The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c40.s12.67

v2.c40.s12.67

Religious suicide, which we have not seen in the Brāhmaṇa period, is mentioned in this, but only at the latest stage, long after the period of the Upaniṣads proper, when authority is given to the beggar to abstain from food, to throw himself into the water or fire,¹⁰ to choose a hero’s death. Strange folly to emerge from the comparative rationalism of the Upaniṣads, and to reach its apotheosis in the religion of the Jina.