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amid all the ceremonies usual in the case of boys, when they are about eight years old. 195 On the contrary, in the Gujarātha the Jainas do not wear a sacred thread at all. Therefore the question of thread-girding ceremony does not arise at all.196 And where the sacred thread is worn, the thread-girding ceremony is not considered essential. In Madhya Pradesh Jaina boys are invested with a sacred thread on the occasion of their wedding or at 21 or 22 if they are still unmarried at that age.197 As regards this great diversity in the practice of wearing sacred thread it is contended by Pandita Nāthūrāma Premi, the noted Jaina scholar, that this practice is not referred to at all in the old Jaina literature and is prescribed by later Jaina works with a view to stem the tide of widespread persecution of Jainas by the Saivas especially in the Karnātaka and Southern India.198 Whatever may be the reason, the fact is there that there is a great diversity in the practice of wearing a sacred thread among the Jainas from province to province. The same can be safely asserted in respect of another important ceremony, namely, that of marriage. There is indeed, little in common among the detailed marriage rites of Jainas of Mysore199, Deccan200, and Gujarātha.201 Even the marriage ceremony of all the Saitavāla Jainas, the members of one caste, is not similar. In many respects the Saitavāla Jainas of Ahmednagar District in Maharashtra202 and of Andhra Pradesh,203 differ from each other in their marriage ceremony. Like marriage the funeral ceremony also is not performed by the Jainas in the same fashion in all provinces.204 While in the Karnātaka no words are uttered in the funeral procession, in Gujaratha the words Rāma, Rāma are uttered. The Karnataka Jainas observe impurity for ten days but the Gujaratha Jainas from five to ten days. The Gujarātha Jainas neither perform memorial or Srāddha ceremony between the tenth and the thirteenth days nor do they keep monthly or yearly memorial days. But in the Karnāțaka, Srāddha ceremony is performed every month for one year.205 Though the keeping of days in memory of the dead is against the tenets of Jainism, yet many adhere to this rule and we find its traces in some places. The Bogāras of Andhra Pradesh206 and the Saitavālas of Ahmednagar District207 do observe Śrāddha ceremony like Karnāțaka Jainas. It appears that only Osavāla Jainas do not gather the ashes of the dead.208 Thus it is clear that there is no uniformity in the practice of Jaina ceremonies.
