Jainism Parity And Patriarchy

Author(s): Anand Shah
Publisher: Anand Shah

Page 15

Anand Shah | Prof. Ulrike Stark 6.8.18
However, a more rigorous statistical analysis that takes concentration in the merchant
classes into account remains to be conducted for the Jain community, so these conclusions
should be understood as highly preliminary.
Property Rights
Given the rich and storied history of so many of India's traditions, Indian courts since the
time of the British Raj have made concessions on the basis of religious and communal laws.28 In
1955, the Indian government subsumed Jain law under Hindu law29, so in an official capacity, it
is difficult to observe impacts of Jain law in contrast with other religious law systems. Since
1955, unreported cases from lower courts and private familial agreements appear to be the main
impacts Jain law has had on Jain communities, as filing special cases to be recognized under Jain
law is time and resource intensive. Because we can't explicitly measure unreported cases and
private familial agreements, it will have to suffice to do an analysis of Jain law as a marker of
gender parity in and of itself. Note that this analysis is based off property rights before 1955.
There were two major differences between the Hindu and Jain law systems. First, the
daughter in a Jain family was entitled inheritance upon her father's death (though it was not
usually equal to the shares of the brothers). This is in contrast with no mandated inheritance for
daughters in Hindu law; patrimony was only extended towards male heirs. Second, on the death
of a husband with no son, the Jain widow takes absolute control of the inheritance. Further, even
if there is a son, she is an absolute owner of the inheritance. This is the largest difference
28 Carroll, Lucy, et al. "Law, Custom and Statutory Hindu Reform: The Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act of 1856." Women and Social Reform in Modern India, vol. 1, 2007. 29 This was a decision with much controversy attached to it. For readers interested in more details, The Jain Law by Champat Rai Jain was a very important argumentative and historical text in the subject. 30 Jaina Law as an Unofficial Legal System." Studies in Jaina History and Culture: Disputes and Dialogues, by Peter Flügel, Routledge, 2006.