Jains: Santhara Ritual

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More Jains embracing ancient santhara ritual

Hemali Chhapia & Mansi Choksi

Mumbai: The death of 60-year-old Jain monk Sadhvi Charan Pragyaji on September 11 last year was different from any that the tiny town of Bhilwada in Rajasthan had witnessed. Over 20,000 Jains from across the country thronged the hamlet, not in white to mourn the loss but in their finest bandhnis. They came to join a massive celebration to mark Sadhvi’s death, for she was the only Jain to have survived a santhara of 87 days, the longest in recent collective memory.

Santhara is the Jain practice of voluntary and systematic fasting to death. Jain texts say it is the ultimate route to attaining moksha and breaking free from the whirlpool of life and death. According to Babulal Jain Ujjwal, editor of the All India Jain Chaturmas Suchi(a veritable fount of information of Jainism), the practice is spiralling — more than 550 Jains took the vow in 2009 compared to 465 in 2008. This year, 45 Jains have already embraced santhara.

‘‘Every single day through the year, a Jain somewhere in the country takes up this holy vow,’’ says Ujjwal, adding that in Mumbai, the longest santhara was observed for 59 days last year by a Jain sadhvi in Malad. Kutch in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Karnataka account for the most santharas in the country.

Contrary to popular belief, Santhara is not the preserve of Jain monks who have renounced worldly affairs. ‘‘In fact, more ordinary Jains take up santhara than monks,’’ says Jitendra Shah, director of the LD Institute of Indology. ‘‘Another common misconception is that only people suffering from illness embrace the practice. That’s not true. Santhara is taken up with a view to sacrificing attachments, including one’s body.’’ Shah says the woman-man ratio of Santhara practitioners stands at 60:40, perhaps because ‘‘women are generally more strong-willed and have a religious bent of mind’’. Of late, Santhara has been embroiled in controversy, with critics equating the practice with suicide. But there are differing legal opinions on this. While advocate Sanjay Jain says that Articles 25 and 26 of the Indian Constitution protect all religious practices, unless otherwise prohibited by law, Mahesh Jethmalani argues that any practice that eventually leads to death is attempted suicide.

The legal debate surrounding the practice has made the Jain community wary of publicising santharas. ‘‘Earlier, mainstream Gujarati and Hindi papers would advertise santharas so that people could pay their respects. However, the police have been cracking down, in some cases force-feeding the individual,’’ says a Kandivli housewife.