Dhanga

(d. 1003) A monarch in the Chandella
dynasty, most famous for committing
religious suicide by drowning himself
at Allahabad, at the confluence of the
Ganges and Yamuna rivers. The
inscription that records this event
mentions that Dhanga did this at the
end of his life—when he had lived
more than one hundred years—while
meditating on the god Rudra, a form of
Shiva, and further notes that by committing suicide Dhanga gained final
liberation of the soul (moksha). This
description clearly shows that religious
suicide was a highly structured religious act, the object of which was to
help the performer die in a calm and
composed state of mind, ideally with
one’s last thoughts focused on a deity.
A crucial element in this ritual was the
statement of purpose (samkalpa), in
which the performer would state the
benefit desired from his performance.
Dhanga’s statement of purpose is
almost certainly the basis for his assertion that he attained final liberation,
since this claim is not verifiable in any
other way.