Sallekhana

There are five great vows prescribed to followers of Jainism; ahimsa (non-violence), satya (not lying), asteya (not stealing), brahmacharya (chastity), and aparigraha (non-possession). A further seven supplementary vows are also prescribed, which include three gunavratas (merit vows) and four shikshavratas (disciplinary vows). The three Gunavratas are: Digvrata (limited movements, limiting one's area of activity), bhogopabhogaparimana (limiting the use of consumable and non-consumable things), and anartha-dandaviramana (abstain from purposeless sins). The shikshavratas include: samayika (vow to meditate and concentrate for limited periods), desavrata (limiting movement and space of activity for limited periods), prosadhopavāsa (fasting for limited periods), and atithi-samvibhag (offering food to the ascetic). Sallekhana is treated as a supplementary to these twelve vows. However, some Jain teachers such as Kundakunda, Devasena, Padmanandin, and Vasunandin have included it under shikshavratas. Sallekhana means to properly 'thin out', 'scour out', or 'slender' the passions and the body through gradually abstaining from food and drink. Sallekhana is divided into two components: kashaya sallekhana (slendering of passions) or abhayantra sallekhana (internal slendering) and kaya sallekhana (slendering the body) or bahya sallekhana (external slendering). It is described as "facing death voluntarily through fasting". According to Jain texts, sallekhana leads to ahimsa (non-violence or non-injury), as a person observing sallekhana subjugates the passions, which are the root cause of himsa (injury or violence). ==Conditions==

While Sallekhana is prescribed for both householders and ascetics, Jain texts describe conditions when it is appropriate. It should not be observed by a householder without the guidance of a Jain ascetic. Sallekhana is always voluntary, undertaken after the public declaration, and never assisted with any chemicals or tools. Fasting causes weight loss due to malnutrition. As death is imminent, the individual discontinues food and water, with full knowledge of colleagues and spiritual counsellor. In some cases, Jains with terminal illness undertake sallekhana, and in these cases, they ask for permission from their spiritual counsellor. For a successful sallekhana, the death must be with "pure means", voluntary, planned, undertaken with calmness, peace, and joy by which the person accepts the ultimate purification of the body and focuses the mind on spiritual matters. Sallekhana differs from other forms of ritual deaths recognized in Jainism as appropriate. The other situations consider ritual death preferable to a mendicant breaking their Five Great vows (Mahavrata). For example, celibacy is one of the Five vows, and ritual death is considered better than being raped or seduced or if the mendicant community would be defamed. A ritual death under these circumstances by consuming poison is believed to be better, and thus allows for an auspicious rebirth. ==Procedure==

The duration of the practice can vary from a few days to years. The sixth part of the Ratnakaranda śrāvakācāra describes Sallekhana and its procedure as follows: Jain texts mention five transgressions (Atichara) of the vow: the desire to be reborn as a human, the desire to be reborn as a divinity, the desire to continue living, the desire to die quickly, and the desire to live a sensual life in the next life. Other transgressions include: recollection of affection for friends, recollection of the pleasures enjoyed, and longing for the enjoyment of pleasures in the future. The ancient Śvetāmbara Jain text Ācārāṅga Sūtra, dated to about 3rd or 2nd century BCE, describes three forms of Sallekhana: the Bhaktapratyakhyana, the Ingita-marana, and the Padapopagamana. In Bhaktapratyakhyana, the person who wants to observe the vow selects an isolated place where he lies on a bed made of straw, does not move his limbs, and avoids food and drink until he dies. In Ingita-marana, the person sleeps on bare ground. He can sit, stand, walk, or move, but avoids food until he dies. In Padapopagamana, a person stands "like a tree" without food and drink until he dies. Another variation of Sallekhana is Itvara which consists of voluntarily restricting oneself in a limited space and then fasting to death. ==History==

, Karnataka, India. was raised in honor of Western Ganga King Nitimarga I in 869 CE who observed Sallekhana. hills, Odisha, India Textual The Ācārāṅga Sūtra () describes three forms of the practice. Early Śvetāmbara text Shravakaprajnapti notes that the practice is not limited to ascetics. The Bhagavati Sūtra (2.1) also describes Sallekhana in great detail, as it was observed by Skanda Katyayana, an ascetic of Mahavira. The 4th-century text Ratnakaranda śrāvakācāra and the Śvetāmbara text Nava-pada-prakarana also provide detailed descriptions. The Nava-pada-prakarana mentions seventeen methods of "voluntarily chosen death", of which it approves only three as consistent with the teachings of Jainism. The practice is also mentioned in the 2nd century CE Sangam-era poem Sirupanchamoolam. According to Tattvartha Sutra, "a householder willingly or voluntarily adopts Sallekhana when death is very near." According to the medieval era Jain text, Puruşārthasiddhyupāya, both the ascetics and the householder should "court voluntarily death at the end of life", thinking that only sallekhana is a pious death. The Silappadikaram (Epic of the Anklet) by the Jain prince-turned-monk, Ilango Adigal, mentions Sallekhana by the Jain nun, Kaundi Adigal. An undated inscription in old Kannada script is found on the Nishidhi from Doddahundi near Tirumakudalu Narasipura in Karnataka. Historians such as J. F. Fleet, I. K. Sarma, and E.P. Rice have dated it to 840 or 869 CE by its textual context. The memorial stone has a unique depiction in frieze of the ritual death (Sallekhana) of King Ereganga Nitimarga I () of the Western Ganga Dynasty. It was raised by the king's son Satyavakya. In Shravanabelgola, the Kuge Brahmadeva pillar has a Nishidhi commemorating Marasimha, another Western Ganga king. An inscription on the pillar in front of Gandhavarna Basadi commemorates Indraraja, the grandson of the Rashtrakuta King Krishna III, who died in 982 after observing the vow. Statistically, Sallekhana is undertaken both by men and women of all economic classes and among the educationally forward Jains. It is observed more often by women than men. == Legality and comparison with suicide ==

Jain texts make a clear distinction between the Sallekhana and suicide. Its dualistic theology differentiates between soul and matter. The soul is reborn in the Jain belief based on accumulated karma, how one dies contributes to the karma accumulation, and a pious death reduces the negative karmic attachments. The preparation for sallekhana must begin early, much before the approach of death, and when death is imminent, the vow of Sallekhana is observed by progressively denying the body and the passions. The comparison of Sallekhana with suicide is debated since the early time of Jainism. The early Buddhist Tamil epic Kundalakesi compared it to suicide. It is refuted in the contemporary Tamil Jain literature such as in Neelakesi. Nikhil Soni vs Union of India (2006), a case filed in the Rajasthan High Court, citing the Aruna Ramchandra Shanbaug vs Union Of India case related to euthanasia, and the Gian Kaur case, argued, "No person has a right to take his own life consciously, as the right to life does not include the right to end the life voluntarily." So the petitioner cited Sallekhana as suicide and thus punishable under Section 309 (attempt to commit suicide). An attempt to commit suicide was a crime under Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code. In response, the Jain community argued that prohibiting the practice is a violation of their freedom of religion, a fundamental right guaranteed by Article 15 and Article 25 of the Constitution of India. Members of the Jain community held nationwide protest marches against the ban on Sallekhana. Advocate Suhrith Parthasarathy criticised the judgement of the High Court and wrote, "Sallekhana is not an exercise in trying to achieve an unnatural death, but is rather a practice intrinsic to a person's ethical choice to live with dignity until death." He also pointed out that the Supreme Court in the Gian Kaur case explicitly recognises the right to live with human dignity within the ambit of the right to life. He further cited that the Supreme Court wrote in the said case, "[The right to life] may include the right of a dying man to also die with dignity when his life is ebbing out. But the right to die with dignity at the end of life is not to be confused or equated with the right to die an unnatural death curtailing the natural span of life." In April 2017, the Indian parliament decriminalised suicide by passing the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017. == In Hinduism and Buddhism ==

There are similar practices in other religions, like Prayopavesa in Hinduism and Sokushinbutsu in Buddhism. The ancient and medieval scholars of Indian religions discussed suicide, and a person's right to voluntarily choose death. Suicide is approved by Buddhist, Hindu and Jaina texts. For those who have renounced the world (sannyasi, sadhu, yati, bhikshu), the Indian texts discuss when ritual choice of death is appropriate and what means of voluntarily ending one's life are appropriate. The Sannyasa Upanishads, for example, discuss many methods of religious death, such as slowing then stopping the consumption of foods and drinks to death (similar to sallekhana), walking into a river and drowning, entering fire, a path of the heroes, and the Great Journey. Scholars disagree whether "voluntary religious death" discussed in Indian religions is the same as other forms of suicide. ==See also==