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JAINA GAZETTE.
Now a person belonging to one sub-caste cannot marry in another sub-caste. Further in one sub-caste we have what are known as gotras, and when a marriage takes place, it has to be seen that the bride does not belong to any of four gotras represented by the father, the mother, and the grandmothers on both sides of the bridegroom. Similarly the bridegroom must not belong to any of four gotras on the bride's side. This is what obtains in Rajputana. In C. P. and Central India, this rule is even stricter. There are eight gotras on each side that have to be avoided.
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In these circumstances, a sub-caste of say a thousand individuals, will find that their children cannot be married for all the gotras cannot be avoided. The fate of those which have less than this number can only be imagined.
The number of women above 25 who are unmarried is 2,032. There is no earthly reason possible for these women to remain unmarried except the one given above. Any solution of this problem would certainly require large and important modifications in these customs. Inter-sub-caste marriages shall have to be allowed. The number of gotras to be avoided shall have to be reduced. Persons who take this matter up need not fear anything; for these customs have no religious sanction. Even if they had it, self-preservation would require such a step to be taken. People of Upper India can hardly understand the rigours of this rule, for the Agrawals are more fortunate first in being a very large class, and, secondly, because a Jain Agrawal can marry a non-Jain Agrawal girl. But such is not the case in the C. P. and Rajputana.
A by-no-means small difficulty is the smaller number of Women. In all, their number is about 40,000 less than that of the males. But this figure tells us nothing about the actual difficulty. One-fourth the total number of females are widows, the exact number being 153,297. The number of unmarried women is 181,705. Leaving those that are above 30, we are left without 180,000 females who can marry. The number of males below 45, who can marry is 332,623. If we suppose that all these 180,000 women are married, although this is not Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
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