marital life. Though marriage is conceived as a permanent union, still after entering the union certain circumstances arise which go against the purpose of marriage and thus some provisions have to be made to dissolve the wedlock under specific conditions. The Jaina scriptures declare that if after the marriage has taken place either of the couple finds any defect in the other within the time prescribed for honeymoon and complains of it, then that marriage is null and void and the bride is free to marry again.146 Further, it has been ordained by the Jaina law-givers that a wife is allowed to marry another person under the following five circumstances and after taking the consent of the Caste Panchayata (i. e., elderly people ) and of the government, viz., if the husband becomes a sinner, or an ascetic, or an impotent person, if he dies, and if no information is available regarding his whereabouts. 147 Similarly, according to the Hindus there are five cases of legal necessity wherein the wife is allowed to marry a second husband; she may take a second husband, if the first is lost or dead or becomes an ascetic or is impotent or is expelled from the caste.148
Female chastity is the key-note of marriage in India and hence a woman is expected to preserve her chastity not only during the life-time of her husband but even after his death. That is why the marriage of widows was not generally favoured in ancient India.149 The remarriage of widows is in general not accepted by Hindus in their Smritis,150 and widow re-marriages disap
