Jainism and Karnataka Culture

SR No.: 011062
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: S R Sharma
Publisher: Karnataka Historical Research Society Dharwar
Publication Year: 1940
Total Pages: 263
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 9 MB

Page 208

764
JAINISM AND KARNATAKA CULTURE
In Sanskrit Awara Pri grict FiTAct aga atdor i Frat: 9467 : TETAHI 7 faaloi 11 137 Against this dogmatism we find at least one instance of a woman strongly asserting herself. An inscription in Coorg records that one Jakkiyabbe who performed Sanyasana (or death by starvation) which is considered by all Jainas as a sure pass-port to Mukti did so "without hesitution deciding I will obtain Mukti.” 138 It is reasonable to suppose that this practice might have come also as a substitute for sati among Jaina women, in view of the fact that the Jainas condemn every form of suicide excepting Sallékhana, and Buchanan records (on the strength of Panditācārya's statement) that'widows ought not to burn themselves on the bodies of their husbands.' 139 According to Samantabhadra, one of the greatest of Karnāțaka Jaina teachers, Sallékhana was to be performed "when overtaken by calamity, by famine, by old age, or by incurable disease.” 140 What worse calamity could befall a woman than the death of her husband, especially when to take a second meant only excommunication worse than death? On the other hand, death by taking the holy vow meant for her glory in this world and salvation in the next; for it is believed that the last cloth in
137 Devasens, Bhävasamgraha, M. D.J.G. XX, pp. 26–7 vv. 92-8. 138 Bice, op. cit. No. 31. As lately as 1913 at Rajkot & S'vetāmbara pan.
named Jivībāi, took this yow and died after two or three days. "To take this yow and die on a bed of Kusa grass”, says Mrs. Sinclair Stevenson, " is called Santhäro; and though in this age of Dusama it is impossible for those who do so to go straight to Môkşa, as they would formerly have done, yet they pass to Nêvalóka, ard may hope, if their previous karina was good and their faith in the Jaine creed strong, to pass to Móksa after fifteen more incarnations". She also states, the practice is far more frequent still, than Europeans realise,
Stevenson, The Heart of Jainism, pp. 163-64. 139 Buchanan, op. cit. III, pp. 75-6. Rev. Heras has got a Sati-stono
from Gersoppa, from among the Jaina ruins; but it cannot be asserted
that the sati-stone is also Jaina. 140 sqart fortales SITT a eto. Ratnakarandaka-s'rāvakācāra, M. D.
J. G. I, p. 89 v l; cf. Ep.Car. II (otrod., p. 69,