Suicide

An act whose permissibility and consequences have elicited varying opinions
over time. In medieval times commentators distinguished between several
types of suicide, depending on the circumstances surrounding the act. Any
suicide prompted by an overpowering
emotional impulse such as rage or grief
was always strictly forbidden, and those
who did this were said to reap dire
karmic consequences. Another case
entirely was suicide performed as an
expiation (prayashchitta) for one’s sins,
which was often prescribed to expiate
one of the Four Great Crimes. A third
type was suicide by people suffering
from a terminal disease, or who were in
chronic pain. This sort of suicide was
performed according to a well-defined
ritual, intended to put the performer in
the proper frame of mind. This third
category was one of the rites designated
as “forbidden in the Kali [Age]”
(Kalivarjya), although it had been permitted in earlier times. The most
fascinating sort of suicide was at pilgrimage places (tirtha), particularly at
Allahabad. This was also done according to a very specific ritual, and part of
the ritual required the performer to
name the benefit for which the rite was
being performed—in some cases liberation of the soul (moksha), in other cases
life in heaven for many eons. This practice is well documented up to the seventeenth century, although it is no longer
done in contemporary times.