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Presidential Address of Professor Y. C. Simhadri at
Seminar on Adarśa Parivāra kī Samkalpana - Dharmashastra ke Pariprekṣa Mein
(Nature of Ideal Familly in the Light of Scriptural Texts) on May 14, 2000 (Sunday)
Pujya Acārya Deva Shrimad Vijay Rajyash Surishwar ji Maharaj, Padmabhushan Prof. Vidyanivas Mishra ji, Kunwar Vijayanand Singh ji, Prof. Bhagchandra Jain ji, the members of Shri Banaras Parshwanath Jeernoddhar Trust and Jain Shwetambar Teerth Society,' members of the press, Ladies and Gentlemen
I would like to thank the organizers for inviting me to Preside over this Inaugural session and felicitating me.
It is heartening to see that a spirited discussion is taking place here, on the occasion of honouring a number of scholars, regarding the nature of an Ideal Family as understood in the light of scriptures. This event is taking place in the presence of great Jain Spiritual leaders and thinkers. Such an event is bound to influence the society. The presence of the śramanas (श्रमणा: ) and Sravakas (उपासकाः ) here shows that Indian society is always sensitive towards new challenges posed by our changing times. The answer to such burning question of the changing nature of family-institution lies in our own time-tested tradition reflected in various, but unified, streams of religions, We have to strengthen our age-old ideals of family based on universal values without discarding the healthy and inevitable changes in our pattern of family-life.
Investigation into the nature of family-institution has been a fond subject among the modern Anthropologists and Sociologists. The study of the history of the family dates from 1861 from the publication of Bachofen's "Mother Right". In this work, the author advances the notion of gradual evolution of the institution of the family from state of sexual promiscuity to the monogamy and patriarchal form of family
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