Varsha and Piyush Jain with the Golden Book of World Records certificate, who report that their three -year -old daughter was “the youngest to promise Jain Ritual Santhara”. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
AND Little before 21:30 on March 21, March 21, Piyush Jain (35) and his wife Varsha Jain (32) accompanied by some family members arrived in a compact apartment in Indore’s USha Nagar with her three -year -old daughter Viyana. The child who was in arms was diagnosed with a brain tumor about three months ago. She was barely conscious.
The parents knocked on the door of Rajesh Muni Maharaj, the Jain monk from the White Sector Shwetamar. Madhya Pradesh has the third largest population in India, according to the census in 2011.
The monk, who says at that time was performing a religious “JAAP (recital of mantras)”, recommended a professional couple IT to start Santharu for his daughter. At the age of old practice in Jainism, one makes a promise to give up food, water, drugs and other secular possessions and observes quickly to death and sings religious verses.
Rajesh Muni says that Piyush and Varsha agreed to this process, which began at 21:45, offered them religious leadership for about 10 minutes, while his collaborator Rajendra Muni Mahara packed Viyana in a white leaf and put a white mask on his mouth. At 21.55 hours, the monk says he asked the child to take “Pachchhakhan (promise in jainism to limit certain acts and control of desire).” “I said,” Beta, Bhagwan to Paas Jan Hai (child, you have to go to God) “.”
Rajesh Muni recalls that Viyan, whom she claims to have been aware of Pachchhakhan through the religious teaching she had received from him and her family, slowly put her hands and promised. In 10 minutes she last breathed with three hiccups, she says.
Viyan’s death, however, attracted media attention only in May after her parents received a certificate from the Golden Book of World Records, an American organization. “Record” declared a child to be “the youngest to promise Jain Ritual Santhara”. The couple and monks also received felicitations from various Jain community bodies in Indore.
When the news of death and “certification” expanded, questions about practice were raised. Pranshu Jain, 23 -year -old Social activist from Indore, on 9 May approached the local bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, who was looking for a ban on Santhary for children and people with mental illnesses. The petition also demanded legal steps against those who carry out a ritual in both of these categories.
The Union and the State Governments, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Madhya Pradesh Police and Indore Collectorate are among the respondents. 16 June, the High Court ordered the petitioner to include the parents of a girl as respondents. The thing is now listed on 8 July.
The petition claims that the consent of the individual is necessary to carry out Santhara on them, which is difficult in the case of children. “Rituals such as Santhara can be misused by people to” get rid of “relatives with serious health problems or mental illnesses, although this person is not underage,” says Shaubam Sharma, a lawyer representing Pranshu.
He also says that Pranshu decided not to interact with the media at the moment. “The leaders of the local community invite us to withdraw the petition. There is so much pressure on it, so it avoids the public’s attention as much as possible,” says Sharma, adding that they both work to collect details from all over the country to strengthen their case in court.
Rajesh Muni and Rajendra Muni reflects a petition given by pranshuem and call him a “frustrated person who wants publicity”. After Viyan’s death, it was Rajesh Muni who advised his parents to ask for the Golden Book of World Records Certificate and even gave them a link to the letter to “prove” the claim. He says, “After all that all this, I received two suggestions to become acharya (a spiritual leader with a higher rating).”
Santhara as a habit
At the 2007 National Seminar, Kokil H. Shah, who taught Jainism at universities in India, presented an article that said Santhara is different from suicide and euthanasia, because death is neither a sudden goal.
Santhara is when “a person voluntarily, when he is approaching his end and when normal life is not possible due to age, incurable illness, severe famine”, he decides to leave “all worldly attachments, and observance of ascension, gradually abstain from food and water and contemporary meditation.” The ritual can only be performed under the supervision of the monk and the process is called Sallekhana.
In August 2015, the Rajasthan High Court banned this practice and declared it a criminal offense that is criminal according to the then Indian Criminal Code. In Nikhil Soni vs. Union of India & Other ordered the High Court of the State Authorities to consider this practice as “suicide” and “linked to suicide”.
This step caused the protests of the Jaine community members in Rajasthan and other parts of the country and identified the command of the High Court “violations of secularism”. The protesters claimed that Santhara was not an act of suicide, but a “devoted religious practice” and that the High Court declared a judgment without “understanding the concept and goals, the element of rationality for this ancient practice”.
In the same month, the Supreme Court remained hearing a dose of petitions filed by various community bodies of Jain, the order of the High Court in Rajasthan. Society claimed that the High Court did not consult any scholar Jainism, and complained that the court criminalized the philosophy that was “necessary” practice for Jainism. The case is waiting for the Supreme Court.
In 2016, Aradhana Samdariya (13) of Hyderabad reportedly committed Santhar and died after 68 days of fasting. According to reports at that time, Samdariya Santhar turned into a procession, while the community members visited her and clicked the pictures with her. Among the visitors were some of the best politicians from Telangana.
Samdariya suffered a heart attack two days after she broke her 68 -day fast and died, just to be considered “Bal Tapasvi (Child Monk)”. A large procession was also eliminated at her funeral. The reports also claimed that it had fasted to “revive the declining business of her family”. At that time, the BBC announced that 640 prominent community members sent a list of children to the police who, together with their photographs, were fasting to prove that the ritual was part of Jain’s tradition.
Rajesh Muni says that once a person begins Santhar, he will enter the life of a monk. Their death is celebrated as the death of the monk because it is assumed that the person has achieved “Mtsha (salvation)”.
The dismissal of groups of children’s rights caused the police to register the case against the family. Six months after Samdariya died, the police marked the case when the “action dropped”.
112 Santharas and counting
Rajesh Muni, who became a monk in 2001, boasts that he has made 112 Santharas over the country over the years. A native of Khargone, about 130 km from Indore, has a MSC title in mathematics and comes from a business family. He says that after his argument with his brother, he left his home and became a monk. In 2021 he completed his doctorate in Santhara of Kalinga University, Raipur, Chhattisgarh, and was a defender.
Singh Surana, the 81 -year -old, who lived in Indore, died on June 29 after 15 days Santhary under the “supervision” of Rajesh Muni. On the 14th day of practice in Colonia Mahaveer Bagh in Mahaveer Bagh Colony, his son, Pushpendra Singh Surana, his father said a few weeks ago he wanted Santhar and asked Rajesh Muni.
“He had no illness, but his body was really weak with age. The doctors also said that the days in advance would be difficult. So when he asked, we called Muni Mahara, who came and checked their health before the ritual,” says Pushpendra because he receives relatives who come to respect them.
The day before his death, the Singh chain lay in a room at home, covered with a white leaves surrounded by relatives who sang religious witchers. Pushpendra says that the adoption of his father’s decision for Santhar was difficult for his family, but their peace “knew he would reach Mokshy”.
The funeral procession of the Singha chain, called Dol Yatra in Jainism, was discarded on June 30 to celebrate his life and death by Santhar.
Consent and choice
Viyan’s parents speak of the suffering of their daughter after her brain tumor was diagnosed this year. “She was treated at the Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai. After the surgery, she was better and we brought her home, but in March the tumor reappeared. Doctors advised other surgery so quickly and her condition was getting worse,” Varsha says.
Piyush, however, does not want to remember the trauma. “Every time we talk about her, everything comes back. We can’t go through it again and again,” he says.
Vishank Sagar Maharaj, the monk Digamar Jain based in Meerut, which was one of the major votes against the ban on the High Court in Rajasthan, emphasizes that it is necessary to take over the consent of the person before the ritual. “It is not Santhara, if the person doing it is not in a state to decide on something. Although there is no specific age bar for Santhary, it is important that the person is looking for it,” Sagar says. “In this case, if it was not your child’s own decision, it is bad.”
Senior Journalist Pooleen Khariwal, President of the State Press Club and a member of the Jain community, says there is no evidence that Santharu gives the child to the young in community history. “In his desire to create a record of Santhary’s rituals, the monk did nothing good for religion.”
Rajesh Muni claims that parents have the right to decide for their children in “exceptional situations”. “Even a one -day child or a person in a coma can do Santhar if their family agrees. This cannot be called suicide or murder,” he says. He adds that children from any religion are initiated into his teachings and practices, and during Ramzan they attract parallel to children in the Muslim community.
It also advocates practice and says that one is allowed to break quickly and the doctor can also intervene. He quotes Article 25 of the Constitution that guarantees freedom to profess, practice and promote religion. He claims that Article 21 states that no person will be deprived of his / her life or personal freedom, with the exception of the procedure stipulated by law.
mehul.malpani@thehind.co.in
Edit Sunalini Mathew
