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Life in Ancient India as Depicted in the Jain Canons, with Commentaries: An Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey c12.s10.t2: Forms of Marriage

Life in Ancient India as Depicted in the Jain Canons, with Commentaries: An Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey c12.s10.t2

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Forms of Marriage

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The forms of marriage mentioned in the Jain texts may be classified into three types²⁰: marriages arranged by parents of both parties, Svayamvara, and Gāndharva marriage. The current form of marriage was that arranged by parents of both parties. Generally, marriage within one's own caste (jāti) was the rule. As in the Jātakas, we meet here with the effort to keep the family pure through the marriage connections among the people of same standing and profession and not to allow it to degenerate through intermixture with lower elements²¹. Ordinarily, we find that the parents brought a wife for their son from a family of the same rank (sarisayakula). We are told that prince Meghakumāra was married to eight princesses of equal age, beauty and virtue, belonging to the same royal rank.²² However, exceptions regarding caste and rank are not unknown in the Jain texts. For instance, we hear of the minister Teyaliputta who married a goldsmith's daughter,²³ Gayasukumāla, a ksatriya, was betrothed to a Brāhmaṇa girl;²⁴ king Jiyasattu married a painter’s daughter; ²⁵ Bhambhadatta married the girls from the Brāhmaṇa and the merchant families.²⁶

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²⁰ In the Hindu literature eight forms of marriage are enumerated (Manu. 3.21); Mahābhārata (I. 64 Sf), see also Altekar, op. cit., pp. 41-56.

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²¹ Cf. Fick, op. cit., p. 51 f.

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²² Nāyā. 1, p. 23.

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²³ Nāyā. 14, p. 148.

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²⁴ Anta. 3, p. 16.

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²⁵ Uttarā Ṭī., 9. p. 141 a ff.

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²⁶ ibid., pp. 188 a, 192 a. In the days of Manu the system of intermarriages was much more flexible than it is today. The anuloma marriages were not uncommon in society down to the eighth century A. D. Altekar, op. cit., p. 88.

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In matters regarding marriage very often the elders consulted each other and informed of their grown-up children. Sometimes the consent of the boy was understood by his silence. We hear of Jinadatta, a merchant of Campā, who happened to see the daughter of Sāgaradatta playing with a golden ball (*kaṇagatindūsaya*). The former approached the latter and proposed to marry his son to the latter’s daughter. Later on Jinadatta went home and consulted his son who gave his consent by keeping quiet.²⁷

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²⁷ Nāyā. 16, p. 168 f. Also Anta. 3, p. 16.

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