Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions c11.1

c11.1

AMONG singular customs, those involving self-sacrifice of life may claim our notice. The Jain vow of *sallēkhana* (see *EC.* vol. ii.) involved suicide by gradual starvation, in cases of incurable disease, hopeless calamity, or the inevitable approach of death. It was the orthodox Jain mode of emancipation from the body when life could no longer be endured, and the instances of its performance are numerous, especially at Śravaṇa-Beḷgoḷa, from the earliest times. A more expeditious and pleasanter way of meeting death was that adopted in 1068 by the Chālukya king Sōmēśvara I (Sk 136), who, being prostrated with mortal fever, after performing *yōga* ceremonies, walked into the river Tuṅgabhadrā up to his neck and drowned himself.