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DISCOURSE 34
would be disliked in her father-in-law's house. Nobody would give her love or respect. There will not be a loving intimacy between her and her husband. She will keep quarrelling and that would bring about unhappiness and agitation.
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From the Audience: Now-a-days, celebrating the marriages of girls has become a formidable and intricate problem. Where can we find such a bride-groom as you describe? A young man who is well-educated and whose income is good, demands not less than thirty thousands rupees. Affluent parents will have to give lakhs of rupees.
Maharajashri : Do you think that even if you give a lakh of rupees, such a young man would love his wife? Would he treat your daughter with love and respect? Do you have this confidence? I think you do not have that confidence. Even if you give one lakh rupees, your daughter's life will not be happy or safe. A girl belonging to an affluent family may not get an affluent young man for her husband. If she marries a young man from a poor family, he will demand money thus, "I will marry your daughter if you give me one lakh rupees or I will marry your daughter if you give me fifty thousand rupees". The affluent father may give that amount to the bride-groom. The marriage also may take place. But in the case of such marriages the girl will be subjected to a lot of oppression and harassment. The husband knows that his wife's father is a wealthy man. Whenever he wants money, he keeps worrying his wife, thus, "Go to your father; get me ten thousand rupees; get me five thousand rupees. Otherwise, you cannot stay here". The girl can get on with her husband only if she brings him money thus; otherwise her husband keeps harassing her.
Jain Education International
Recently, I heard that a certain young man in Bombay married a girl belonging to an affluent family. The boy was educated but he was a vagabond and an idler. His father earned some five or six hundred rupees a month. The boy was not doing any work. He was not engaged in any occupation. His father-in-law gave him at the time of marriage; fifty thousand rupees cash and a flat worth fifty thousand rupees. After the marriage, the husband and the wife lived happily for some three
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