Dr. Sulekh Chand Jain
- A few years ago, I came to know about a very prominent, philanthropic, and wealthy Jain in India who wanted to get his daughter married. He owned a large factory in which several thousand people worked. He made an announcement that he personally would arrange (at his own expense) to help the daughters of his fellow workers be married along with his own daughter.
He told everyone that every father/mother of a bride would be allowed to invite the same limited number of guests (around five to eight) and he would do the same. This is in contrast to extravagant weddings with hundreds of guests. To the best of my knowledge, about 400 such marriages of his employees’ daughters, along with his own daughter were solemnized in a group marriage and all were treated equally in terms of reception, number of sarees to the bride and other small gifts; there was no difference in treatement between his daughter and other fellow workers’ daughters. I bow my head to such considerate and compassionate people.
On October 7, 2010, Indian President Pratibha Patil called “…dowry a curse; that’s why girls are killed.” President Patil continued, noting “…it was sad to see parents killing their daughters. Dowry is considered a curse in India because of which parents do not want daughters. We have to change this and curb dowry like evils. If there are no girls, there will not be any mothers, sisters, wives and daughters to take humanity forward.”
Now you decide: is this behavior consistent with ahimsa?
