12 - Ritual Suicide and the Rite of Renunciation

Summary

Suicide committed by the young and the old alike, by nobles and peasants, men and women, for what may be termed broadly “religious” motives has been a common phenomenon in the history of India down to the present day. It is, however, primarily in the ascetic traditions that suicide came to be considered a proper way, and in some cases the most excellent way, of bringing to an end one's earthly sojourn.

Greek records show that a naked philosopher (gymnosophist) named Kalanos, who accompanied Alexander the Great back from India, burnt himself on a pyre. It is, moreover, recorded by Strabo that the Indian ambassadors to Augustus Ceasar were accompanied by a man who committed his naked body to flames. These classical accounts are corroborated by the frequent allusions to such suicide in ancient Indian literature and more especially in treatises on the life and conduct of ascetics.

Among the Jains the most excellent way to end one's life is by starvation (sallekhana). All the founders of the Jain faith (Jina or Toerthaṃkara) are said to have committed suicide in this fashion. A similar practice existed among the Ājīvakas. Buddhism is the only ascetic tradition that firmly disapproved of suicide on any grounds whatsoever. The Buddhist tradition includes the wish to end one's life among the three desires that feed the fire of existence.

Turning to the Brahmanical tradition, we find that a vānaprastha (forest hermit), that is, a member of the third stage of life (āśrama), was permitted to commit suicide when he found himself too feeble to perform the duties of his state.