Death by fasting: Why sallekhana is rising among Tamil Jains

A few months ago in Chennai, a 74-year-old Jain monk stopped eating food and taking fluids. As Sunamra Sagarji Maharaj’s human passions and body began to thin, people gathered around to watch, seek blessings and partake in the rituals. Nearly three weeks back, Sunamra Sagarji Maharaj attained ‘samadhi maran’ by way of sallekhana (santhara), a religious death through fasting.

A day later, his ailing disciple Suprabhat Mathi Mataji followed suit after undergoing sallekhana for more than a week. At least 18 Jains, including seven male and six female ascetics, have attained samadhi maran after undergoing sallekhana in Tamil Nadu since 2017 pointing to a trend of a rising number of Jains undergoing sallekhana in the state.

Scholars point to two reasons. One, after the Mahamastakabhisheka of the Bahubali Gommateshwara statue in Shravanabelagola (Karnataka) in 2018, many belonging to the Jain community from states like Maharashtra, Karnataka and Rajasthan started visiting the ancient Jain monuments and mutts in Tamil Nadu.

“The Mahamastakabhisheka is observed once in every 12 years. The Jains who visited the grand consecration in 2018 happened to visit the sites in Tamil Nadu as well. After seeing the ancient Jain sites where the ascetics once lived, a few decided to choose Tamil Nadu as an ideal place to observe sallekhana,” says P Rajendra Prasad, a Jain scholar. Although the trend began with the Mahamastakabhisheka in 2006, it attained momentum only after the grand consecration in 2018.

In May 2019, in fact, Karnataka-born 66-year-old Padma Jain took samadhi maran after visiting Ponnur hills in Tamil Nadu’s Vandavasi. She chose Ponnur hill because it was where Kundakunda, the great scholar of Jainism, lived and meditated.

Even though Tamil Nadu houses many Jain monuments, including rock caves and caverns with Jain beds which once served as abodes of the Digamber Jain ascetics, 80 per cent of them have been lying abandoned and neglected. The rest are maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India and the Tamil Nadu State Archaeology Department. Ancient Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions dating from 300 BC to 400 AD have been found inside many Jain caverns across Tamil Nadu. It shows Jainism was prevalent in today’s Tamil Nadu centuries ago.

Inscription in Tamil Brahmi dating back to 5th century AD found at Tirunatharkundru in Villupuram records the death of ascetic Chandranandhi, who attained santhara by fasting for 30 days. A 10th century AD inscription on a hillock in the same region records the samadhi maran of Ilayaparadarar after fasting for 30 days.

Jainism in Tamil Nadu

Jainism, like Buddhism, emerged around the 5-6 century BC in present day Bihar. Vardhaman Mahavir, the last and the 24th Jain Tirthankar, was born in Vaishali, Bihar, nearly 2,614 years ago. Tamil Jains trace their roots to the first millennium CE when Jainism and Buddhism were widely followed in south India. The movement to the South also marked the division of the religion into the Digambara (sky-clad) and Shvetambara (white-clad) sects.

Tamil Jains are different from their north Indian counterparts, living in small pockets of northern Tamil Nadu, poor and marginalised.

The current marginalisation of Tamil Jains is in stark contrast to their position and numbers in first millennium AD.

Jainism reached Tamil Nadu in around 300 BC and flourished with indigenous Tamils followers. The Tamil Jains shaped the religion, politics, culture and society of the Tamil region. They were also instrumental in organising the first Dravida Sangam in 470 AD, believed in a casteless society, emphasised on education for all and gave great respect to women religious teachers. The community was omnipresent in the first millennium AD but now hardly anyone knows them.

Jains are about 0.4 per cent of India’s population scattered across the country.

According to the 2011 Census, Jains constitute about 0.12 per cent of the total population of Tamil Nadu. They number over 89,000 in the state and can be divided into two groups. First, there are Tamilians who are Jains. They are referred to as ‘Samanars’. Their ancestors have lived in the region and they share the Tamil language, culture and heritage with others in the region. Samanars are estimated to be around 25,000-35,000 in the state. The endogamous community is scattered in rural Tamil Nadu and involved mainly in agriculture with almost insignificant presence in the public sphere. Second, there are the north Indian Jains, mainly Gujarati and Marwaris, who have settled in the state over the course of the last hundred years.

The walk for awareness

Tamil Jains have been conducting various awareness programmes such as the Ahimsa Walk to create awareness among people about the significance of the neglected and abandoned Jain monuments across Tamil Nadu since 2014.

“In 2014, a group of Jain scholars started Ahimsa Walk every month to a remote village to reclaim the neglected monuments in Tamil Nadu. Initiatives like Ahimsa Walk evoked tremendous response from people, particularly those outside Tamil Nadu, about the rich Jain heritage of Tamil Nadu. The heritage awareness drives, conducted by voluntary groups of Tamil Jains, also helped create awareness among people about many significant sites in Tamil Nadu, which eventually attracted Jains from other states to observe religious rites like penance and fasting in Tamil Nadu,” Prasad explains.

Tamil Jains belong to the Digambara sect. In their book titled Essence of Sallekhana: Living while Dying, scholars Jayanti Lal Jain and Priyadarshana Jain say, “Sallekhana is not just mortification of the flesh, but a state of enlightenment.”

“Sallekhana is an external, valuable, timeless and universal practice. Sallekhana is conquering the four instincts namely food, fear, pleasure and possession. Liberation from repeated births, disease, old-age and death is the fruit of Sallekhana,” they write.

The second reason for the rising instances of sallekhana in Tamil Nadu, according to K Ajithadoss, another Jain scholar, is that the elders in the community started taking about sallekhana seriously after the Supreme Court in 2015 stayed an order of the Rajasthan High Court banning Jains from practising the religious rite. “After the judgment, there were discussions and interactions in the community about the rite. It helped many elders in the community to know more about sallekhana and its significance,” says Ajithadoss.

What the ritual holds

Sallekhana is a highly respected practice in Jainism, one the community believes leads an individual to a world of non-violence, rejecting the material world. As per the Tamil Jain tradition, a sallekhana vow can be taken for a maximum of 12 years and minimum 48 minutes. Those who undertake the vow can decide on when to start the actual course of renunciation of the material world during this period. One attains samadhi maran after renunciation of food and water and it takes minimum 30 to 35 days in a normal case.

Even though the Jains believe that sallekhana is vow to the ethical code of conduct of Jainism and another way to destroy rebirth-influencing karma by withdrawing all physical and mental activities, others consider is as a mode of ‘suicide’.

Ajithadoss doesn’t agree with sallekhana being interpreted as suicide. “Jainism observes many vows and sallekhana is the most significant. As per this rite, a person faces death voluntarily when he or she is nearing the end and when normal life according to religion is not possible due to old age and incurable disease. Sallekhana is an ideal solution for those who are suffering from diseases and age-related illnesses. This is significant in Jainism as it is mentioned in the ancient inscriptions and texts,” he says.

Across many Jain sites in Tamil Nadu, there is evidence of ascetics and householders who have undertaken sallekhana. Ancient Digambara texts such as Niyamasara, Samayasāra (written by Acharya Kundakunda) and Kashay Pahud, penned by Acharya Gunadhara, talk about how sallekhana to be observed, for a peaceful transformation.

In Jainism, Chaturmas, the four months from July to October, are meant for religious obligations such as penance and fasting. “Many Jain sanghs observe the holy four months in Tamil Nadu, as they believe it is an ideal place for penance and fasting. We witness more Samadhi Maran in Tamil Nadu mainly due to this. It’s also a sign of revival of Jainism in Tamil Nadu,” says Rajendra Prasad.