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Retrospect
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on the other is bound to give impetus to immoral and extra-marital relations. To conceal the extra-marital relations sometimes infanticide is resorted to and the persons addicted to adultery and their childr. n, if at all they get them, become short lived as they fall an easy prey to various diseases. 172 Hence it is clear that the results of such relations tell upon both the quantity and quality of population.
Apart from these internal causes which are largely responsible for the decline of Jaina population, there is an effective external cause also which is continuously reducing the number of Jaina population and that is the complete absence of proselytizing activities in the Jaina community. In the past many non-Jainas were regularly converted to Jainism and the learred Jaina Achāryas used to take a leading part in these conversion activities. It is said that the Jaina Āchāryas were rot taking their daily meals unless they converted a previously determined number of nonJainas to Jainism.173 It has already been noted that the populous Jaina castes like Agaravāla, Osavāla, Srimāla, and Khandelavāla were formed by the Jaira Āchāryas after converting the people to Jainism.174 But since the Middle Ages these activities are not undertaken at all and there are practically no new converts to Jainism. Not only that the non-Jainas are not brought into the fold of Jainas but every year thousands of Jainas become nonJainas.175 In these circumstances it is but natural that, as compared with the other communities like that of Hindus or Muslims where conversion activities are carried on with a religious fervour, the population of Jaina community should decline more rapidly.
Another contributory cause to the decline of Jaina population is the concentration of Jainas in the urban areas. It has been observed that as the Jainas are mainly a commercial community, they show a marked tendency to live in cities, at least where they are not numerous, and that this tendency is progressively increasing. 176 Due to insanitary and unhygienic conditions prevailing
in urban localities, generally the death rate is more in cities and the - standard of health is less than that in rural areas. The committee appointed by the Śwetāṁbara Jaina Conference to investigate into the death rate among the Jainas of Bombay City, reported that the death rate among the Jainas was more than the general death rate in the City and that the main reason for this was that
