Studies in Jainism

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

Page 150

MARRIAGE IN JAINA LITERATURE
141 (4) King of Ceylon gave his daughter in marriage to Prince Karkaņdu.20
(5) Upaśreņika, the father of the famous king of Rājagsha, fell in love with the daughter of a chief of Bhilas and the same Bhilakanyā was married to him.2
(6) Pālita was a Jaina merchant of Campā. He sailed to Pihundanagara for business, where he got himself married. While coming back, a son was born to his wife on the deck of the ship, and was named Samudrapāla 22
Marriages with out-castes etc.
It is noteworthy that there is hardly an instance of a marriage where the Jaina girls were given in marriage to foreigners. On the contrary, we find that the Vidyadharas or Nabhascaras who possessed various extraordinary powers and thought themselves more cultured than the Bhūmagacaris or Thalacaras (of India and outside) brought their girls to present to the latter. For instance, Jvalanjati Vidyādhara came to Podanapura with his daughter and married her to Triprasta, the Crown Prince of Bhūmagacaris of the said place (See śāntināthapurāna, 3,44-50). Besides the above, illegal daughters born out of wedlock or of prostitutes were accepted even by eminent Jainas.23 Dusyanta accepted Sakuntalā as his wife who was illegally born. It seems that in ancient India, it was not thought unnatural to marry a befitting girl from any position or caste. Instances of not forsaking the girls of one's won family and gotra are not wanting; though they are not found in abundance. 24 In short, it is certain that in the early Jaina Church, when the great Tirthańkaras were living, the field of marriage was not so cramped and limited as it is now. At that time, it was found in its natural stage. The Jaina
20. Karakanducarita. 21. Vivāhakşetraprakāśa, p. 103. 22, Uttarādhyanasütra, 21. 23. Vivāhakşetraprakāśa, p. 39 and 123; Harivamsapurāņa, sarga
21.
24. Ibid., p. 51 and 148.