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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.t6: Svayamvara

Life in Ancient India as Depicted in the Jain Canons, with Commentaries: An Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey c12.s10.t6

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Svayamvara

c12.s10.t6.1

Then we come to the Svayamvara marriage. We have several instances where girls attaining proper age chose publicly husbands for themselves from a number of suitors. The Nāyādhammakahā refers to the Svayamvara of Dovai which was attended by various prominent kings and princes. The guests were received with great pomp and show and were entertained with food, drink, wine, flowers, garments and music. Then by the beat of drum the Svayamvara of Dovai was proclaimed and the guests arrived in the Svayamvara hall especially built for the purpose on the bank of the Ganges. It was cleaned, sprinkled over, filled with bunches of fresh sweet-smelling blossoms of five colours, it smelt pleasantly with the shimmering fumes of kālāguru, fine kundurukka and turukka and was fragrant with sweet-smelling fine scents (sugandhavaragandhiam), a very incense stick (gandhavattibhhūyam) and the galleries were arranged (mañcāmañcakaḷiya). The visitors took their respective seats which were already marked with their names and waited for Dovai to come. In the meantime, Dovai took her bath, performed the lustatory rites etc., put on festive clean garments of state, visited the Jain temple (jiṇaghara) and coming back decked her body with various ornaments and accompanied by her female servants (ceḍiyā), play-nurse (kīḍāviyā) and the private secretary (bhiya) reached the Svayamvara hall in a chariot She bowed low to the kings and the princes, took a beautiful garland (sundāmaganda) made of fragrant flowers and emitting excellent smell in her hand and in the company of the play-nurse with a bright mirror in her hand, moved about the hall. The play-nurse, pointing out with her right hand, described the family, strength, gotra, power, beauty, learning, grandeur, youth and character of the various kings and princes, whose reflections were cast into the mirror. Then Dovai came to the place where the five Pāṇḍavas were seated, she put the garland around their necks and chose them as her husbands.³⁷

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³⁷ ibid., 16, pp. 179-82.

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The Uttarādhyayana commentary refers to another Svayamvara marriage of the princess Nivvui. With the permission of her father she went to Indapura and declared that one who was brave and valiant and one who could shoot an effigy, would be her husband. Various princes and kings were invited to attend the *Svayaṃvara*. The flags were raised up in the city and a *Svayaṃvara* hall was erected outside the town. There on an axle (*aksa*) to which were attached eight wheels (*cakra*) stood an effigy, which was to be shot in the eye. The twenty sons of king Indradatta tried their luck without success. In the end, another son of Indradatta stood up and succeeded in shooting at the eye of the effigy, and was chosen as husband by Nivvui.³⁸

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³⁸ 1, 3, p 65a

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We are told of a *Svayaṃvara* hall (*vāgharanasālā*), built in Tosali where a fire-vessel was kept always burning. In this hall slave boys and a slave girl were made to enter and the girl selected a boy as her husband.³⁹

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³⁹ *Brh. Bhā* 2 3446. This reminds us of primitive practices current in the primitive tribes in India

Cites (3)