Arranged/love: youth citing non-availability of suitable match within the community. 79.2 % reported arranged marriages being replaced by love marriages. Other changes: 32.6 % responded late marriage as a major change in the marriage institution, 16.9% preferred day-time marriages. 10.3 % have consideration whether it is solemnized by a Jain pandit or otherwise. Prevalence of dowry: 34.6 % said that it is prevailing to a large or at least to some Remarriage: extent. 88.8 % support remarriage of widows and divorcees. Increase in divorces: 74.6 % did not think so that they are increasing. Membership to Jain social organization: 13.5 % only reported as being member of one or the other Jain social organizations. Jain identity: 72.5 % Consider Jainism as an independent religion with its own identity while 15.4 % consider Jainism being a part of Hinduism with 12.1 % not responding. The above analysis shows an emerging Jain family status and associated value system in line with growing education and expectations of Jain youth and the nation at large. However, the community leadership has to initiate steps to ensure that the Jain values and identity is intact. Page 50 of 60
Chapter – 6 JAIN WAY OF LIFE This chapter analyses the various aspects of Jain way of life, as practiced and followed by Rajasthan Jain population. The parameters that account for these practices include visit to temples, dietary habits, teaching of religious practices and the drift of youth away from the tenets of Jainism in modern times. While Ahimsa (non-violence), Aparigraha (non- attachment), self-restrain, Anekantvada, celibacy, vows and fasting are emphasized as the cornerstone of Jain teaching, the survey could include only certain aspects of Jain way of life, as defined in its objectives. For example, Brhamcharya is an important part of Jain way of life. “Jain ethics for householders lays significant importance on Brhamcharya. Lust is also considered as a psychical possession and cause of tainting the pure nature of soul. The vows of celibacy in Jainism for a householder is called Svadarasantoshpariman that limits the sexual relation to one's religiously wedded spouse only and gradually enhanced to complete abstinence.” (Jain, Shugan C, 2017, pp 62) It must be noted that religious ideologies/identities and way of life are often conceptualized in terms of bi-polarity: conservative vs liberal, orthodox vs heterodox, etc. Thus, Hinduism is generally considered as liberal and the Islam as conservative. Jainism can also be characterized by a very high degree of asceticism and orthodoxy. The Jain identity and the way of life get shaped accordingly and is a matter of choice and practice. Thus, for example, our survey study of Jains in Rajasthan found the Jain way of life as highly orthodox in terms of daily visit to temple, vegetarianism, eating before sunset etc. Our Rajasthan State survey data appear to be suggesting a moderate and flexible Jain way of life on all the indicators except the vegetarian diet which can be regarded as more or less an absolute and universal indicator of Jain identity (see Tables 6.3 and 6.4). In the case of “eating before sunset” # 39.7 % Jains adhere to take food before sunset while 54.6 of our respondents said they found it difficult to follow this trend in their daily routine. Incidentally, a considerable number of respondents did not respond to questions on Jain way of life. The ‘No Response’ percentage in our survey measured 3.8 % Youth and 5.7% adults. Visit temple Table 6.1 reveals that a large majority of Jains visiting the temple/Sthanak daily (64.1% male and 50.4 % female observing to this practice). About 22.2 % male and 33.1 % female Jains were found to be visiting the religious places occasionally followed by 4.7 % male and 4.2 % female visiting these places during religious festivals like Paryushan Parv. Data on distribution of youth respondents’ visit to temple are presented in Table 6.2. Accordingly, 42.5 % male youth & 31.1 % female Youth make daily visit to the temple, whereas about 41.1 % male youth & 48.8 % female youth do this occasionally. Sunday Page 51 of 60
visitors are 5.2 % male youth & 3.1% female youth and those visiting only during Paryushan Parva were 10.7 % male youth & 16.3 % female youth. Table 6.1: Visit to temple (%) District Daily Occasionally Sunday During No Paryushan response Jaipur MF MF MF Parv Only Udaipur 65.0 41.5 23.1 46.1 5.1 3.2 MF MF State Average 63.4 59.1 21.3 20.4 11.0 18.2 5.1 6.1 1.7 3.1 64.1 50.4 22.2 33.1 8.2 10.7 4.3 2.3 0.0 0.0 4.7 4.2 0.8 1.6 Table 6.2: Visit to temple/Sthanak (Youth) (%) District Daily Occasionally Sunday During No Paryushan response Jaipur MF MF MF Parv Only Udaipur 47.6 38.6 36.9 59.7 4.8 1.7 MF MF State Average 39.2 25.0 43.9 40.3 5.4 4.1 9.5 0.00 1.2 0.0 42.5 31.1 41.1 48.8 5.2 3.1 11.5 29.2 0.00 1.4 10.7 16.3 0.5 0.7 Daily temple visit Daily temple visit (Youth) 100 100 80 80 60 60 40 Male 40 Male Female Female 20 20 0 0 Jaipur Udaipur State Jaipur Udaipur State Average Average Food after sunset Even though the general perception is of taking food before sunset amongst the Jains, yet only a minority of Rajasthan Jain respondents (39.7 %) did not take food after sunset. This figure changes significantly amongst youth as 70.6 % also take food after sunset. (See Table 6.4) Page 52 of 60
Table 6.3: Food after sunset (%) District Question: Take food after sunset? No Response Jaipur Yes No 8.2 Udaipur 74.2 17.6 3.4 State Average 36.1 60.6 5.7 54.6 39.7 Table 6.4: Food after sunset (youth) (%) District Question: Take food after sunset? No Response Jaipur Yes No 3.5 Udaipur 82.3 14.2 3.9 State Average 62.4 33.7 3.8 70.6 25.6 Drinking Jain way of life stresses on moderation of food habits and self-restrain in consumption of any kind of intoxicants. The consumption of liquor among the Rajasthan Jain population was found to be very low in percentage (1.8 %). An overwhelming majority of them (83.3 %) said that they did not consume liquor, while 14.9 % did not respond to the query. A very small number of Jain youth in Rajasthan (1.7 %) admitted of drinking alcohol (See Table 6.6). Table 6.5: Drinking (%) District Question: Drink alcohol? No Response Jaipur Yes No 24.2 Udaipur 3.3 72.5 6.7 State Average 0.5 92.8 14.9 1.8 83.3 Page 53 of 60
Table 6.6: Drinking (youth) (%) District Question: Drink alcohol? No Response Jaipur Yes No 8.5 Udaipur 4.3 87.2 5.9 State Average 0.0 94.1 7.1 1.7 91.2 Dietary Habits As part of the practice of Ahimsa (non-violence), killing of animals or any kind of violence on creatures is prohibited in Jainism. An overwhelming majority (84.1 %) of our respondents said that they were vegetarian, while 0.8 % said they were non-vegetarian. However, the no response category at about 15.1 % is high. None of the youth respondents take non-vegetarian food. Assuming “No response” cases (7.3 %) as the indirect supporters of non-vegetarianism, one can says that some of them might be taking non-veg food (See Table 6.8). Table 6.7: Dietary Habits (%) Question: Eat non-vegetarian food? District Yes No No Response Jaipur 1.1 74.7 24.2 Udaipur 0.5 92.3 7.2 State Average 0.8 84.1 15.1 Table 6.8: Dietary Habits (youth) (%) Question: Eat non-vegetarian food? District Yes No No Response Jaipur 0.0 91.5 8.5 Udaipur 0.0 93.6 6.4 State Average 0.0 92.7 7.3 Page 54 of 60
Youth drifting away from Jainism The appeal of Jainism among youth is an important religious issue. Our survey found that a majority (77.7 %) of Rajasthan Jains believed that its youths were drifting away from Jain philosophy and way of life, while 17.9 % did not agree to the preposition. Some 4.4 % of our respondents did not respond to the question. Drifting away from Jainism by younger generation of Jains is also admitted by about 82.2% of Jain youth, whereas only 16.1 % of them denied it (See Table 6.10). Table 6.9: Opinion about drifting of youth from Jainism (%) District Question: Younger generation is drifting away from Jainism? Jaipur Udaipur Yes No No Response State Average 68.1 23.7 8.2 86.0 13.0 1.0 77.7 17.9 4.4 Table 6.10: Opinion about drifting of youth from Jainism (Youth) (%) District Question: Younger generation is drifting away from Jainism? Jaipur Udaipur Yes No No Response State Average 66.7 30.5 2.8 93.1 5.9 1.0 82.2 16.1 1.7 Religious education To a query whether Jain religious education was imparted to them, some 77.3 % of our respondents answered in affirmation, while 22.3 % denied of receiving Jain religions education. Only 4.4% of the respondents did not respond. Table 6.11: Religious education (%) District Question: Religious Education? No Response Jaipur Yes No 7.7 Udaipur 45.6 46.7 1.4 State Average 97.6 1.0 4.4 73.3 22.3 Page 55 of 60
Should religious education be made mandatory? Surprisingly, a large majority (92.3 %) of Rajasthan State Jain respondents believed that religious education should be mandatory for Jain children in order to inculcate the ethos of Jainism in them. However, some 3.6 % of our respondents felt that no such compulsion should be forced upon children while 4.1 % did not express their opinion (Table 6.12). Table 6.12: Should religious education be made mandatory? (%) District Question: Do you think that religious education should be made compulsory to Jain children? Jaipur Udaipur Yes No No Response State Average 86.3 6.6 7.1 97.6 1.0 1.4 92.3 3.6 4.1 Opinion on Jainism The Rajasthan Sample Survey Jain population's opinion on Jainism was measured under three broad parameters: whether there were too many rituals in Jainism, the lack of exposure to Jainism and Jainism’s harmonious existence with modern culture. Surprisingly, lack of exposure to Jainism was cited as the main reason (73.5 % male & 64.6 % female) about its perception among the Jains in the State, followed by too many rituals in the religion and not being in tune with the modern culture. The 'No response' was found to be quite high at 6.4 % male & 13.7 % female. Some respondents in 'other category' cited too much emphasis on modern education, thus leading to the neglect of Jain religious teaching. Some also cited lack of infrastructural facilities and the lack of awareness on Jainism. However, a common consensus was that Jain community should lay stress on imparting Jain teachings to Jain children and youth. The youth response to on these issues was near to similar. The lack of exposure to Jainism was listed as the main reason of drifting by 74.2 % male youth & 69.2 % female youth followed by too many rituals in Jainism (7 % male youth & 7.7 % female youth). 14.1 % of male youth and 16.9 % female youth said that Jainism is not “in tune with modern culture”. Page 56 of 60
Table 6.13: Reasons of drifting away from Jainism (%) District Too Many Lack of Not in tune Other No rituals in exposure to with response Jaipur Jainism MF Udaipur Jainism modern 0.0 0.0 MF State Average MF culture 0.0 0.0 9.4 23.1 15.4 12.3 MF MF 0.0 0.0 3.7 4.6 2.4 2.3 64.1 49.2 11.1 15.4 6.4 13.7 8.7 7.2 82.3 79.5 11.6 13.6 73.5 64.6 11.4 14.5 Table 6.14: Reasons of drifting away from Jainism (Youth) (%) Too Many rituals Lack of exposure Not in tune No response with modern District in Jainism to Jainism MF culture 10.7 8.8 Jaipur M F M F MF 0.8 4.2 Udaipur 11.9 14.0 63.1 56.1 14.3 21.1 4.7 6.2 State Average 3.9 2.7 81.4 79.4 13.9 13.7 7.0 7.7 74.2 69.2 14.1 16.9 Popularizing Jainism To a query as to how Jainism could be popularized, a large number of Rajasthan respondents felt that the onus of its popularity rests with the Jain community. 50.8 % male & 46.8 %female suggested organizing the Sunday Classes for teaching of Jainism and 14.9 % male & 12.8 % female suggested imparting Jain religious teachings through Shivir (camps) for children and youth. Some 28.6 % male youth & 23.8 % female youth of our respondents felt that Jain moral education should be included in the school/college curriculum to make it popular among the Jain students. Some of Rajasthan respondents felt that parents should teach their children about Jainism while others laid stress on the need of publicity, advertisement, workshop, religious hymns and musical programs for making the religion popular among the youth. Some of our respondents also said that Jain educational institutions should be set-up in cities to teach Jainism. Jain youth responses were more or less on the same pattern as that of the general Jain population of Rajasthan. Among the suggestions for imparting religious education to youth the following were important ones: religious/spiritual camps (29.1 % male &27.9 % female), Page 57 of 60
religious education programs (54.8 % male & 57.2 % female) and special training courses (9.3 %male & 7.1% female). Table 6.15: Suggestions for Popularizing Jainism (%) District Jain moral Jain Sunday Jain shivris Other No education schools for (camps) for response Jaipur classes in MF Udaipur school/colleges teaching religious 0.0 0.0 MF State Average MF Jainism education 0.0 0.0 14.5 23.1 50.4 40.0 MF MF 0.0 0.0 1.8 4.6 10.4 2.3 19.7 18.5 15.4 18.4 6.9 15.6 27.4 24.8 73.2 88.6 14.6 4.5 50.8 46.8 14.9 12.8 Table 6.16: Suggestions for Popularizing Jainism (youth) (%) District Jain moral Jain Sunday Jain shivris Other No education schools for (camps) for response Jaipur classes in MF Udaipur school/colleges teaching religious 0.0 0.0 MF State Average MF Jainism education 0.0 0.0 14.3 8.8 46.4 38.6 MF MF 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 17.0 12.3 13.1 22.8 26.2 29.8 5.7 3.8 28.6 23.8 65.1 57.5 17.8 30.2 44.6 42.3 21.1 30.1 Religious education In Rajasthan Sample Survey a small number of Jains were reluctant to participate in our survey out or loss of privacy of family information in spite of our assurance for strict adherence to confidentiality and non-disclosure of personal information. Surprisingly, majority (54.8 % male & 57.2 % female) of our respondents believed that religious education should be made mandatory for Jain children for inculcating in them the values and the Jain way of life. Page 58 of 60
Table 6.17: Suggestion for religious education (%) District Spiritual Campus Special Training Religious No response education Jaipur M F M F program MF Udaipur 40.5 40.3 8.3 5.3 MF 11.9 12.3 State Average 20.9 9.6 10.1 9.6 39.3 42.1 3.1 1.4 29.1 27.9 9.3 7.1 65.9 79.4 6.8 7.8 54.8 57.2 Concluding Remarks This chapter is mainly based on the opinions of the respondents on Jain Way of life including food and dietary habits, visiting temples, religious interactions amongst youth and so on. Summary of the findings are given below: Visit to temples: 64.1 % male & 50.4 % female adults visit the temple/sthanak daily, while 41.1 % male youth & 48.8 Food after Sunset: % female youth visit occasionally. Drinking: 39.7 % adults do not take food after Sunset while 70.6 Dietary Habits: % youth do eat after sunset. 83.3 % adults & 91.2 % Youth do not consume alcohol. 84.1 % adults were vegetarian, while 15.9 % did not respond (includes 0.8 % who confessed of taking non- vegetarian food). Remarkably 92.7 % Jain Youth strictly obey to take vegetarian food. Opinion about certain issues pertain to Jain way of life: Drifting away: 77.7 % adult and 82.2 % Youth said that Jain youth were drifting away from Jainism. Reasons of drifting: 73.5 % male and 64.6 % female adults cited lack of exposure to Jainism as the main reason. 74.2 % male youth and 69.2 % female youth also cited this as a reason. 8.7 % male & 7.2 % female adults also cited too many rituals as another reason as well as 7 % male youth & 7.7 % female youth cited this as also another reason. 11.4 % male & 14.5 % female adults cited ‘not in tune with times’ as also an important reason while 14.1 % male youth & 16.9 % female youth cited this also as a reason. Religious education: 73.3 % adults said they had got religious education. Page 59 of 60
Mandatory religious education: 92.3 % believed that religious education should be Popularizing Jainism: mandatory to Jain children. 27.4 % male & 24.8 % female adults were in favour of Jain moral education in Schools or colleges while 28.6 % male & 23.8 % female youth supported this. Surprisingly, 14.9 % male & 12.8 % female adults and 21.1 % male youth& 30.1 % female youth supported organizing special camps /shivirs for Jain education. Page 60 of 60
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