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RISABHA DEVA many of these ladies belonged to the maleksha race; but Bharata did not hesitate to accept them for wife! At one time such marriages were quite common, it would seem, but now they have become obsolete. The last Jaina King to marry a maleksha princess was Chandra Gupta who flourished about two thousand two hundred years ago, and who married, as history points out, the daughter of the Greek General Saleukus Niconar. And Chandra Gupta was no ordinary Jaina; he was the favourite disciple of Sri Bhadrabāhu, the last SrutaKevali (literally all-knowing by hearsay, that is indirectly)! Here is real food for reflection for those who pin their faith to bloodsuperiority. There is a great deal to be said in favour of the comparative cleanliness of different professions and of the habits of men ; but we must not be carried away by pure sentiment and place arbitrary valuation on the higher standards. It is enough if a girl is allowed to marry high, though a man may not do so, generally. · For the girl that enters into a purer atmosphere is cut off from her lowlier associations, and is soon improved, wherea's, in the converse case, the girl entering into a lower class must become permanently debased herself. It will be noticed that the girl passes completely out of her paternal
