The Masculinisation of Jainism in India: Hinsa Paramo Dharma?

Those familiar with Indian religions will know the famous statement ‘ahinsa paramo dharma’ (the highest religion/duty is non-violence) is usually connected with Jainism, a small religion originating in the 5^th century BCE. Jains are less than 0.5% of India, but boast the highest literacy rates, the highest number of working females compared to all other religious groups, and contribute towards 25% of India’s GDP.

Ahinsa (non-violence, as opposed to hinsa, violence) in practice requires vegetarianism with the additional exclusion of egg, root vegetables (to avoid harm to bugs when removing from the ground), sweeping the ground by monks/nuns to avoid harming life and wearing a face covering to avoid breathing in organisms.

Jainism is far from a gender equal religion. It places restrictions on women’s movement in religious spaces during their menses, while the Digambara sect believes they must be reincarnated as a male before in order to obtain moksha (liberation). The doctrine of ahinsa strictly forbids abortion and all types of physical/emotional violence which may seem to be hugely in favour of the development of girls and women, especially when it comes to the issue of female foeticide in India. Yet after Sikhs, Jains have the second highest sex-ratio imbalance. The economic success of the Jains cannot be divorced from this, and ideological masculinity is an important unit of analysis. Sikhs are also one of the wealthiest religious groups in India. Trajectories that consider economic success as of primary importance in advancement and development are masculine in nature: it relies on the quantitative binary. This is in contrast to the principle of ahinsa which is qualitative and therefore feminine: focused on caring and emotions. While India is famous for its high vegetarian population and cuisine, the reality is that even in India as a whole, more women are vegetarian than men, reflective of world-wide gendered patterns of vegetarianism. It is therefore to consider the extent to which the increasing sex-ratio imbalance, violence and ideological masculinity are interrelated, with the Jains being a microcosm of trends developing in wider Indian society. If a religious community such as Jainism is not able to maintain a balanced gender ratio with economic success then what does this say about India's development as a whole?

It is the masculine emphasis on capitalism and a quantitative approach to improving livelihood that leads to the masculinisation of such communities. The Svetambara sect of Jainism has around 4 nuns to every 1 monk, revealing the way in which women are generally more committed to this most essential principle of Jainism. The decline of Jainism’s influence can be seen in India as a whole: its leather industry recorded a cumulative annual growth rate of about 8.22% in 2011-12 and enjoys an annual turnover of $7.5 billion, non-vegetarianism is on the rise as incomes increase.

Jains are somewhat unique in their practice of sex-selection when compared to other communities. Where others detect the sex of a foetus after conception, Jains practice pre-conception sex selection, seemingly allowing them to adhere to the feminine principle of ahinsa by avoiding abortion. It is simplistic to consider the other gender inequalities in Jainism as a factor contributing to the practice; Sikhism is practically the most gender equal religion in the world, yet this has not influenced Sikhs being the group with the worst sex-ratios in India. Ideological masculinity remains at the heart of such issues, whether it is the affect on economics and the state, or at the local level. It is therefore pertinent to consider whether there has been as masculinisation of the doctrine of ahinsa in Jainism – focusing on abortion (rather than pre-conception sex-selection) as a form of hinsa (violence) involves a simplistic, quantitative approach to the doctrine in theory in practice. It does not consider the interrelatedness of all beings and the impact of pre-conception sex-selection on society, which could contribute towards greater creation of hinsa as a whole. It does not consider how this causes problems for men of a lower economic standing, who are unable find a wife, possibly causing social and emotional problems through being unable to act out the greatest requirement of hegemonic masculinity: heterosexual marriage (since where women are fewer in number they may choose wealthier spouses, placing considerable pressure on men); it does not consider how the practice leads to trafficking of women for marriage and prostitution, placing them in great danger and situations of vulnerability.

Finally, it is essential to draw in the masculine nature of capitalism as an ideology which focuses on the quantitative and how this facilitates (hyper-)masculinisation of wider society. This leads to the reduction of ideologies like ahinsa that may be considered feminine, and the effect this has on gender relations at the local level must be considered. In this in the Indian context this has clearly allowed female infanticide to take on a new form of female foeticide and exacerbate it as a practice by making it quantitative and clinical: one might argue that the rise in access to such technologies makes it easier people to exterminate a girl child, since drowning a girl child in milk after birth requires physical (and emotional) interaction with a child before the murder. Acknowledging this should not be divorced from the hyper-masculinsation of dowries which girl children a greater burden where capitalism creates greater demand for goods, thus producing quantitative increases in dowry demands.