05.04.2023Is Sallekhanā a form of Suicide? A Critical Examination of the Legality and Ethicality of the Jain Fast to Death

Lecturer

Prof. Dr. Claire Maes (University of Tübingen)

Date and Time

April 05, 2023, 2 - 3:30 pm

Venue

University of Zurich, Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies, Room RAA E 21, Rämistrasse 59, 8001 Zürich

Content

Jains have a wide constellation of different types and lengths of fasts. Within this constellation, sallekhanā, or the soteriological practice of fasting to death, is the summum bonum. While the rite went uncontested for over two millennia, in recent years it became a matter of the courts. The Rajasthan High Court criminalized the practice as illegal on 10 August 2015. Soon after the Supreme Court of India stayed the ban on sallekhanā. While the final ruling is still pending, the Rajasthan Court case brought to the foreground pertinent questions around fasting and the ethics of dying.
Is, for instance, sallekhanā a form of suicide? Or also, does the support of a sallekhanā-aspirant constitute assisted suicide? In this lecture, I seek to discuss these legal and ethical questions by bringing the case of sallekhanā in conversation with the end-of-life option, known as the “Voluntarily Stopping Eating and Drinking” (VSED), a legitimate and widely available option to hasten death in various countries, including Austria.

Organisation

Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies - Indian Studies