82-year-old Indian woman takes 'Santhara' death fast vow

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82-year-old Indian woman takes Santhara death fast vow

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Bikaner - Badani Devi, a Jain from the city of Bikaner, has taken the vow to 'embrace death' by fasting - while only surviving on few spoons of water everyday for nearly two months.

By Web Report

Published: Tue 1 Sep 2015, 7:36 PM

Last updated: Wed 2 Sep 2015, 2:00 AM

An 82-year-old woman in India is 'fasting unto death' as part of an ancient religious tradition, NDTV reported today.
Badani Devi, a Jain from the city of Bikaner, has taken the vow to 'embrace death' by fasting - while only surviving on few spoons of water everyday for nearly two months.
Known as 'Santhara', the ancient Jain tradition of fasting unto death, the 82-year-old is among the couple of hundred who choose to end their lives every year. Despite her family's reluctance, Devi took the vow and have gathered around her bedside, chanting prayers as she continues her fast.

Santhara - also known as sallekhana - is a practice in the Jain faith in which a Jain gives up food and water with the intention of preparing for death. Those who take the vow of 'Santhara' are held in high esteem by the community.

Unable to speak due to weakness, she uses hand gestures when she wants her sips of water. "When she wants water, she raises her finger....she takes a sip and then raises her hand to say she has had enough," her daughter Sudha Bothra told NDTV.
Those who take the vow of 'Santhara' are held in high esteem by the community.
Quoting her son, Kiran Daga, on her mother's decision, he said: "My mother was always of a spiritual bent of mind. After my father died, she slowly withdrew from the worldly life."
According to NDTV, last month, 'the Rajasthan High Court had declared the tradition illegal, accepting a social activist's claim that it amounts to suicide.
The Supreme Court lifted the 'Santhara' ban, yesterday, while it reviews a cluster of petitions from the Jain community that say 'Santhara' is constitutionally protected as part of the right to religious freedom.
The activist, Nikhil Soni, had asked for 'Santhara' to be banned, claiming that many within the Jain community used it as cover to shirk off their responsibility of looking after family elders.
Devi's family, however, has said that this was her decision as she has always been a devout Jain.

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