Studies in Jainism

Author(s): Ramkrishna Mission Institute of Culture Culcutta
Publisher: Ramkrishna Mission Institute of Culture Culcutta

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STUDIES IN JAINISM
Karmabhūmi; Svayamvara and other kinds of marriage
After the Bhogabhūmi, the period of individual exertion or the Karmaḥhūmi followed and the birth by couples came to an end. Issues were born single as we find it now-a-days. Accordingly a new mode of marriage, viz., Svayamvara came into use. This was the so-called sanatana marga and the best of all the forms of marriages such as gāndharva (lovemarriage by mutual consent), Rākṣasa (taking away the bride by force), Asura (giving one's daughter for money) etc., which were eight in all." At the beginning of the Karmabhumi of this yuga, Svayamvara was re-introduced for the first time by Rājā Akampana of Benares. Bharat, the then reigning monarch of India, welcomed it in all sincerity. Ere this the wives of Sri Rṣabha, the first Tirthankara's father selected two virgin princesses for him and he had to marry them." Polygamy has been in vogue amongst the Jainas from the very beginning of this age, and even today it has not quite disappeared. The wives of Rṣabhadeva were indeed selected by his father; but it does not mean that this was the rule or that it was not considered the next best after Svayamvara. Anyway, it seems certain from the evidence of the Jaina Purāņas that both the forms were in use from very early times.
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Marriages between the four varņas
In Svayamvara no distinction of caste and creed was made. Hence the field of selection was very wide. Pratiloma and Anuloma vivāhas were freely contracted. A few examples from Jaina Purāņas are cited below:
(1) Vasudeva was a Kṣtriya prince of Jaduvamsa. He married a Brahmana girl named Somasri after defeating her in Dhanurvidyā
(2) Śri Kṛṣṇa contracted the marriage of his brother Gajakumāra with Somã, the daughter of Somaşarmā Brāhmaṇa.9
5. Vide Nitivākyāmṛta.
6. Mahāpurāṇa, 45, 54f.
7. Mahāpurana, p. 15, sls, 50-99.
8. Harivamsa, Sarga 23, sls, 49-51.
9. Harivamsapurāṇa by Jinadas
Vivahakṣetrapṛakāśa.
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