In the Ramayana, we hear of how Sita enters the earth. We hear of how Ram enters water and never rises again. Does this mean they ended their lives on earth by burying or drowning themselves? In the Mahabharata, we learn of the Pandavas retiring and then walking up a mountain in their old age hoping to find the entry to Indra’s paradise, Swarga? Does it mean they voluntarily jumped from atop mountains, a practice known in a few Viking communities? In the 13th century, we hear of Dnyaneshwar voluntarily giving up his mortal body. People have argued whether this samadhi was ritual suicide or a yogic practice that enabled evolved souls to give up their life voluntarily, forcing the breath out of the flesh. 

In many cultures around the world, it was acceptable for people to voluntarily end their life. In Japanese and Greco-Roman societies, proud aristocrats would choose death over dishonour. Death by poison was considered inferior to death by cutting or stabbing oneself to death. 

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But, the idea of suicide was looked down upon in the Christian world. People who died by suicide were not given a Christian burial. It was believed that those who died by suicide would not find a place in God’s Heaven. They would forever suffer in purgatory and never get a place in God’s heaven. They could even turn into ghosts or goblins.

This Christian view that frowns upon suicide spread around the world during the colonial era. It is what is enshrined in the legal frameworks in most countries around the world. In India’s past, there were men who voluntarily cut their heads and offered it to gods. There were women who voluntarily leapt into the funeral pyre of their dead husbands. The idea of voluntarily terminating one’s life, like Chanakya and Chandragupta, remains a controversial topic. It was not so in ancient times. 

The author writes and lectures on the relevance of mythology in modern times. Reach him at devdutt.pattanaik@mid-day.com