Click to play videoJaipur: Members of the Jain community in Rajasthan on Tuesday defended the ancient ritual fast of santhara as a means to attain salvation and not suicide, terming birth and death as "religious festivals".
"There is a vast difference between suicide and santhara. Suicide is committed in a fit of anger or depression while the decision to observe santhara is taken with a calm mind," former judge of Rajasthan High Court Pana Chand Jain said.
Some scholars said that in the Jain community, the rites of passage of birth and death were like a dharmic mahotsav (religious festival).
They said the ritual of fast unto death was often misunderstood by many sections of the society and santhara was only embraced by "terminally ill" patients.
They said the practice should not be compared with sati as it was not like a woman sitting in the funeral pyre of her husband but of patients who had been given up by doctors.
Four case of santhara, including of three women, have been reported in the state in a month with two of them dying in the past one week.
The issue is pending in the Rajasthan High Court with a petition demanding that the practice, which is similar to suicide and sati, should be stopped.
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