title: Jainism - Its relevance to psychiatric practice; with special reference to the practice ofSallekhana.
abstract: Jainism is one of the oldest religions of India. Since the founding of the religion, Jainism has given prominence toSallekhana, death by ritual fasting facing north, as exemplified in the deaths of Bhadrabahu and Chandragupta Maurya. The controversy whether this religious form of starvation is related to suicide is debated since the time of the early Jain teachers. History is replete with instances where kings and warriors who have failed in their duty punish themselves for their sin and welcome death as expiation. Such starvation deaths are referred to asvadakirutthal(literally, facing north) and become quite prevalent during the Sangam age, probably copied from the Jain culture. The present-day thinking onSallekhananeeds to be considered here in more detail which should be brought to the knowledge of current-day psychiatrists. These ideas are relevant to psychiatric counseling of the ordinary people and would be very useful if included in the armamentarium of the mental health professionals.
authors.affiliation: Former Superintendent and Professor of Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Mental Health, Madras Medical College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Ottilingam
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Somasundaram
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences, Puducherry, India.
authors.forename: A G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Tejus Murthy
authors.affiliation: Research Assistant, Schizophrenia Research Foundation, R/7A, North Main Road, Anna Nagar West Extension, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: D Vijaya
authors.initials: DV
authors.lastname: Raghavan
keywords: Jainism; Sallekhana; Santhara; Tamil history; psychiatry