________________
349
The Workiug Model
must be made compulsory by state legislation for young and childless widows and for others it may be left for them to decide. Generally it is thought that widows upto the age of 30 may be allowed to remarry if they so desire and to facilitate such marriages widowers must be asked to marry widows only. As the permission to remarry is likely to induce ladies to contract many such marriages, it is considered that a woman should be allowed to remarry only once. Even though remarriage is accepted as a desirable solution, it must be remembered in this connection that among the persons in favour of remarriage there is a section which regards remarriage as the second best solution. This section thinks that the best thing for a widow is to lead a social and religious life and if this is utterly impossible, then alone she may be allowed to remarry. That is why it is contended by them that system of remarriage should not be unnecessarily encouraged and there should be no direct propaganda in favour of it.
On the contrary, there are 34 persons who strongly and faithfully oppose to the very proposal of remarriage of widows. They sincerely feel that remarriage is not the only solution and think that the good treatment would solve the problem of widows. As a part of genial treatment they suggest that Asramas should be opened to house the widows, general, moral and religious education should be imparted to them and efforts should be made to make them as far as possible economically independent. They maintain that to lead a life strictly according to religious injuctions is the best course open for widows and it is thought that sufficient financial . help in widow-hood will, it is ardently hoped, enable them to lead a life of that type. They also suggest that if child marriages and old-marriages are completely stopped, the number of widows would be consequently reduced and the question of widow remarriage will not assume serious proportion at all.
44. JAINA CULTURE
It is an established fact that the Jaina community is one of the very ancient communities of India. The Jainas possess a distinct religion, a separate philosophy, a different ethical code, a set of peculiar beliefs, practices, customs and manners and a vast literature of their own. Though Jainas form a small minority at present, yet in the past they were not only numerous but also.
