Jaina Corpus of Koppala Inscriptions X rayed

Author(s): Nagarajaiah Hampa
Publisher: Ankita Pustak

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Chapter 3 THEME AND AIM OF THE EPIGRAPHS
Koppaļa the epigraphs primarily emphasise the monastic way of life as superior and hence desirable to the mundane life. To renounce the life of a householder and to adopt the life of recluse, Jaina canons have a traditional prescription of initiation. The novice desirous of renouncing the terrestrial interests, should first seek the willingness of the elders, the kith and kin in the family. Rite of initiation into the monastic order marks the end of worldly life, family responsibility and social obligations. The entrant, after initiation into the monastic order, is generally given a new name by the preceptor.
Jaina 'asceticism is manifested in many ways, but emblematic of its uncompromising severity - in the public eye and in reality - is the fact that death by starvation (sallekhana) is enshrined as one of Jainism's highest ideals' [Lawrence A. Babb: 1998:2]. Consistent with the Jaina view of the moral suspectness of eating, death by self starvation is one of the highest spiritual ideals among the Jainas. Among Digambaras, with whom the practice is known as sallekhanā, such a death is apparently expected of ascetics (Carrithers: 1989:224). Among Svetāmbars the practice is called santhāra, and seems to be less common than among Digambaras (Cort 1991-B: 152-53; L.A. Babb: 1998:60] .Jaina canons have given a high place for sallekhanā as an act of acquiring religious merit. Anyone, of the four categories of the disciples, can opt for voluntry submission to the inevitable. Self-sacrifice of the body by fasting, is the willing choice of wise. Spiritual cultivation, considered as the highest virtue, in order to gain enlightenment, revolves round the extinction of life-affirming will of convulsively clinging to existence. The individual, who has earned the right to die in peace in full possesion of his faculties, allows his life to ebb away at its own natural peace, without a desire to prolong or anticipating unduly his demise. Sallekhanā is not euthanasia or suicide [Tukol, T.K: 1976).
Sallekhanā is a process of death by the ritual fasting as prescribed by the religion (Ārādhanã (Śivakoți); Uttarādhyana; Ratnakaranda-Srāvakācāra (Samantabhadra); Yaśastilaka