Hyderabad: A Class XIII student, died after fasting for 68 days

[Aupmanyav]

Parents holding the body of Aradhana Samdharia in the funeral procession. She was 13 yers of age. Aradhana was from a rich Jain family having a jewelry showroom in Hyderabad.
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/nati...l-13-fasts-for-68-days-dies-in-hyderabad.html
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...breaking-68-day-fast/articleshow/54759908.cms

 

[Shadow Wolf]

What's a class XIII student?

 

[MD]

Fasting for children should be illegal

 

[Twilight Hue]

People lack common sense. Pay the price.

 

[Aupmanyav]

What's a class XIII student?

Sorry. She was studying in class VIII.

Fasting for children should be illegal

It is very likely that a 'public interest litigation' will be put in the courts and that police may book the parents to explain abatement in suicide. Religious laws vs. Civil laws is a hot topic in India these days. Government has said that it will have no objection to bar 'triple talaq' and polygamy in Muslims. Courts are not going to look favorably to this incident.

People lack common sense. Pay the price.

The child paid the price. General opinion is not in favor of Jains allowing children to take up asceticism before attaining adulthood or committing religious suicide (Santhara). They believe this destroys their accumulated sins.

 

[Aupmanyav]

http://www.newscrunch.in/2016/10/hyderabad-girl-aradhana-samdariya’s-two-aunts-were-doctors-she-died-after-61-day-jain-ritual
Brain-washed.

 

[Shrew]

Government has said that it will have no objection to bar 'triple talaq' and polygamy in Muslims.

What is talaq?

General opinion is not in favor of Jains allowing children to take up asceticism before attaining adulthood or committing religious suicide (Santhara). They believe this destroys their accumulated sins.

So I understand she did not want to die, did not want to commit Santhara?

 

[ShivaFan]

This is terrible, and very sad and upsetting. This is also a form of peer-pressure even if under the umbrella of religion, peer-pressure can result in death.

 

[Aupmanyav]

What is talaq?

So I understand she did not want to die, did not want to commit Santhara?

'Talaq' is Muslim divorce. It is valid if the husband utters the word thrice or (in some countries) even sends a verbal or written message to the wife. Termination of marriage in Islam does not entail payment of any alimony. There is an agreed amount at the time of marriage, Mehr, the husband has to pay that only. The custody of children remains with the husband. The woman then return to her father's place where she has a share in property. Both the parties are free to marry again, women after a period of three months (this is known as 'iddat').

Yes, she was not attempting 'Santhara' (Jain religious suicide). She had undertaken a no-food fast for 68 days. Her death was the result of that fast.

 

[ShivaFan]

Peer-pressure - in this case, peer-pressure in the umbrella of religion - can and actually is a form of brain-washing. We cannot allow ourselves to lose our individuality. This individuality is THE GREATEST DIVERSITY for the entire world, we cannot allow ourselves to be enmeshed in identity politics or identity religion such that we lose our individuality. Each person is an individual. No one is the same. No one suffers the same or enjoys the same or liberates the same.

Even where it may seem the most benign, be it those students in school who allow themselves to lose their personality to a group of other students who push their peer-pressure of some "cool" identity or whatever is their fixation - we see it can result in death. Because even before you are actually dead, when you lose your personality or individuality to the peer-pressure in one way you have already died or starved yourself to death.

Our individuality is our greatest diversity.

 

[Kapalika]

How the heck does someone even survive for 68 days without eating? I thought most people died after 5 to 6 weeks.

 

[Aupmanyav]

She did (died only after her fast was over), and if you look closely, it does not show on her face. Poor mis-guided kid.

 

[Kapalika]

She did (died only after her fast was over), and if you look closely, it does not show on her face. Poor mis-guided kid.

Let me correct myself, how does someone survive TO the 68th day? Or even the 67th day?

 

[Aupmanyav]

She is said to hve subsisted on warm water. Poor mis-guided kid, again. The case is in court. I hope the government will take a strong stand against it. Till now, it was appeasement in India. If it is religious do not touch it. .But the present government differs from that. It says whatever the fundamental principles of the Indian Constitution say.

 

[ajay0]

Santhara is mostly performed by very elderly people who are not physically fit enough to fulfil their duties and take care of basic needs. Kind of like a religious self-euthanasia.

In case of this kid, she was not at all an adult itself , and it is ludicrous that she had to undergo this kind of an austerity without the fitness for it.

A 10 day fasting period is what I had heard the Jains do, but a 68 day period is going too much, especially for a 13 year old.

Fasting definitely has its benefits, but it is tragic to see it being overdone to the point of negative consequences.

A proper framework of rules and regulations should be set by the Jain society and leaders to ensure that this kind of excesses are not perpetrated.

 

[Aupmanyav]

"Ati Sarvatra Varjayet". No excesses in Hindism and Buddhism, but Mahavira differed. They also allow ten-year olds to take 'sannyasa'. You are right, before anyone else, Jains themselves should take the right course.

 

[Bhudev]

Jainasim is a not a religion, it's a cult. this type of Cults always gets people killed.

sorry, but as a Dharmic Brahmin, i have no Respect for This Cult.

RIP to Dead.

 

[Aupmanyav]

As a dharmic brahman, you must respect Mahavira. Did he say anything wrong? Non-violence, non-possessiveness, truthfulness, brahmacharya, asteya. Jainism is a product of our land and was a part of Hinduism for a long time. If they want to call it a separate religion, let us indulge them. Actually, I think Mahavira should have been made an avatara of Lord Vishnu just in the way we accepted Gautama the Buddha. Of course, Jains should take up whatever changes are required by time.

 

[ShivaFan]

I agree with Aupmanyav, in fact I am shocked that someone would confuse the actions imposed by parents on children with the personal history of one of the greatest humans to have walked on this earth, Mahavira.

I attend a Jain temple off and on in Milpitas (San Jose) California, because I respect Mahavira so much even though I am an angry typical human full of my own hate and even violence, just as I respect Siddhartha the Buddha. Without these two, and my Hindu wife, I would probably be in prison. But there are many forms of prison, and I am so grateful to both Mahavira and the Buddha for showing me how to at least remain somewhat human.

Many do not understand the true "history" of Dharma. At the time of the Buddha, there actually wasn't a particular "distinct religion" between Jains and Hindus - they were in fact just two diverse "sects" of the very same glory. Of course, Buddhism wasn't a name used in those days - just as Hinduism was not as well - but Prince Siddhartha was in fact what could be termed in modern usage a Hindu without question, and he was a contemporary of Mahavira and Jaina savants, in fact it was Jain advisors which were common to Royalty in those times who influenced Lord Buddha to undertake a reform movement of Hinduism against animal slaughter and caste extremists.

I love Mahavira with all my heart.

 

[ajay0]

Jainasim is a not a religion, it's a cult. this type of Cults always gets people killed.

sorry, but as a Dharmic Brahmin, i have no Respect for This Cult.

RIP to Dead.

I don't believer that Jainism is a cult, but you are right in criticising the practice being implemented on little children.

Fasting is a very hard austerity, and one ought to have proper physical fitness while attempting it. A 13 year old cannot be expected to have the physical fitness to attempt a fast for 68 days. Even grown adults would find it extremely hard.

These kind of superstitions are present in every religion and it is important for the leaders of the religion to weed it out or else the religion would become a destructive process instead of a constructive one resembling a cult.