History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c74.t2.50

v5.c74.t2.50

Gradually there was a revulsion of feeling against suicide at Prayāga or Kāśī or starting on the Great Journey. Among the actions forbidden in the Kali age are included 'starting on the Great Journey' and 'suicide of old people jumping from a precipice or by fire' (vide H. of Dh. vol. III. pp. 939, 958-59). Some of the later medieval writers try very hard to combat the view that religious suicide is permitted¹³⁸³. Nīlakaṇṭha, the commentator of the Mahābhārata, holds that Vanaparva 85. 83 (na vedavacanāt &c) refers to natural death at Prayāga and not to wilful death and that the Khila verse ('Sitāsite' quoted above on p. 596) has the same meaning. Then he propounds two alternative interpretations of Vanaparva 85.