Sallekhana is Not Suicide

SR No.: 001568
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: T K Tukol
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad
Publication Year: 1976
Total Pages: 124
Language: English
Classification: Book_English & Religion
File Size: 8 MB

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68
Voluntary Deaths under Other Religions
are also found on them suggesting that the memory will last as long as the sun and moon shine on the earth.
Another practice which was glorified in India is the practice of Jauhur. Whenever the Rajputs lost in a battle, or their city was captured by their enemies, every female in a family or the whole tribe as necessary, had recourse to immolation by burning themselves in fire in order to escape from threatened dishonour. The practice of Sati seems to have been in vogue even in Bengal upto the first quarter of the 19th century. Dr. Thakur has quoted an English translation of a poem by Ravindranāth Tagore as his homage to Satī. It is enough to quote a few concluding lines : “You have beautifi. ed the death and sanctified it too. You have made the funeral pyre a place of eternal bliss like the bedstead of a newly wedded couple. By your sacred sacrifices of yourself the flames of Bengal have purified.... We will bow down before the fire which is imperishable, which carries your living memories.... which is the emblem of your final union. ... Death, how easy, how glowing and how noble it is...",
It is difficult to assess at this distance of time whether all such deaths were voluntary or were forced on unwilling women by fear of social stigma or fear of religious punishment. We have records of cases where women running back from the pyres were driven back or subjected to tyranny of horrible character.
Chtistianity forbids suicide. The commandment is : “ Thou shalt not kill, neither thyself nor another.” The Church treated the dead bodies of suicides with no mercy and the usual services and rituals were denied to them. It appears that the earlier Fathers approved of suicides which were committed to secure martyrdom, to avoid apostacy or to protect virginity.
Though it is certain that all religions condemn suicide as unethical and opposed to religion, different faiths have
9. History of Suicide in India by Upendra Thakur, pp. 183-184.