Jainism Parity And Patriarchy

Author(s): Anand Shah
Publisher: Anand Shah

Page 17

Anand Shah | Prof. Ulrike Stark | 6.8.18
addition to this are also structural restrictions; nuns are often subordinate to monks, even if the monks have had shorter religious lives. Nuns have historically never been allowed to be the heads of the Jain sangh (Acharya) and have never held titles like suri (honorable). Most of these restrictions are given in the Cheda-sutras (scriptures of conduct), but Balbir's analysis of the justifications in these scriptures tells us that most prohibitions arise from the belief that women are more fragile and vulnerable, especially in the context of chastity.36 So, while parity between Jain monks and nuns has outpaced much of India's contemporary traditions, existing domestic and societal patriarchal structures are reproduced in the relationships between sadhus and sadhvis as well as the restrictions placed on sadhvis from scripture.
Conclusion
After analyzing the lay and ascetic domains of Jainism from economic, historical, and social lenses, a few conclusions seem clear. First, Jainism affords woman a significantly higher degree of parity than its contemporaries. This most obviously manifests itself in markers of parity like high female literacy rates, positive male to female mendicant ratios, and widow and daughter property rights. Second, Jainism continues to struggle with the patriarchal backdrop from which it has come out of. Much of scripture and mythology takes for granted a characterization of women as sexual objects, and this results in both restrictions on Jain nuns and the tacit affirmation of existing cultural narratives. This negotiation between philosophy and culture is one that Jainism has and will continue to have to mediate, but the dynamic and
36 Ibid., 18.