10. Connection with Hinduism.
In other respects the Jains closely resemble the Hindus. Brāhmans are often employed at their weddings, they reverence the cow, worship sometimes in Hindu temples, go on pilgrimages to the Hindu sacred places, and follow the Hindu law of inheritance. The Agarwāl Bania Jains and Hindus will take food cooked with water together and intermarry in Bundelkhand, although it is doubtful whether they do this in the Central Provinces. In such a case each party pays a fine to the Jain temple fund. In respect of caste distinctions the Jains are now scarcely less strict than the Hindus. The different Jain subcastes of Banias coming from Bundelkhand will take food together as a rule, and those from Marwār will do the same. The Khandelwāl and Oswāl Jain Banias will take food cooked with water together when it has been cooked by an old woman past the age of child-bearing, but not that cooked by a young woman. The spread of education has awakened an increased interest among the Jains in their scriptures and the tenets of their religion, and it is quite likely that the tendency to conform to Hinduism in caste matters and ceremonies may receive a check on this account.[12]