Death and Dying

by Sudhir Kakar

  1 Sallekhana, sanyasa, samadhi, nirupadhi and viriyamara are all synonyms for santhara.

  2 Definition by Pravin K. Shah, Santhara: Confusion Galore! Available online at: http://www.jainsamaj.org/rpg_site/literature2.php?id=1259&cat=42, June 2011.

  3 Kazuyoshi Hotta, Fasting unto Death, The 3rd Beseto Conference of Philosophy, Session 8, p. 216.

  4 In the Bhagavati Sutra, sallekhana is defined as a process of ‘scratching out the body to serve the soul’; see J.C. Sikdar, Studies in the Bhagawati Sutra, Prakrit Jain Institute, Vol. 1, Muzaffarpur, 1964, p. 398.

  5 Paul Dundas, The Jains, Taylor and Francis, 2002, p. 17.

  6 Western scholarship has been, to a large extent, more devoted to Buddhism and Hinduism, while the study of Jainism has been uninspired and more in the field of linguistics (the peculiarities of the Prakrit and Apabhramsa languages of Jain texts). In Europe, information about Jainism was first documented in the 16th century through trade relations, whereas the interest of Europeans resided mainly around their weird and unfamiliar living conditions. It was only as late as 1884 that translations of the most important Jain texts where introduced to the West by the German scientist Hermann Jacobi. The unfamiliarity of the West with Jainism is partly caused by the confinement of the Jain community to the Indian subcontinent and parts of the Middle East. The diaspora of several hundred thousand Jains, mainly in Canada, North America, Britain and Belgium, clearly is a phenomena of the modern times, and did not exist earlier. According to the census of the Indian government in 2010, Jainism has around 4.2 million followers in India today. It is a small but influential religious minority, the Digambara communities mainly in the south of India (Karnataka) and the Shvetambaras mainly in the north-west of India (Gujarat and Rajasthan).

  7 In reference to a phrase used in Michael Carrithers and Caroline Humphrey (eds.), The Assembly of Listeners: Jains in Society, Cambridge University Press, 1991.

  8 The soul or self is understood as consisting of knowledge (jnana), action (karma) and fruit (phala). By realizing that the self alone is the agent, the instrument, the deed and the fruit—in other words, that the self effects the transformation of its consciousness—it becomes clear that the soul has the capacity of freeing itself. Pravacanasara, II. 33; see Acharya Shiv Muni, The Doctrine of the Self in Jainism, Sanskar Jain Patrika, Chennai, 2007, p. 20.

  9 By centre she meant (and explained): centre of silence, centre of detachment, centre of perfection … Interview, 31 March 2011 in Delhi.

  10 Moksha derives from the Sanskrit root muc, which means ‘to release’, ‘to set free’ or ‘to loosen’.

  11 Since the Jain lay community had to refrain from professions such as that of farmers, washers, butchers, etc., due to the strict vow of non-violence (ahimsa), they are disproportionally represented in trade, banking, industry, commerce, media and governance, belonging to the middle and upper classes of modern India.

  12 Jain ascetics are divided into two main orders, the Digambaras (or ‘air-clad’) and the Shvetambaras (or ‘white-clad’), both of which have further subdivisions of sects that differentiate in certain practices, such as worshipping statues, etc.

  13 Practices of non-violence include, for example, strict vegetarianism, with many forbidden foods such as roots; no use of vehicles, but walking barefoot only; clearing the floor with a brush before each step; avoiding water for bathing, etc.

  14 1869-1901, most prominent and uncompromising ascetic of his time, respected as one of the greatest Jain saints of the 20th century.

  15 Mahatma Gandhi, Autobiography, cited after J. Laidlaw, Riches and Renunciation: Religion, Economy and Society among the Jains, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1995, p. 234.

  16 Instead of a soul, Buddhism believes in the idea of the five aggregates (body, feeling, perception, volitional forces [samskaras] and consciousness) called skandhas. They are in constant flux—therefore, in Buddhist thought, a substantial self or soul is an illusion and thus non-existent. They constitute the ‘I’ (or human personality), and are impermanent, because they are conditioned. Simplified, no ‘I’ or ‘substance’, such as a soul, remains after death; instead, a ‘spiritual DNA’ transmits itself from one life to the next and determines birth. In Buddhism, nirvana (moksha) means the merging or extinction of individuality into an undifferentiated final state, which is neither self nor not-self.

  17 While Hinduism thus believes in the ‘unity of atman’ or soul, Jainism believes in its plurality.

  18 Jainism distinguishes between soul (self) and non-soul (not-self), both covering up the entire phenomena of the universe. Not-self(ajiva) has been explained by Jain scholars as a non-psychical entity, while the essential characteristic of self (jiva) is sentiency. Not-self does not only refer to matter (or physical body) having some form, but also to some substances having no form. (See Acharya Shiv Muni, The Doctrine of the Self in Jainism, Sanskar Jain Patrika, Chennai, 2007, p. 13ff.) Every soul possesses infinite qualities (guna), of which eight are of interest here: the faculty of omniscience (kevala-jnana); the faculty of absolute undifferentiated cognition (kevala-darshana); the superiority over joy and grief (avyabadha); the possession of complete religious truth (samyaktva) and irreproachable moral conduct (caritra); the possession of eternal life (aksayasthiti); complete formlessness (amurtatva); complete equality in rank with other souls; and unrestricted energy (virya), see Glasenapp, 1991, p. 2/3.

  19 See Bhagavatisutra, cited after Acharya Shiv Muni, The Doctrine of the Self in Jainism, Sanskar Jain Patrika, Chennai, 2007, p. 12.

  20 Immortality refers here to the idea that the soul is neither born nor dies. The soul is recognized to exist eternally; it is beginning-less, with an unending existence.

  21 They belong to the invisible and visible one-sensed living beings (their only sense being touch and being of the third sex). See H.V. Glasenapp, Doctrine of Karman in Jain Philosophy, P.V. Research Institute, Varanasi, 1991 (1942), p. 52/53.

  22 ‘Upanishad’ derives from the Sanskrit terminology upa (nearby), ni (at the proper place, down) and shad (to sit), meaning ‘sitting down near’, implying sitting near a teacher to receive teachings. The Upanishads are philosophical texts considered to be an early source of Hinduism. Some are pre-Buddhist, some show Buddhist influence. The first dozen or so—the oldest and most important ones—are variously referred to as the principal, main or old Upanishads.

  23 See also Acharya Shiv Muni, The Doctrine of the Self in Jainism, Sanskar Jain Patrika, Chennai, 2007, p. 5.

  24 The rationale behind this argument is: What is directly experienced needs no other proof. If, for example, certain qualities, such as pleasure and pain of the body, are experienced, it means the substance exists; thus, if the soul is experienced, it does exist. See also Acharya Shiv Muni, The Doctrine of the Self in Jainism, Sanskar Jain Patrika, Chennai, 2007, p. 17/18.

  25 The phenomenal aspect of the self is the self we experience, as it exists in the body due to its material vitalities (dravyapranas). The soul can be liberated or in bondage. It can be imperfect, nearly perfect, and perfect—an ‘advanced soul’ would be considered nearly perfect. See Acharya Shiv Muni, The Doctrine of the Self in Jainism, Sanskar Jain Patrika, Chennai, 2007, p. 23.

  26 To name only a few of the translated texts: the six books of the Karmagranthas, which treat the most important points of the karma doctrine; the Panchasamgraha, which contains a summary of the entire karma doctrine; the Karmaprakrti, which gives a detailed account of a portion of the karma doctrine. See H.V. Glasenapp, Doctrine of Karman in Jain Philosophy, P.V Research Institute, Varanasi, 1991 (1942), p. XIIff.

  27 The eight forms of karma in Jainism are: karma that prevents knowledge; karma t
hat prevents true faith; karma that determines happy or miserable living conditions; karma that prevents clarity in thought and insight; karma that determines the life span; karma that determines the physical form of a being; karma that determines the caste; and karma that constantly hinders the privileged. The eight karmas are further divided in subtypes, the Tattvārthasūtra speaks of 148 subtypes of karmas.

  28 Acharya Shiv Muni, The Fundamental Principles of Jainism, Sanskar Jain Patrika, Chennai, 2007, p. 6.

  29 In a popular way, one could say the tejas body signifies the bioelectrical field, while the physical body is a composition of biochemical molecules.

  30 H.V. Glasenapp defines lesya as ‘colour, paint, type of the soul’; see Glasenapp, 1991, p. 99. Dundas describes the karmic matter as imparting a colour (lesya) to the soul, depending on the mental activities behind an action; see Dundas, 2002, p. 100.

  31 The karma-body is the most subtle body, consisting of subatomic and small particles in motion, which limit our awareness and ability to understand the true nature of the self. It is formed by impressions, samskaras and emotions of the past that need to be nullified. The karma-body can be understood as a veil or mist, which constrains our visibility (i.e., clarity/knowledge).

  32 As Acharya Shiv Muni writes, this soul ‘cannot be perceived, yet it has some manifest features in this mundane existence. The manifest and essential features are its life-essentials (such as indriya or senses, bala or channels of activities, ayu or life-duration, and svasocchvasa or respiration), which are the signs of its presence in an embodied condition.’ As I understand Acharya Shiv Muni here, he refers with this statement to the three-body theory in Jainism. See Acharya Shiv Muni, The Doctrine of the Self in Jainism, Sanskar Jain Patrika, Chennai, 2007, p. 12, referring to Pravacanasara (11: 55) and Pancastikaya (30).

  33 Jain texts further distinguish between the external self (bahiratman), the internal self (antaratman) and the highest self (paramatman). The first mistakes the body for the self, the second (mind) is aware of the difference between the self and the not-self, and it becomes the third when it knows its real nature and is devoid of all karmas. See also Acharya Shiv Muni, The Doctrine of the Self in Jainism, Sanskar Jain Patrika, Chennai, 2007, p. 26/27.

  34 Samayika means ‘being in the moment of continuous real-time’—the practice aims at transcending our daily experiences of constant change into a state of equanimity by withdrawing one’s self. When meditation ceases to distinguish between object and subject, that stage of meditation becomes samadhi. There are, of course, many forms of meditation, for example, the control of the mind to destroy karmas, pure meditation on the soul, etc.

  35 In Jain terminology, sins here are the different karmas one has attracted.

  36 Image from the Sutrakritanga Sutra (Hermann Jacobi), cited from J. Laidlaw, Riches and Renunciation: Religion, Economy and Society among the Jains, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1995, p. 210.

  37 The great scholar and monk Kundakunda says the same thing in the Niyamasara, by asking what is the use of residing in a forest, mortifying the body, observing fasts, studying scriptures, keeping silence, etc., when the monk is devoid of equanimity? See Acarangi Curni, Jinadasa Gani, 1941, cited after Sagarmal Jain, Equanimity and Meditation; available online at: http://jainsamaj.org/rpg_site/literature2.php?id=408&cat=42.

  38 Attachment means ‘mineness’. In order to conquer the mineness, one has to contemplate on the transitory nature of worldly things as well as of one’s own body. Nothing is mine except my own self (soul). When mineness disappears, otherness also disappears.

  39 The echoes and parallels between santhara and the medieval Christian female ascetics—the ‘holy anorexis’, as Rudolf Bell described them—are astonishing, and need to be studied more closely, as also J. Laidlaw remarks; see Laidlaw, 1995, p. 239/240.

  40 For laypeople, the monsoon is important for fasting, because (a) it is the time when the wandering ascetics stay for several months at one place and preach intensively to the laity, and (b) it is the time of the Paryushan festival, the most important festival for Jain laypeople.

  41 Paryushan means ‘abiding’, and is an eight-to-ten-day festival during the monsoons, when the laity take on vows of studying and fasting with a spiritual intensity similar to temporary monasticism. It is one of the two major Jain festivals, the second being Diwali, popularly known as the ‘festival of lights’ in Hinduism, but celebrating the death and liberation of Mahavira in Jainism.

  42 More often and more regularly done by women than men, as a penance to purify body and mind.

  43 See BBC Religions, Normal Fasting, last update 10 September 2009, http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/jainism/customs/fasting_1.shtml.

  44 Laidlaw, 1995, p. 230.

  45 Acharya Mahaprajna, Fasting? See what happens, posted 9 March 2009; available online at: http://www.herenow4u.net/index.php?id=67947.

  46 Interview, Delhi, 31 March 2011 with Ratna, text in Klammern von mir zugefügt.

  47 A term used in a slightly different context by Laidlaw, 1995, p. 390.

  48 See Sanjay V Metzha, ‘Sallekhana vs. Suicide’, Journal of Spiritual and Religious Care, 30 September 2003, http://www.omc.ca/omni/archives/000036htm.

  49 Moksha will be the natural result, but wishing for it or taking the vow with such an intention, signifies attachment (the wish to be liberated), and thus attracts new karmas preventing liberation. The state of mind to take the vow of santhara should ideally be complete equanimity and total detachment.

  50 This process can take a few days or up to several months, as in the case of the sixty-year-old Jain nun Sadhvi Charan Pragyaji, who died on 11 September 2009 after an eighty-seven-day fast, and whose cremation was celebrated with over 20,000 attending Jains.

  51 See Chhapia, Hemali and Mansi Choksi, ‘More Jains embracing ancient santhara ritual’, Times of India, 18 March 2010, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/More-Jains-embracing-ancient-santhara-ritual/articleshow/5696175.cms#ixzz1E6J3M6qv and XXX.

  52 This is an interesting fact—to my knowledge the Jain ascetic orders are the only ascetic communities where females dominate in numbers. However, within the hierarchy of the order, monks control nuns. For a detailed discussion on the situation of women to attain spiritual liberation in Jain texts, see P. Jaini, Gender and Salvation, 1991.

  53 This 20-metre-high statue of Bahubali, which marks this pilgrimage place of Sravanbelagola, was erected much later, in 981 ce by a wealthy Jain general.

  54 Cited from William Dalrymple, ‘The Nun’s Tale’ in Nine Lives, 2009, p. 1.

  55 Founder of the Maurya empire, ruled from 320-289 bce, defeated the Greeks and conquered most of the Indian subcontinent, uniting the small regional kingdoms. In his later life, he embraced Jainism and took the vow of santhara. A small temple marks the cave (Bhadrabahu Cave) where he is said to have died by fasting. The evidence of local history, literature and inscriptions of about the 7th century ce (and later) supports this tradition.

  56 A historical documentation of 150 cases of ritual death between the 6th and 19th centuries can be found in S. Settar, Inviting Death, E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1989.

  57 The Agama are canonical texts of Jainism based on Mahavira’s teachings, meaning ‘what comes out’ (from the mouth of Mahavira).

  58 The Acaranga Sutra is the first of the eleven Angas (meaning limb, referring to the twelve parts of the Agamas). It is the book of good conduct, and one of the sacred books of Jainism.

  59 Hermann Jacobi, cited after D.N. Bhargava, ‘Sallekhana (As per Jain holy text)’, International School for Jain Studies, 27 December 2008, http://www.herenow4u.net/index.php?id=67185<
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  60 See Laidlaw, 2002, p. 187/188.

  61 Nagendra Singh, Encyclopaedia of Jainism, Indo-European Research Foundation, New Delhi, 2001, p. 6139.

  62 Bandhuvarma, Ji. Sam. III, Vacana after verse 20, p. 49/50, cited after Nagendra Singh, Encyclopaedia of Jainism, Indo-European Research Foundation, New Delhi, 2001, p. 6139.

  63 Some of the forms of death are: death because of old age, death with desires, death without desires, the fool’s death, the prudent person’s death, a mixed death, a holy death, an omniscient death, etc.

  64 See Kazuyoshi, p. 216.

  65 Ibid., p. 216; A. Michaels (Recht auf Leben und Selbsttötung in Indien) translates balamarana as kindisches Sterben, whereas the terminology of Kazuyoshi is more applicable.

  66 Durkheim writes about three general types of suicide: the egoistic, anomistic (anomischen) and altruistic suicide. See Émile Durkheim, Le Suicide: Étude de Sociologie, Paris, 1912 (1897).

  67 See S. Radhakrishnan, Indian Philosophy, Vol. I, XX, p. 327.

  68 ‘Asketen müssen sich daher, wiederum rituell gedacht, als gestorben ansehen, um ihre Sterblichkeit auszuschalten. Und in der Tat ist der asketische Selbstmord ein von Teilen anerkannte Form der Erlösungssuche gewesen. Auf diesem altindischen Hintergrund ist der Selbstmord immer schon gegeben, ja er ist in der Opferlogik und der daraus entwickelten rituellen Konzeption des Lebens fast schon angelegt.’ In A. Michaels, Recht auf Leben und Selbsttötung in Indien, in Bernhard Mensen (Hrsg.), Recht auf Leben—Recht auf Töten, ein Kulturvergleich, Nettetal, Steyler Verlag, 1992, pp. 95-124.

  69 Manusmriti (5.89) or Yajnavalkyassmrti (3.6), see Kazuyoshi, p. 217.

  70 Meaning, thus, ‘a sin caused by suicide’, ibid., p. 218.

  71 It has to be noted here, that religious acts of suicide have been treated differently in ancient India—at extremely holy places, religious suicides always took place and are still taking place. In Prayaga, Sarasvati and Benares, for example, people drown themselves to get release from the cycle of rebirth; during the annual Jagannatha festival in Orissa, people sometimes throw themselves in front of the chariot of the gods to get crushed by its wheels. Santhara, however, is not even considered ‘religious suicide’.