Fasting Unto Death According To Jaina Tradition

SR No.: 269284
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Colette Caillat
Publisher: Colette Caillat
Total Pages: 24
Language: English
Classification: Article
File Size: 2 MB

Page 3

FASTING UNTO DEATH ACCORDING TO THE JAINA TRADITION
45
on the subject of voluntary death is particularly interesting, as Mahāvīra's community has stressed the salvationist value of asceticism. Moreover, in all matters, Jinism has endeavoured to make a clear-cut and original synthesis out of elements sometimes evidently heterogeneous, some of them being very archaïc. To the question 'Is suicide licit?' the other Indian communities have propounded conflicting and, to a certain extent, wavering answers. The Jainas' position, on the contrary, is well delineated. One form of suicide is allowed and only one. It can take place in definite conditions only and must conform to strict rules, which are laid down minutely. The one form which they expressly allow is death through fasting (anaśana).
In fact, in classical India, this type of voluntary death seems to have normally been advocated or tolerated among the Hindus and among the Buddhists, at least in the case of the individual who is aware that the end of his life is drawing near. On the
Aussprüche der Weisen. Aus dem Prākrit der Jainas übersetzt von Walther Schubring (with revised edition of the text, by Schubring), Hamburg, 1969; Jiņac(ariya), in Hermann Jacobi, The Kalpasútra of Bhadrabahu, Leipzig, 1879 (ref. to paragraph); Nāyādhammakahāo, in Sutt'āgame (ref. to page and line); Samthāra), ed. AgS; Uvav(aiya), ed Leumann (Aup; ref. to paragraph); Uvās(agadasāo), ed. transl. A. F. R. Hoernle, The Uvāsagadasão or the Religious Profession of an uvāsaga, Calcutta, 1888-1890: I Text and Commentary; II Translation (ref. to (lesson and) paragraph); Viy(āhapannatti), in Sutt'āgame.
For technical terms, I generally quote the Ardha-Māgadhi (- amg.) form in canonical contexts; the Sanskrit (- skr.) form in other developments, specially if it is in common use.
An asterisk after a reference indicates that the text is in verse.
. Cf. Bühler, Über die indische Secte der Jaina', WZKM 1887, p. 13 and p. 38 n. 11, referring to Apastamba Dharma Sūtra 2,22, 4, and 23,2. Cf. Alsdorf, Etudes, 45-46; J. Filliozat, 'L'abandon de la vie', 68; Kane, H Dh II 2, p. 926, all quoting Raghuvamsa, 8, 94. Also see Kane, H Dh II 2, p. 928 (about Purāņas). Cf. the prescriptions of the Garuda Purāņa (ed. Calcutta, Saka 1812/1890 AD), uttarakhanda 5, 39:
gshņiyac ced anaśanam vratam vidhivad āgate mstyau na so, 'pi samsāre bhūyaḥ paryatati.
'if, when death is drawing near, one correctly undertakes the vow of fasting, then also, one does not, after death, wander in the samsāra'; Garuda-Purāņasāroddhara (ed.-transl. Ernest Wood - S. V. Subrahmanyam, Allahabad, 1911), ch. 9, 34-35: