History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c74.t2.33
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c74.t2.33
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v5.c74.t2.33.1
One important question that very much exercised the minds of ancient and medieval Indian writers was whether and when suicide, particularly at sacred spots like the confluence of the Ganges and Jumnā or at the foot of the Akṣaya Vaṭa at Prayāga, would involve no sin.¹³⁷⁰ This matter has already been dealt with at length in H. of Dh. vol. II. pp 924-928 and vol. III. pp. 939, 948-949. Only a brief treatment by way of a summary of the pages and a few notes will be added here. The general sentiment of Dharmaśāstra works is to condemn suicide or an attempt to commit suicide as a great sin (vide H of Dh vol II. page 924 for texts). The Āp. Dh. S. (I. 10 28 15-17) mentions the view of Hārīta which condemns suicide even as prāyaścitta for committing a mahāpātaka (like incest) and puts killing another or killing oneself on the same footing Manu V. 89 and Yāj. III. 154 condemn suicide by denying after-death rites to those who commit it, but Manu allowed suicide in various ways as prāyaścitta for mahāpātakas (vide Manu XI. 73, 90-91, 103-104). But exceptions to the condemnation of suicide are found in the smṛtis, epics and purāṇas. They may be grouped under several heads. (1) Suicide as an exception in various ways by those guilty of mahāpātakas (viz. brāhmaṇa murder, drinking of *surā*, theft of brāhmaṇa's gold and incest), vide H. of Dh. vol. II. pp. 924-925 for smṛti and other texts.
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(2) Starting on the Great Journey (*mahāprasthāna-gamana* or *mahāpathayātrā*) by a forest hermit (Manu VI. 31, Yāj. III. 55) suffering from incurable diseases and unable to perform the duties of his order (3) An old man or one who cannot observe the rules of bodily purification or who is so ill as to be beyond medical skill may kill himself by throwing himself from a precipice or by fire or by drowning or fasting or start on the Great Journey into the Himālaya or by jumping from the branches of the Vaṭa tree at Prayāga (Aparārka p 877 quoting Ādi-purāṇa and Atri-smṛti verses 218-219 q. by Medhātithi on Manu V. 88 and Mit. on Yāj III. 6) (4) Even a householder, otherwise all right, may resort to suicide by the means stated (in No. 3) if his life's work is done, if he has no desire for the pleasures of the world and does not desire to live, or if he is a Vedāntin¹³⁷¹ and convinced of the ephemeral nature of life and may kill himself by fast in Himālaya. (5) Religious suicide was allowed at the confluence of the two great rivers Gaṅgā and Yamunā, at the Vata there and at some other tīrthas (6) A wife dying by *sahagamana* or *anumarana*. As to *Satī*, the Nāradīya (pūrvārdha 7. 52-53) provides that a woman should not burn herself on the funeral pyre of her husband if she has a young child or young children, if she is pregnant or if she has not attained puberty, or if she is in her monthly illness at the time.
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Not only did common men believe in the promise of the Purāṇas that those who killed themselves at Prayāga (at the saṅgama or near Vaṭa) secured mokṣa (freedom from the everlasting cycle of births and deaths) which was the highest of the four puruṣārathas (goals of human existence), but even great poets like Kālidāsa held the view that, though *mokṣa* or *kaivalya* or *apavarga* requires correct knowledge and realisation of the Supreme Spirit according to the Vedānta, Sāṅkhya and Nyāya systems, death at the sacred saṅgama led to mokṣa even without 'tattvajñāna.' In H. of Dh. vol. II pp. 925–927, historical examples of kings such as Yaśaḥ-karṇadeva, Candella Dhaṅgadev and Cālukya Someśvara committing suicide at Prayāga or the Tuṅgabhadrā have been given. The king Kumāragupta of Magadha is said to have entered the fire of dry cow-dung cakes. This is in accordance with the prescriptions in the Matsyapurāṇa 107. 9–10 (=Padma, Ādi-khaṇḍa 44 3) which states¹³⁷² 'the man who, suffering from no diseases, having no deficiency as to his limbs and being in full possession of his five senses, encompasses (his death) in cowdung fire remains honoured in heaven for as many years as there are pores on the whole of his body.'¹³⁷³ The Rājataraṅgiṇī VI. 14 refers to officers entrusted with the duty of supervising suicide by fast (prāyopaveśa).