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SALLEKHANA
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In sum, suicide is an act of mental aberration due to some cause which the victim cannot control, while Sallekhanā is a wellplanned death in pursuance of noble laws of religion inspired by the highest ideal of self-realisation or peaceful death to ward off further entanglement in the bondages of Karmas. Hundreds of instances of Sallekhanā have been recorded in the inscriptions found in the different parts of the State of Karnataka and collected in the twelve volumes of Ephigraphia Carnatica published by the State Goaernment. The latest instance is that of the greatest modern saint by name Sri Sāntisāgar Mahārāja who observed the vow in September 1955 on the Hills of Kunthalagiri in the Maharashtra State (India).
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