A Philosophy of Suicide

A
Philosophy of
Suicide
D.R. Jatava
M.A. (Phil., Pol. Sc.), LL.B., Ph.D., D. Liti.
I
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Contents
Preface
/
Introduction 1
1. Terrible Tales of Suicide 9
2. Apparent Reasons for Suicide 92
3. Theories of Suicide 114
4. Mysteries of Suicide 127
5. Roles of Psyche in Suicide 142
6. Resolving Approach to Suicide 152
7. Underlying Principle of Suicide 168
8. How Do People Look at Suicide? 184
The Epilogue 221
Preface
Right from ancient to modern times, the events of suicide
have been a distressing phenomenon among all the human
societies, in one way or the other. It is a human tendency
either to live well, or to die, as the numerous events of
suicide suggest and unfold the mysterious stories to go either
way. The increasing upward graph of suicides is a gruesome
problem to be thoroughly probed in its depth and width with
all compassion and pity to those who have been the victims
of suicide. A suicide is not a simple wish to die, but a very
complicated issue to deal with, especially for a student of
philosophy like me who has not even a faint idea to move in
this field.
What has prompted me to write on such a sensitive
subject? I do not know, exactly. So far, I have written dozens
of books on certain popular subjects - religion, politics,
philosophy, society, culture, democracy, humanism,
ambedkar ideology, buddhism, human resources, and so on.
Preface vii
It is a psychological problem to the psychologists like
Sigmund Freud; a sociological issue to the sociologists like
Emile Durkheim, and also a philosophical one to the
philosopher like Albert Camus, about which I am well aware.
However, it has come to me directly due to profusely
reportings of suicide incidents by print-media, audio-visual
and other means. As I think, it is not even my own conscience
that has motivated me to write on "a philosophy of suicide",
a subject which has never been dealt with in my other works.
It is a mystery to me; however, both interesting and intricate,
and I intend to explain and unfold many of its aspects for the
concerned people.
Here it may be noted that the incidents of suicide occur
not only among the poor, illiterate, diseased, frustrated,
depressed, unsuccessful, etc., but also among the rich,
literate, healthy, well-placed, care-free, cheerful, successful,
etc. So alsd.not only the females, but also the males commit
suicide. In a similar way, not only the small or ordinary ones,
but also the greatest figures of human history do so. The
mystery of suicide is so dominant a factor, or an event, that
does not leave anyone, either a group or a class, to be out of
this vicious circle. When I read, see, or listen to, the
happenings of suicide, I am extremely appalled and
uprooted from within, but I simply tolerate them with all of
my silence, patience and sympathy.
Frankly speaking, I cannot specify why, how and what
has prompted me to deal with such a mysterious and
miraculous phenomenon widely found these days among the
human societies of the world. However, I am sure, as the
terrible tales of suicide go in black and white, many untold
facts, or ideas, would come out to the forefront for the
viii A Philosophy of Suicide
readers and the scholars. To me also, certain hidden aspects
would be explicit and enlightening. It may look an exercise,
or a venture, in wilderness. Yet I am definite, this would not
disappoint those who read and study the phenomenon of
suicide. I am, therefore, full of optimism to present this
volume to the learned ones who come forward to ponder
over the baffling subject, seriously. Now I heartily thank the
publisher who undertook this work for publication; however,
with a tinge of risky mood in terms of a commercial venture.
- D.R. Jatava
Introduction
The problem of suicide is the most ticklish and tedious one to
deal with. In fact, it is a very terrible theme, a difficult task to
unfold its mystery. It is also a multi-dimensional subject to
define in exact terms. Whether it is a psychological, or a
sociological, problem, I cannot comprehend at his stage; but
to begin with, I take it as a philosophical venture. The
philosophy is a search for knowledge and understanding of
any problem, root and branch. Taken in this sense, this study
would find out the nature, meaning and reasons of any
occurrence, so also the incidents of suicide, which is closely
related to the acts of human life. A philosophy is an attitude
towards life, that is, the "guiding principle" for human
behaviour, and the suicide is also a way of behaving or an
act, in a particular situation, leading one towards the ending
of one's own life. Along with outer forces, it is the
subjectivity of an individual, which is involved in the glaring
instances of suicide.
2 A Philosophy of Suicide
The philosophical attitude to life and the numerous
incidents of self-killing, I have read and listened to, are the
factors responsible for involving me to deal with the most
painful happenings of suicide. There is a long list of thinkers
and philosophers who started with and supported the most
gloomy picture of man in this world. Here we may quote a
few examples for our study and analysis. Not only the
philosophies of optimism and positive thinking, but also the
philosophies of pessimism and negative attitudes, have been
dominant to influence the human minds.
Arther Schopenhauer (1788-1860), a German
philosopher, was a serious exponent of extreme pessimism,
and so he said, "the will to be, the will to live, is the cause of
all struggle, sorrow and evil in the world". For him, human
beings live in a world in which the little fish are devoured by
the larger ones. It is not a good world, but an evil one in the
worst of all possible worlds; "the life of man is not worth
living because it is full of misery; it follows from the very
nature of the human will that man's life is one of pain and
misery". In fact, man is to face the terrible waves only to be
engulfed at last, for ultimately death conquers man. Man is
basically base, jealous and selfish, and that is why, "the
history is full of murders, robberies, intrigues and lies".
Another German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-
1900), also stood for the gloomy picture of human world. He
was partially a naturalist and irrationalist, too; and he
propounded the philosophy of supermen, who alone are the
fittest ones to survive and rule over the weak. For Nietzsche,
the "will to power" is the basic urge of man, and in order to
win and dominate the poor and the lowly, is the birth-right
of the supermen. Morality is what supermen prescribe to be
Introduction 3
followed by the generality of the people. In his opinion, the
objective world is an appearance, a false world; only the
strongest ego is the real subjectivity, or an individuality,
which represents the real world, or the human society.
Schopenhauer and Nietzsche are still well known for
their extreme pessimism, but they influenced the emergence
of the philosophy of existentialism based on man's
subjectivity, individuality and atheism. The philosophy of
existentialism believes that though man is free, yet he is
condemned and thrown in this world to live without any
aims and meanings. That is why man is what he makes of
himself. This way Schopenhauer and Nietzsche were the
precursors of the movement of existentialism in the realm of
philosophy, which found the human world as an 'absurdity'
full of "absurd situations grounded in jealousy, fear and
anxieties". The basic ideas of existentialism are relevant to
our study, and that is why, we have taken up its prominent
thinkers whose thoughts may be found interestingly
supporting the theory of suicide.
The philosophy of existentialism clearly came out to
stress that man is condemned to live and die by his own
choice. It was Martin Heidegger (1899-1976), one of the
founders and main exponents of German existentialism, who
called man simply as "being in the world", and to divine
"the meaning of being" man must get rid of all practical aims
and be conscious of his 'mortality', 'frailty'. Only by feeling
that he constantly stands" face to face with death" is man.
As Heidegger thought, man is capable of perceiving the
importance and fullness of each moment in life and getting
rid of the 'idols of social being', 'aims', 'ideals' and 'scientific
abstraction'. The philosophy of Heidegger combines the
irrationalist tendencies of Soren Kierkeggard (1813-1855), a
Danish mystic thinker and precursor of existentialism, the
philosophy of life and the phenoinenology of Edmund
Husser! (1859-1938), a German idealist philosopher.
Profound pessimism and hostility for science are intrinsic in
Heidegger's existentialism.
A French philosopher was Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980),
who supported the gloomy picture of man as 'being for
himself'. The subjectivity of man is the pivotal element in
individual life; the objective world exists, which is, however
the opposite of human activity. Man is free and does not
depend on objective laws; the objective is irrational; whereas
the emotional elements are predominant in man's life. Sartre,
a humanist, was an exponent of 'atheistic existentialism'. He
advocated an idealist concept of freedom; its essence is
expressed in the principle; "Man is what he makes of
himself".
Another French philosopher and writer, and
representative of 'atheistic existentialism', was Albert Camus
(1913-1960), who said that "the outside world, the universe,
is the state of the subject", and for him, "the only
philosophical problem" is "the problem of suicide". He was
extremely a pessimistic philosopher who thought, "man is
always in an absurd state", he encounters 'absurd situation'
(jealousy, ambition, selfishness); and is doomed for
meaningless and aimless activity; constantly facing the fear
of death. Camus was a thinker who supported extreme
individualism and and he suggested that the
only solution of man's anxieties, fears and ambitions, is to
commit suicide. This way the fundamental concept of
existentialism culminated in irrationalism, pessimism and a
Introduction
5
philosophy of suicide.
In its generality, a suicide is deemed to be an action of
"killing oneself intentionally". It may also be added to it, that
certain forces, human or natural, become so dominant that an
individual cannot bear and tolerate, what Camus called, 'the
absurd situation' for long, which emerges reversely to one's
expectations, and thus is driven to take an extreme step like.
committing suicide. Though an individual is free, he has
many alternatives to choose, but anyhow, he goes the way to
suicide. The suicidal tendencies are inherent in human
nature, and when a situation, within or without, so ripened
that he suddenly jumps into the well of suicide for ending his
life, leaving behind the weeping wife and crying children, if
married; otherwise, the aged parents and the close relatives
to suffer most.
Most of the people think that the increasing events of
suicide these days happen due to economic hardship,
unemployment, family tension, heavy debt, police coercion,
financial loss, failure in examination, indignity, insufficient
dowry, breaking of love, torture, mental agony, unsuccessful
career, and so on. All these things may be the supporting
factors, but to me, there is some deeper cause, or
phenomenon, behind all the acts of suicide, which the
sociologists and psychologists have to investigate, seriously
and deeply.
What happens in the event of suicide, is a deadly state of
extreme self-torture, very painful moments of life, facing
mental agony, misery, crying, weeping, and so on. An
ordinary, or normal, individual, may be bewildered and
shuddered from bottom to top. In my opinion, an incident of
suicide is not merely an action one thinks about. It is not a
firm decision even, nor a well-thought step. A person, who
ponders over its consequences, merits and demerits, can
never commit suicide, he withdraws himself, if he looks into
what results it may yield to his kith and kin. The suicide is
not a planned action, for it happens suddenly and instantly
irrespective of what may be the consequences afterwards.
The person, who commits suicide, may adopt any method, or
a path, immediately available to him such as consuming
celphos tablets, dousing kerosene over oneself, lying on the
railway tract, shooting by rifle or pistol, throwing oneself
into a well or a river, taking poison, hanging on a tree or a
fan, etc. The ways of suicide are manifold and reasons, too,
are varied for each and every incident of suicide. In brief, the
bizarre and bitter scenes of suicide are so ghastly that one
may be afraid of looking at them bewiderly.
It may be suggested here that a person, who commits
suicide, develops a philosophy of life "realizing the
worthlessness of his existence" and at last, he chooses to
finish himself. He questions himself-"Who is 'I' in this
world? Is it of any value?" He himself rediscovers the frailty
of his being: its anxieties and burdensome responsibilities.
For him, nothing is good and worthy to achieve. In the
process of suicide, there is a lot of self-realization but no self-
pity and self-condemnation. To most of the people, the world
is full of misery, jealousy, enmity and envy; feeling so, the
individual, jumps in the grip of darkened world; he begins to
crack from within, and also begins to lose the battle of his own
desperation and depression. It is the situation of mysterious
vision. Whether it is a negative or a positive attitude to life, or
something else is a thing to be brought into the realm of
philosophy, though it is a very difficult venture.
Introduction 7
To discover and analyze the philosophy of suicide, first I
would quote, or mention, the numerous instances of it
available to me through different sources. I would not
enumerate the real names of the victims and their families as
it would be embarrassing to those who are involved in the
events of suicide. I would put forth certain apparent reasons,
and then, search out the common thread, or the phenomenon
working behind and beneath all the incidents of suicide.
The analysis, that I am devoted to, would not be mere
descriptive; it would dive deep into the sea of suicide as to
why it happens, what impels one to choose that way, and
how the events of suicide can be prevented or minimized. I
would endeavour to the best of my knowledge to find out the
basic force, mystery or the instinct, that is beneath or that
works, behind commonly in all the events of suicide. I do not
know, whether one would agree, or disagree, with the
conclusions, I would be drawing and emphasizing in the end
of this study. However, this much is sure, the reading of the
book would be enlightening to some, and pathetic one to
many others. My effort, to say in brief, would be to
concentrate and study the rubbles of the deceased ones to
whom I offer my humble and silent homage lest they should
be unhappy over my unfolding of their horrible tales.
Here I wish to convey my firm opinion or view that a
human being is not a mathematical figure' to be exactly
measured by any standard, even not a mechanical device, toy
or clock, to be handled like a machine. A human being, as it
seems to me, is not merely a physical figure but also a being
in whom mental states, feelings, emotions, instincts, ideas,
imaginations, dreams, fantasies, etc., are invariably
associated with him. A man's sensitivity, anger, envy,
jealousy, greed, conflict, consciousness, subconsciousness,
egoism, altruism, fear, hatred, love, etc., also count much to
measure his ability or capabilities. What I mean, is that to
know a human being in all his aspects - internal and
external, still remains a mystery to all those who endeavour
to picturize him completely; and thus a perfect study and
analysis of man is not possible. This has to be kept in mind
while discovering any philosophical aspect of human beings.
Now to raise a question that seems to me, relevant-
"Can there be any undercurrent inherently working behind
all the incidents of suicide?" Yes, there is a reasonable
possibility and that is what. I have to investigate or to infer
from the facts related to the terrible tales of suicide of
different shades and shadows to frighten anyone; if one goes
to discover grass roots of these horrible happenings. Before
going ahead to write more, I earnestly wish the audience or
the readers to pardon me for many repetitions of facts or of
ideas, I have made, though it is just to make the subject very
clear and more explicit .. What I have written, is not to
lengthen the main theme of the book but as a result of my
good faith without any remorse on my part and also without
creating any boredom to others.
Terrible Tales of Suicide
First of all, to understand and investigate the ticklish
problem of suicide, it is necessary to narrate the horrible tales
of self-killing, I have collected from various sources. This
chapter is exclusively devoted to describe as many tales as
possible of different shades, and this simple description
includes the examples of poor, rich, writers, teachers,
labourers, students, officials, leaders, saints, artists, farmers,
womenfolk, industrialists, militants, etc., in order to
emphasize the point that the events of suicide occur not only
in a particular segment of society, but in all the sections of
human societies. The occurrence of suicide cases is a common
world-wide phenomenon which exempts no one belonging
to any religious communities, castes or races. The suicide
may generally be individual; in some cases, couplery, or
collective one in what way one takes the suicidal scenes; to
me, these incidents can increase heart-beatings and make one
heart-breaking, what to say of those who suffer most due to
being the relatives and friends of the victims.
1
To begin with, I greatly regret to mention now four ghastly
events of suicide, which took place long back around 1970-75
in Sri Ganganagar city of Rajasthan State. I personally know
them as the events occurred in the families of those who were
well known to me. Two students, one vice-principal and a
doctor were the victims of suicide. I was, then, working as a
lecturer in the government college. Unfortunately, these two
students belonged to my colleagues of the college teaching
staff.
The first event of suicide occurred in the family of D.P.
Gupta, a professor, who was the Head of Economics
Department in the government college. He was simple and
sober, but was a heavy drunkard, extremely an addict; and
he used to drink liquor anywhere in family, city, college, or
on road, chewing pan just to avoid bad smell. The professor,
a Vaishya by caste, always kept half a bottle of liquor and
whenever he needed, he drank it. Strangely, when short of
money, he asked anyone of his students to lend some money
to him, which he never returned, and this made the students
very caucious to avoid him, if seen anywhere. However, he
was the best teacher of his subject, and the students were
happy at least on this point.
One of the sons of the professor, namely, Mahesh Gupta,
was also a student in our college, who was intelligent,
handsome and sensitive. He knew about his father's
addiction, and felt it too much. He asked his mother to stop
the father, but she could not to do so. The fellow-students, at
times, used to complain in sarcastic language that pinched
and struck the heart of Mahesh. After being frustrated and
depressed, the boy dared say, "Dad, excuse me to speak a
Terrible Tales of Suicide 11
few words; it does not behoove to you to be addicted and ask
your students to lend some money for buying liquor; and it
also makes me ashamed of it; I request you to stop such
things".
Professor Gupta did not give any heed to his son's
words and grew furious saying, "You fool! You teach me
what I should do. You do your study and leave me to do
what I feel good to me". The boy, Mahesh, was very
sensitive, and the same night, he hanged to kill himself by
tying a rope around the neck and attaching the end of it to
the ceiling fan before removing the support underneath. This
way he committed suicide. The father and his family
members had no inkling of such an extreme step by their son.
The next morning turned into a state of sorrow and suffering
and when I heard of it, I rushed to their residence, along with
some college colleagues. It was a very ghastly scene, but to
our surprise, the father - professor realized the folly of his
being a drunkard and gave up the 'addiction' after his son's
suicide, or say, the sacrifice for a good cause.
2
After a year or so, the second student of our college,
Surendra Mohan, who committed suicide, was the son of the
Head of Political Science Department of the government
college. This suicide had a different story or background. The
father of Surendra, namely, Prem Singh, was also a
drunkard, but was fond of going to early morning walk. His
son used to study till late at night and rise late in the
morning, and that annoyed the professor. One day evening,
he said, "You, the lazy boy! Note it, if I find you sleeping
today after I return from walk, I will beat you". The boy,
simple by nature, did not give any heed to his father's
warning, but took the same step the earlier boy had
undertaken. He committed suicide the same way, and thus,
finished himself to be in eternal sleep.
The professor, a Jat by caste, after his morning walk,
found his son's room closed, which made him angry. He
soon knocked at the door, and finding no response, peeped
into the room through the wide gap of wooden doors. To his
horrible surprise, the professor found his handsome son
hanging to the ceiling fan. H ~ "'las non-plussed and cried
loudly for his son's death. We all went there and witnessed
the painful scene, weeping and crying by his mother and two
sisters.
3
The third incident of suicide is related to Karni Prasad, the
professor and Head of the Commerce Department of a big
reputed private S.D. College of Ganganagar city. He was also
the vice-principal of that college, a very simple and popular
teacher, he always acted in favour of students. Why did he
commit suicide? He was suffering from stomach pain for the
treatment of which he consumed a lot medicine, both
Allopathic and Ayurvedic, but except a temporary relief, he
was not cured permanently, and this made him nervous and
neurotic. Ultimately, the vice-principal went to the Medical
College Hospital of Bikaner, a district of Rajasthan, on the
advice of the medical doctors. After a thorough check-up and
numerous tests, the doctors found him suffering from
'abdominal cancer'. This turned the vice-principal into an
acute state of depression. The idea of fatal disease gripped
his mind, and he felt, the chances of his survival for long
were bleak. What, then, he did, was to end his life, but the
way of his suicide was quite an amazing one as I saw it there.
One day the vice-principal's wife had gone to market
and the children were in some school or college. He was all
alone in the house. He hurriedly collected wooden chairs,
tables and other similar articles, along with a small tin of
kerosene. He laid down on a wooden cot and tightly tied
himself with long ropes to the cot; he, then, kept all the
articles over the same cot. Soon he doused kerosene over
himself and the wooden articles as well, and he himself
ignited a match stick to commit suicide. The room was filled
up with heavy smoke flying outside through windows.
When his wife carne, she was terribly shaken and cried
loudly for help. The neighbours rushed to the place; they
found the professor half burnt but dead. The news spread
like a wildfire in the city. I, along with others, reached there
and saw what had happened. It was a cruel way of suicide.
The fear of cancer made the professor badly conscious of his
death. That is why he chose to die at the earliest to avoid the
approaching death slowly but surely. No one could help him,
neither the doctors nor the gods, he believed in and
worshipped them daily. What a tragedy! One could hardly
imagine of it.
4
The forth incident of suicide, I remember well, is related to a
medical doctor, Jitendra Kumar, who was working in District
Government Hospital, Ganganagar, and he was well known
to me as I always used to meet him for treatment of myself
and the family members. Hi& wife, Sarika, was also a medical
doctor in the same hospital. Both were very kind to us; they
were really devoted to their professional work, and I was for
all of praise to both of them. The husband and the wife
doctors, however, had at times some minor altercations, and
even so on trivial matters because of their conflicting egos as
each one wanted to dominate other. Once they went to
Bikaner for attending the marriage ceremony of the sister of
Dr. Sarika, and the tragedy of suicide occurred there.
As I knew, Dr. Jitendra wanted Sarika to accompany
him to see a film just to be in good mood, a day earlier to the
marriage. The wife bluntly refused to go with him on the
pretext that she was busy in managing the marriage
activities. The husband did not relish the unpardonable
refusal and the remarks of unpalatable nature. The refusal
made quite a dent in his ego. The same night, he hanged
himself tying the long cloth(i.e., wife's sari) with ceiling fan,
and thus, he ended his life. Consequently, the entire happy
situation turned into a gloomy and gruesome scene. To say in
brief, it was an apparent 'clash of egoism' on their past.
Resulting in an unthinkable incident. What was the real
cause of suicide, it remains a mystery to me to this day.
Anyhow, the immediate cause was 'an altercation' or
'disagreement' between the two, intermittently.
5
Now I come to narrate some incidents of suicide that took
place in Jaipur city and its neighbouring towns during the
last half of the decade. I collected the details of these cases
through the reportings of newspapers. Like the earlier
events, I have mentioned, these were also ghastly and heart-
breaking ones. Could these suicides be prevented? To me, it
seems very difficult. The tales may be cited as follows:
The first to narrate, was the suicide by a labourer, Panna
Lal, who had an illegal relationship with a neighbouring
colony's married woman, known as Lakshmi. Panna Lal was
a resident of Jhotwara area of Jaipur city. He had two or three
children, and the woman, a paramour one, often used to visit
him, and his wife knew it but was helpless to stop her
husband from such an immoral act. For a day or two, that
person's wife and the children had gone to one of their
relations. The man was staying in his house alone, and when
his paramour came to him in the evening he asked her to stay
for a might for enjoying themselves. But the woman did not
agree with his proposal, and she wished to go. Then, the man
remarked; "If you do not stay, my dear, I will commit
suicide". "You can do it", Lakshmi retorted in jovial mood.
Panna Lal repeated his words again, "I will commit suicide,
if you do not agree with me". "What a nonsense. I will go to
my home", replied the woman. When the man repeated his
words thrice, she started going outside the room, but before
her going, the man brought a rope and tied it to one ceiling
iron hook, and made a hanging knot and showed her to use
it, if she left him. Without realizing his intention, she was
adamant not to stay, what happened, then? He hanged
himself and died instantly before she could leave the room.
The woman was badly frightened to see it all and fled away
from the deadly scene.
One can draw any conclusion from this incident of
suicide. I cannot say, exactly, about the inherent cause of it.
But the apparent reason was an I adamant refusal' to say on
the part of the woman and man's I stubborn attitude' to force
her agree with him. The next day, the neighbours, after
seeing the deceased one, informed the police, which arrested
the woman, but later on, she was freed as the police thought,
the woman could not lift the person so high as to hang him.
In fact, the illegal relationship was an unwanted act, and the
subsequent tragical happening turned to be a curse to his
humble wife, Sumitra and the innocent children, to face
numerous hardships in future.
6
The second case of suicide happened in my own Meena
colony three years back in the family of a young boy, Kesar
Kumar, who belonged to my birth-place, Hathras city (now a
district of Uttar Pradesh). The boy, when he was studying in
Agra College, lived in a locality where a girl, Salini fell in
love with him, and later on, after his passing M.A. (English),
final examination, he got a clerical job in a bank and also
married Salini, without the consent of his parents, so did the
girl, Salini. Kesar Kumar was posted in Jaipur and he had a
rented room next to my residence in Meena colony. Both the
husband and the wife, Jatava by caste, were living here
happily, they were smart and charming, well known to me.
Salini was a good designer, a graduate one, but she could not
adjust with the parents of the boy, especially with her saas
(i.e. mother-in-law), and that led her to commit suicide.
One day the mother and sister of Kesar Kumar came to
Jaipur to see him. After a day or so, there was a heated
altercation between the saas and her bahu on the point that
due to her love-marriage with his son, the relatives and the
residents used to criticize the saas and her family. The saas
chided his son and used invectives against her so-called bahu.
This annoyed the bahu to such an extent that the bahu lost her
mental balance. However, she kept mum without
complaining to anyone. She went somewhere in the evening.
She did not return back for many hours. For anybody's
surprise, while going along the side road near railway tract,
when she saw a train coming from Gandhi Nagar station, she
suddenly jumped before the engine near Tonk Phatak. As a
result, her body turned into small pieces of flesh and bones,
hardly to be identified. There was a long line of bloody spots
along the tract. Her husband felt nervous when she did not
return and went to the known families to find whether she
might be there. Anyhow, he saw a small crowd near the Tonk
Phatak, and to his sensational surprise, he identified her
wife's clothes to be sure that she had committed suicide, but
he did not stay there even for some minutes, and after
hurriedly coming back to his rented room, he disclosed to his
mother the grim incident of his wife's suicide. He then asked
his mother to go to Hathras at the earliest. The mother and
her daughter, badly frightened and shuddered squarely, left
Jaipur the same night to evade any arrest.
Afterwards, Kesar Kumar went to a person of our
locality, known as Preetam, who acted as a middleman in
such cases between the police and the concerned parties.
Both of them reached the railway police station to claim the
body of the dead lady, but her body was so mutilated and
shattered that they collected only the pieces of her body, and
then, we arranged her funeral. There was none to weep for
her. When the parents of the dead lady reached Jaipur, they
filed a case against the husband, but nothing went against
him as he had already offered good amount of money to the
police. After a year, he got married himself to a teacher girl,
Kavita, with the consent of their respective parents, and now,
both are leading a happy married life with a son born to
them.
Surprisingly, there was no repentance on the part of the
lover, and even no regret for his deceased beloved, what to
say of any tears in his eyes. The incident of her suicide made
the so-called lover's parents much cheerful. This incident, as I
think, was a result of hateful behaviour towards the bahu by
the boy's mother and sister. It way clearly a clash between
the saas and the bahu as we find usually in families of
traditional nature. In this case, the saas was illiterate and the
bahu was educated not to tolerate each other, and the son, or
the husband of the lady, was really meek and timid as
,remained neutral to witness the tragedy.
7
Another tragedy of suicide 'happened in the family of a
Director-General (Police) of Rajasthan State, Jagat Singh, in
the month of June, 2001. The victim was the well-spoken and
handsome married son, Rohit Singh, of D-G (P). When I read
the news, I was stunned for a while as there was no economic
hardship. Rohit lived in his father's beautiful farmhouse on
the Agra Road. It was lovely and a resort to enjoy, and
actually, one day night there was a dinner party, all enjoying
drinking and laughter among the guests. The wife of the
victim, Lata Singh, was also there, who belonged to a high
class Jat family; so was her husband. As learnt from the
newspapers, there arose a dispute, or an altercation, between
the invited guests and Rohit Singh. His wife, anyhow, did
not favour her husband, and this led him to a deep
melancholy mood.
What happened afterwards? It was really a very terrible
tale to unfold to the surprise of many among the people of all
shades. At about midnight the son of the D-G (P) rushed in a
jeep to his father's official residence. He wanted to say
something to him about the dispute, but he was not allowed
to meet him by the security police as he was sleeping. The
son, then, went into an empty room behind the bungalow in
which some weapons were kept. In a fit of I anger and agony',
he picked up a rifle and shot dead himself so cruelly that his
head was badly shattered into small pieces of flesh and
bones, a gruesome scene of blood thrown around the whole
of the room inside. After a little while, the D-G (P) and his
family members carne to know the occurrence of suicide. All
of them were stunned and their residence turned into a place
of sorrow, suffering and showers of tears from people's eyes.
Whatever the inside story, an apparent reason of the
suicide, as seems to me, was a I severe shock' to the victim,
which made quite a sharp dent in his heart: "Oh! What is the
use of greatness of my father whom I cannot meet in the hour
of a crisis?", Rohit Singh might have a thought in his mind,
and so realizing the worthlessness of his being, he suddenly
shot dead himself by an official rifle.
8
The religion of Islam has allowed a male to have four wives
at a time. The Ramganj area of Jaipur city has a large number
of Muslim habitants. During the year 1999, a man, namely
Nasir Mohrnmad, a mechanic by profession, had four wives
and many children born to them. Anyhow, he did not have
sufficient earnings to feed all the wives and their children
with usual necessities. Even his house could not
accommodate all of them properly. The first wife, Nagina
Begam, when grew old, was being ignored, and
consequently, she could hardly bear the situation as it was
bedevilling her. Nagina could not help and improve the
situation in her favour. One day, under great 'stress and
depression', she went to the top of the roof of her house and
dared jumping to the ground. This way she ended her life.
The husband, though working hard right from morning to
evening to meet the requirements of his family members, yet
failed to visualize the bad consequences of having a large
family. He, however, took the incident of suicide as a great
crime as it was not in accordance with Islam to end one's life.
9
The cases of suicide by the students, both boys and girls, little
or big ones, may be seen almost in all communities. Some
commit suicides because of total failure in examinations, by
jumping before the running the trains, consuming poison, or
celphos tablets, or by any means, one adopts to end his life.
Some of the students also commit suicides because of poor
marks or divisions, they would have expected in the
examinations. The modes of suicides may vary in each case as
per the situation existing, then. The chiding and criticizing,
condemning and beating, the students by their parents, may
be taken as some apparent reasons for suicides.
I still remember, a case of suicide that happened two
year back, in Alwar city of Rajasthan State, by a girl student,
Sonia. The way she adopte,
1
to finish her life was horrible.
She was a student of B.A. ~ F i n a l ) in government college of
Alwar. She expected a good first division; but she was
shocked when result came to her in third division. Her
parents were teachers, she was the only daughter, and so
they did not say any word that could pinch her. She herself
felt it very much. One day, when her parents were away in
their schools, Sonia took a big polythene bag and covered her
head upto the neck, and then, tightened it with the help of a
thin rope so that she could not breathe in order to die.
Afterwards, she laid down on the bed and felt severe
uneasiness, very painful moments to bear befor her death. At
last, Sonia died, and when her parents came, they looked at
her, started weeping and crying. Soon the neighbours
reached there and they, too, wept for a while. In this case, the
apparent reasons were "her own shocking mood and heart-
breaking feelings".
Even the medical students, boys or girls, when
frustrated and depressed due to failure in examinations or
trying one attempt after another to pass, resort the way to
suicides by consuming overdose of sleeping pills, or celphos
tablets. So also do the engineering students. There have been
more than dozens of suicides during the last decade as I read
in the newspapers. They also adopt horrible means to end
their lives. Some of them leave their studies without
completing the final examinations. Who is responsible for
such tragedies? There may be "coercion, or stem warnings",
on the part of their teacher-doctors; but the victims are solely
responsible for their suicides as they do not have self-
confidence to face the facts as usually come to them.
10
As I have said earlier, not only the unemployed and the poor;
but also the well-placed in services and earning a lot of
money, also commit suicides for one or the other reasons.
Here I would cite two examples of suicide-one by an I.P.S
lady and the second one by an I.A.S. officer. Both these
incidents took place during the year 1999-2000.
A probationary I.P.S. lady, Anjna, very beautiful and
charming one, was posted in Ajmer, a district of Rajasthan
State, during the Urs of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti, when lakhs
of devotees, belonging to all communities and castes, visit
and pray for their material gains and mental peace. The
parents of children also visit and pray before the mazar of
Khwaja for the success in examinations. The I.P.S. lady was
entrusted the duties of maintaining law and order during the
period of Urs. Her husband, Raj Kumar, was also an I.A.S.
officer posted in Udaipur district of Rajasthan. Theirs was an
inter-caste marriage without any obstacle.
What did cause Anjna to commit suicide? It was so
merciless, none could think of it. She was staying in Ajmer
circuit-house, a lovely, an attractive good place over looking
the Anasagar Lake. She was there all alone. Perhaps, the
"pressure of Urs supervision, loneliness and her husband's
posting miles away" from Ajmer, made her 'frustrated and
depressed'. Being a woman, she wanted her husband to talk
to her face to face, and thus, to be loved after her strenuous
duties. She could not bear the loneliness during the night and
days' heavy duties for which the senior officers asked her to
be vigilant and moving from one corner to another lest some
unhappy events should arise. One day she reached circuit-
house late in the evening, much fatigued, Anjna took her
dinner as usual; but in a melancholy mood, she consumed
sixty sleeping tablets of 10 mg each. Could one survive after
taking so many sleeping tablets? Surely, none. Anjna also
adopted the same way the Alwar girl had done, that is,
covering and tightening her head by a polythene bag, and
thus, she committed suicide to the great surprise of her
husband and in-laws and parents as well. To be brief, the real
story of her suicide might have been something else; but the
apparent reasons were her 'loneliness', 'loveless night',
'pressure of supervision', etc. It was really a mystery as to
why she had done so.
11
Kamal Jain, an LA.S. officer, as mentioned earlier, was posted
in Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, and he was quite a
senior and seasoned officer. He was married to a highly
educated girl, Lalita, whose parents belonged to Bhopal, the
capital of Madhya Pradesh. She was from a very rich family,
and usually, during the summer vacations of their grown up
children, they used to visit Bhopal for enjoying the holidays
for a week or so. None could imagine that he was going to
commit suicide. One early morning, Kamal, the LA.S. officer,
went to the top of the four storeyed building of his father-in-
law, and suddenly, he jumped down, badly struck to the
ground to be dead. His jumping down and structness turned
into a thumping sound, loudly, that awakened the in-laws,
his wife and children; while looking at the deadly scene they
started weeping and crying in a darkened state of affairs.
The LA.S. officer left a note on a piece of paper in his
own writing saying, "I am committing suicide at my own
due to the politicians' pressure and warning, if I do not work
for their illegal and unfair benefits of sensitive nature, I do
not want myself to be entangled in such activities. That is
why the best way to avoid these immoral acts, is to end
myself before I suffer more". The reasons apparently were
the politicians' pressure on bureaucracy to indulge in illegal
and immoral acts as we observe in all the states of Indian
polity these days.
12
Kumari Sunita Sharma, was a very beautiful girl having
charming looks with wide eyes, an attractive personality,
sweet daring voice and photogenic face. Belonging to a very
rich family of Patel Nagar, New Delhi, Sunita was a bit
mental case but highly an ambitious girl and she had
pampered an idea of becoming an actress in the film
industry. Sunita was quite in search of an opportunity as
how to reach Mumbai. One day, she determined to leave her
family, and collecting or possessing a good amount of
money, she got a train from Delhi, and thus, she reached
Mumbai Terminal railway station. Surprisingly, Sunita found
herself alone, but was determined to meet some actors or
actresses. How to meet them was a difficult problem to her.
Incidentally, a group of three boys-Ketan, Samir and
Vadhwani, accosted Sunita on the pretext of bringing her to
some prominent cine-artists. She accompanied them, who
brought her to a grand hotel, and stayed there for a night.
These boys were actually the active members of a mafia-
group that was engaged in nefarious activities such as rape,
deceiving new ones, snatching money from strangers or even
they could murder anybody for their purpose. Sunita was
also a mature girl as she had completed her graduate studies.
In the hotel, she booked a separate room for herself just to
avoid any mischief by the boys. They also had a good
amount of money at their disposal. Sunita, after taking
dinner with the boys, went to her room to sleep and bolted it
from inside. The boys, too, went to their room and hatched a
conspiracy to bring Sunita near to a big lake early in the
morning.
What happened, then? The boys and Sunita wake up
early and all of them reached a lake that was surrounded by
big shadowy trees. The boys told her that this is the beautiful
and lovely resort where some great cine-artists used to come
for morning walk. In fact, the lake had no such walkers to
walk to it. For an hour or two, she waited there. She, then,
quickly realized the ensuing something bad against herself.
The boys were determined to rape her. They asked her to
enjoy the company of her good friends; before meeting the
artists. It was a bolt from blue to Sunita who had not
expected such a criminal act. Before the sturdy and stupid
boys could use any force to compel Sunita for being raped,
she grew so furious and ferriferous that she started pelting
small pieces of stone on them to go away. Sunita, to the
surprise of these boys, injured them badly not to touch her,
but the boys warned her that they would be back soon to
revenge. Then, Sunita felt helpless, frustrated and unable to
encounter the boys, again. She suddenly thrown herself in
the deep water of the lake, and thus, committed suicide. Why
had she done so? As I guess, Sunita committed suicide in
order to save her 'honour and virginity' for which any
sensitive woman could scarify her life.
The whole story was flashed in the newspapers, which
Sunita's parents read with all sorrow, anguish and agony.
With their heart-broken, they brought back their warrior-
daughter dead to their home and performed all religious
rites on her funeral. Sunita had left a piece''Pf note hurriedly
written addressing her parents: "I am committing suicide just
to save my 'honour and virginity', I beg your pardon for my
folly, and hope you will excuse me". These words were
actually of great solace to her parents as their daughter had
fought vigorously against the wicked boys.
13
A karorpati of Shivaji Nagar, Mumbai, also became a victim of
suicide during the first quarter of year, 2001. His name was
Rajendra Shahu, aged about eighty-four, yet very active and
expert in the business of shares. He had earned more than
twenty-five crores of rupees during his life time, and was still
unsatisfied with the enormous empirical entities like a
spacious bungalow, cars, servants, and articles of all comfort
and luxuries. He was extremely greedy and wanted immense
wealth to leave for his present family members and future
generations. Shahu was well-placed, a rich man, being an
owner of a big company of shareholdings, namely, Shahu
Shareholding Company (P) Limited.
However Shahu's dream of becoming an arabpati was
badly battered when the share market happened to be
unexpectedly going down. He lost crores of rupees in his
business, and thought, probably he might be a dustman to
remove rubbish from outside houses, shops, streets, etc., in
future. He was very hopeful to regain his lost money but all
in vain. The graph of share market was continuously going
downwards. As a result, Shahu became so desperate, i.e., he
started feeling or showing great despair within and was
ready to do anything without worrying about danger. A
'deep desperation' led him to commit suicide by jumping
down from the top of the roof of his splendid house to the
ground. This way Shahu got rid of all desperation, anxieties
and fears. The suicide was apparently a result of 'greed,
dc .. peration' and despicable situation.
14
Now an example of couplery suicide my be cited as follows:
According to the newspapers' reporting, a resident of
village, Gothrawala of the district of Bundi (Rajasthan State),
Lakshman Jhanwar's daughter, namely, Karuna
(Maheshwari), was married to the son (Guru Pars ad) of
Dwarka Sen Ajmera of Jaipur nearly two years back. The
parents of Karuna had given sufficient dowry according to
their social status; but after the marriage, Karuna's saas
(mother-in-law), sasur (father-in-law) and her jeth (her
husband's ~ l d e r brother), all started speaking in sarcastic
language for not bringing sufficient dowry, and as a result,
Karuna was continuously being tortured by them on one
pretext or the other. She was badly upset, but her husband
was in her favour as she was a gentle, beautiful and faithful
to Guru Parsad.
Both, Guru Parsad and Karuna, wanted to live together
peacefully. However, both of them could not adjust
themselves with saas, sasur and jeth because of hostile
situation in the family and continuous torture and invectives
against Karuna. One day, Guru Parsad and Karuna left their
home to avoid further hostility and torture towards Karuna,
they reached Tonk city, a district town of Rajasthan; they
stayed in a hotel, and while sitting on a bench of bus station
to go somewhere else, they consumed some poisonous
powder. Thus, after a while, they laid down on the ground
and died within a few minutes on 27th June, 2001. This was
clearly a couplery suicide and the apparent reasons were
family "hostility, torture and cruel behaviour" on the part of
their family because of less dowry in view of their high
expectations.
Such grues0me incidents of couplery suicide are not just
the results of some fickle-minded couples. Some eminent and
rich have been the supporting causes to force
couples to commit suicides. Many times a normal person or a
small group of people or even an entire family members get
swept by the conviction that a large amount of dowry
money, can improve their financial position and also increase
their social prestige. This terrifying reality is widely spread
among the educated families. Strangely, this false notion
works as powerful means to push couples for going to the
way of suicide.
15
An unusual incident of a grim suicide preceded by merciless
"
killings or murders of his own family members by the victim
himself, happened in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal
kingdom's royal family in the late evening of 1st June 2001. It
was really a frightening and deadly scene in the dinning hall
of king's place. The dinner was going on well, and all-the
King (Naresh Virendra Vir Vikram Shah), the queen
(Maharani Aishwarya), their married daughter (Rajkumari
Shruti), her husband (Gorakh Rana), their son (Rajkumar
Niranjan) and some other relatives, were enjoying delicious
and varied items of food peacefully. Meanwhile, the King
Prince, Deependra, angrily asked his parents, "When are you
going to get me married as I am thirty-two year old?"
This question changed the entire peaceful dinner party
into a tense situation. The queen, then, suggested: "My son
Deependra, you choose either to be the King Prince or marry
your beloved girl, Devyani; both cannot go together, and this
is our final decision. Only, in case you marry a girl of our
29
choice, you can get both, even that after your being over
thirty-five years of age." In this context, the royal astrologists
had already warned the king and the queen that if the crown-
prince was married, and an issue, boy or a girl, was born to
them before the age of thirty-five year; then, the king would
necessarily die. Believing in such unpalatable warning, the
queen was stunned and determined not to get Deependra
married before the age of thirty-five years.
Extremely enraged, the prince-crown took the queen's
I adamant refusal' seriously; he then, went to an adjacent
room and came back with an automatic rifle and also a pistol.
Soon, he started firing towards those who were present there,
and thus, killed the king, the queen, the sister, the brother-in-
law, the brother and others. Afterward, Deependra killed or
committed suicide himself by the same rifle. He could not
choose anyone of the two alternatives-love or the crown,
and being mad, he mercilessly murdered his
own kith and kins before committing suicide. Whatever the
intentions of the crown-prince, the causes of his suicide were
utter desperation, greed for king's gaddi or enormous wealth,
and inability to choose anyone of the two alternatives.
Without going into the details of the inside story, or whether
Deependra was heavily drunken or had consumed a lot of
opium or cocaine, he clearly and intentionally killed himself,
cruelly or desperately, and thus, got neither her beloved
Devyani and nor the gaddi of Nepal.
16
A case of collective suicide by a twice-born family unfolds a
terrible tale of parents and their daughters. The family
from a remote village, Biharipura, of the district of
Bharatpur, Rajasthan State. Their forefathers were of a
Sannadya Brahmin lineage, who used to work as priests in a
Hindu temple. A boy was born in the family of these priests,
who after doing M.A. (English), became a lecturer in
Rajasthan Education Service. This boy, namely Jagdamba
Parsad Trivedi, was married to a literate daughter of a
Brahmin family. As a lecturer, Jagdamba moved from one
government college to another. To Jagdamba and his wife,
Bhagwati, were born a son, Ravi Kumar, and four
daughters-Sadhna, Rajawati, Shilpa and Gunwanti.
The family of Jagdamba, after his retirement in 1990,
settled in Kota, another district of Rajasthan State. His son,
Ravi, became an engineer, and was married to an Indian
Brahmin girl who was also a lecturer in physics. As a result
of his foreign assignments, Ravi grew a man of western mind
and style that was disliked by his father as well as mother.
Ravi, being a liberal one, found the Brahmanic customs and
rites loathsome, i.e., out-dated in modern society. His elder
sister, Sadhna, was married to an orfhodox Brahmin family
of Pali. Jagdamba and his wife- Bhagwati, were worried to
get their remaining three daughters married to some
orthodox families; but they could not get the likewise boys,
because all the well-educated families demanded huge
amount of dowry in cash and kind, which was difficult to
Jagdamba to give as Ravi did not financially support his
father, for the Jagdamba was also indifferent to his son.
Meanwhile, Jagdamba met an accident and was badly
injured. He had already crossed the age of seventy years. As
a result of accident, J agdamba could not move easily in
search of suitable boys of his choice. His daughters, beautiful
and intelligent ones, did not turn to be modern like their
brother. All the three sisters, along with their parents,
31
remained orthodox, believing in the "holy psyche Brahmanic
lineage". The course of events - Ravi' s disliking of
Brahmanic rites, Jagdamba's accident, his inability to find
suitable Brahmin boys, growing age of all three sisters, still
living in a rented house, demand of huge dowry, Ravi's
indifferent a ~ t u d e to his parents-so squarely turned that
shakened the roots of family's faith and feelings. The
'fundamentalist psyche' of the family could not cope with the
unexpected events or hardships. Such an adverse situation
Jagdamba, 'Bhagwati, and their daughters tremendously
depressed. None of their relatives and friends came to their
rescue; rather, they started criticizing their stubbornness,
orthodoxy, conservatism, Brahmanic psyche, customs of
gotras, strict adherence to worshipping gods, etc., and this
made a dent in their Brahmanic ego or psyche.
I knew this family weLl, and when I read in newspapers
in May, 2001, that the entire family, except Ravi and his
lecturer wife, who was with him during summer vacations in
some foreign country, had collectively committed suicide by
consuming celphos tablets, I was squarely stunned.
Whatever the apparent reasons the family preferred to die
rather than compromising with the modern trends of life,
style. Ravi, at times, wanted his sisters to be a bit modern
and open-minded to overcome certain obstacles in the way of
their marriage; but each time, he was scorned by the parents
and sisters as well. What could have been done to save his
family? He felt helpless, and so many others were also with
him to share the painful mOlllents of such a tragedy.
17
Another case of collective suicide came to my knowledge
through newspapers, which took place in a village (Phulpur)
of Sanganer tehsil of Jaipur district. The family had husband
and wife, two sons and a daughter, whose names
respectively, were Ram Singh, a Gurjar by caste; his wife,
Shanta Devi, and their children, Ramesh, Dhiru, and
Shyamli, quite innocent and lovely, to play with. Ram Singh,
as the related facts revealed, was distressed, because his old
father did not distribute the agriculture land among his four
sons, including Ram Singh and other property was also kept
intact. Ram Singh wanted that he would be able to meet both
ends of his family after having a separate piece of land. Every
time he requested his father to do so, each time, the father
scorned him, and this way Ram Singh felt frustrated. It was a
brief background of his being depressed and sorrowful.
In June, 2001, one day morning, Ram Singh asked his
wife and the kids to accompany him to meet someone in
nearby locality; but Shanta Devi refused to go with him,
because of here being a pregnant lady. However, the kids
accompanied their father, who first led them to a hotel
situated along the railway tract; then, he bought some sweets
that he distributed among them. It was suffice to the children
to be happy and gay. Ram Singh also took a cup of tea.
Afterwards, he brought them to play in between the two
railway tracts. For a while, Ram Singh, too, set down to see
his kids playing with small piece of stones. He had actually
gone there to die along with the children as he had
something very strange in his mind. After a few minutes, a
fast running train was coming from Sawai Madhopur to
Jaipur. Despite driver's continuously whistling loudly in
order that the person and the kids leave the tract; but they
remained there to be killed. Unfortunately, the train crushed
them and the pieces of their flesh and bones were thrown
hither and thither to -make the scene ghastly frightening to
the onlookers. The family feud over the property distribution
turned into such a grim suicide.
To the surprise of all sensitive human beings, when Ram
Singh's wife listened to it, she soon became unconscious,
which ultimately, led to her demise, and thus, the entire
family was finished at the hands of fate. The people of the
village thought of it as an unprecedented act, because no one
had done so in their village to this day over such a tragical
incident by Ram Singh, the parents and brothers, too,
lamented very much and wept miserably as they could not
foresee such a frightening happening.
18
A more gruesome incident of suicide by a whole of the
family happened on 15th June, 2001, in the town, ;r<otputli, on
the Jaipur-Delhi highway. Krishna Ram, his wife, Parvati,
their three children, including a daughter of three years of
age, were living happily in their small house. They were
Dalits, also educated ones. A nearby neighbour family was
jealous of Krishna as he was going well having some
reputation among the Dalits. Once his neighbour's grown up
daughter, Hema, eloped with a boy by name, Rupa, whom
Krishna knew well. They wanted to get married somewhere
else.
Hema's father, then, went to the police station, and
while reporting the case, he quite knowingly, blamed that it
was due to the connivance of Krishna Ram that Rupa had
done such a crime. He also bribed the police to teach a lesson
to Krishna's family. What happened, then? The police started
working in its own way rudely, and went to Krishna's house
in order to make an inquiry, but he pleaded that he had
nothing to do with this case. The police was adamant and
warned him that if Rupa and Hema did not turn up within
three days, Krishna and his wife would be arrested and
would be locked up in the jail. Both of them were frightened
and endeavoured to convince the police about their
innocence but all was in vain. Instead, the police started
harassing and also giving warning to beat them black and
blue.
The husband and wife, both were so worried that the
police did not pay any heed to their being ignorant about this
case of elopement. Rupa and Hema did not turn up within
the stipulated period as the police had asked Krishna Ram
and his family to bring the boy and the girl. Then, Krishna
and Parvati were taken to the police station where they were
abused and tortured; but a few hours after they were freed to
search out the fugitives and bring them to the police station.
Where from could they bring them back? In fact, the family
of Krishna Ram had no involvement in the case. They were,
however, made the victims of police terror and atrocities.
They lost their mental balance, and to avoid further torture
and atrocities by the police, the whole family members
consumed poison before going to sleep. Consequently, they
were found dead in the morning, except a three year old
baby surviving, anyhow.
Whatever the story afterwards, the case clearly turned
into an unexpected suicide, which created hue and cry in the
whole of Kotputli and its surrounding villages. Apparently, it
so happened because of police fear, torture and atrocities on
the deceased family. The surviving baby, Neha, was taken by
an old woman of the locality. The photos of the little Neha and
J
35
the old lady appeared in the newspapers. The old lady,
Saraswati, told the news-reporters that Neha looked around
for her parenta, but none was there to lull her. She was
helpless, quite ignorant of what had happened to her parents
and lovely brother. At times, Neha was taken to her house,
while looking at, she used to knock at the doors, with amazing
eyes, but no voice from inside. She always found her house's
doors locked and soon used to come back into the laps of the
old lady. The suicide left her forlorn in this cruel world,
weeping and crying for her parents and brothers. What a
pathetic event! No one knew about Neha's heart-breaking
breathing and loneliness. The old lady, kind and merciful, was
to Neha, the only divine protector, all in one, who would
henceforth look after her till she grows young.
19
As I read and listen to the terrible stories or events of
suicides, I hardly find any suicide victim among the beggars,
the lepers and the handicaps; they face harsh realities of life,
and bravely fight against them. I appreciate their boldness
and confidence to live even in the midst of worst conditions.
Only the well-placed, educated and employed, anyhow,
become the victims of suicide. Here I may mention the case
of a big one of world fame, i.e., Ernest Hemingway, who
committed suicide.
Hemingway was a great American novelist; he wrote
many stories and novels, which earned him both world-wide
reputation and recognition; and he also earned a lot of
money from his writings to live a very comfortable and
luxurious life. Hemingway was awarded the 'Novel Prize'
for his novel - 'The Old Man and the Sea'. I also read it. The
novel unfolded the story of the life of an old man who
showed enormous courage and self-confidence in catching
fish moving freely in the deep water of sea. The old man once
said to himself, "Nature can kill, but cannot defeat me, while
I am alive?" Hemingway's style of writing was so impressive
that once a man starts reading his stories or novels, he would
not leave it till the end of its reading.
Surprisingly, Hemingway was a heavy drunkard to
enjoy the company of such friends. After enjoying wine and
taking dinner, he used to write fictions till late at nights. He
had a fertile mind, deep understanding of the situation to
depict and a unique imaginative power. Once a publisher
came to him and requested to write a novel and he also
offered a big amount of royalty in advance. Hemingway
accepted the offer and promised to write a novel at his
earliest. The proposal came to him, when he had crossed the
age of sixty-two years. Unfortunately, while sitting on the
writing table, he tried his utmost for some theme of the
proposed novel, but new ideas did not oblize him. Many a
time Hemingway endeavoured to write at night, but his
mind frustrated his attempt to' give him new ideas of fictional
nature. Realizing his inability to write for fulfilling his
promise of writing a novel for the publisher, Hemingway
felt, it would be shameful of him. He addressed to himself to
say, "Oh, my mind, if you fail to help me in creating theme
and ideas for my new novel, I shall shatter you by my gun
into several pieces. How can I fulfill my promise? You tell me
frankly". For many months, Hemingway's mind did not
work to his expectations. He was badly upset. Anyhow, his
wife came to know of it, and she started looking after -ner
husband's safety. Hemingway had a splendid bungalow of
his own liking to live. Once his wife was out, he took his gun
and suddenly, shot himself in his head which was thrown
away into small pieces in the room in which he did so. When
his wife returned, she found Hemingway lying on the floor
dead. She was bewildered and amazed realizing, "What I
thought of him, it happened to him." This way Hemingway
committed suicide at the completion of his sixty-three year of
age. It was nothing but a gruesome tragedy.
20
A recent case of suicide happened on 10th July, 2001, in BadIa
,
village of Jodhpur district of Rajasthan state. In the village,
there was a Primary Health Centre wherein Smt. Sarita
Sharma, aged thirty years, was working as a nurse. But she
was badly upset and uprooted from within because her
husband, Jeetesh, aged thirty-five years, used to drink liquor
heavily. It was his daily habit. He alone lived with his wife,
the parents were living in Jodhpur. Her nurse-wife, very
homely and sweet-tongued one, requested him repeatedly to
leave such a bad habit; but Jeetesh did not give any heed to
it. Being frustrated and helpless, Sarita Sharma consumed
poison at about 8-9 p.m., and as a result, she was dead in the
room. Looking at her tragic death, Jeetesh, too, tied long
cloth (dhoti) around his neck and hanged himself from a
ceiling fan in the same room. He too, committed suicide
because he could not bear the sudden end of his wife. Jeetesh
was married to her eleven years ago and Sarita Sharma was
working in P.H.C. for the last seven years; but was unhappy
because of her drunkard husband and also because of having
no child born to them. No issue, boy or girl, might be an
apparent cause, along with the habitual drunkard husband
as she always felt belittled by her husband's stubborn
attitude or drinking behaviour.
21
A young man of 38 years, namely, Deepak Agrawal, and his
wife, Surabhi Agrawal, and their two children-Suresh and
Monika, were living a care-free luxurious life in Alwar city of
Rajasthan state; all were happy, nothing worried them.
Deepak had a business of shares and was managing his
'Agrawal Finance Co.(P) Limited' in Alwar. He had earned a
lot of money in his business. All this helped him to build a
splendid house, to buy a luxury car and other material
articles. He was going well for the last eight years, without
worrying about the future or say, any danger to his financial
position and gains.
Unfortunately, when the share market went down, he
lost all his money he had earned earlier except his
immovable property. It was a severe blow to his business.
Meanwhile, the Income Tax Department came to know about
Deepak and his roaring successful business. A party of
Income Tax officials went to Alwar from Jaipur in search of
some documents relating to income tax returns. After a
thorough search, the party found him guilty of 'tax evasion'
for the whole of his business period. He was arrested and
produced before the Income Tax Tribunal. A criminal case of
tax evasion of about ten lakhs was proved to be true for
which he was penalized for paying tax with interest and
failing which Deepak would be imprisoned for a year or so.
Deepak could not pay the amount of income tax and as a
result he was fient to the Central Jail of Jaipur.
Deepak found the jail premises and the prisoners very
39
awkward and uneasy. He told his relatives and friends who
carne to meet him in jail. Anyhow, these relatives and friends
collected the required amount and deposited it to the income
tax treasury. He was, then, freed from the jail, but the
horrible conditions in jail and fellow-prisoners, rude and
harsh behaviour badly affected his mind and body. After his
release, Deepak went to Alwar and started the same
business; but the gain was meagre to repay the debts
arranged by his relatives and friends. After a year they asked
Deepak to return their money. He realized his inability to
pay debts on the one hand, and on the other, he had to face
the lowering-grade trend cf his social prestige. He was
shakened from within and being so fed up with life situation,
one night Deepak committed suicide by consuming celphos
tablets in the last of the years 2000; but he left a small note of
these words: "My dear younger brother, please excuse me for
my heinous act. I request you to kindly dispose of my
immovable property to repay the debts; and I also entrust
you to look after my wife and her two kids and help them to
sustain and overcome the painful moments of this tragedy".
22
There was a small town, Iglash, in the district of Aligarh
(Uttar Pradesh)in which a Thakur family lived for the last
many years. This family had five members - husband (Raja
Singh) and his wife (Sabita), and their three children-a
daughter (Km. SaroD, and two brothers (Rajesh and
Raghuvir). Raja Singh had an agricultural land about fifty
bhigas; a very fertile one luckily adjacent to a nahar. To my
memory, I am taking this family to quote a double ghastly
suicide incident that happened in the moth of June, 1953,
when I was a student in the Bagla Degree College of Hathras,
my native place. As the daughter of Raja Singh grew young,
she was married and had gone to her in-laws (sasural),
whereas both the brothers, after g e t t i ~ g primary education,
started working in their father's land for producing cash-
crops. Rajesh and Raghuvir were also married because of
their being mature, their wives (Gaumti and Basanti,
respectively) were of non-cooperative attitude; and they
hardly co-operated with one another. This was a serious
matter for their parents to be worried.
The I wife of Rajesh wanted to live separately and also
land to be divided between both the brothers; but this was
not possible till the parents were alive. They were not in
favour of dividing the families of their sons. The relations
among the family members grew bitter and cold-blooded.
The wife of Raghuvir, Basanti, was clever and quarrelsome,
whereas her husband was simple and submissive, and
Basanti always kept him agreeable to her words. After a
period of years, Basanti grew inpatient, because she wanted
the distribution of land at the earliest. Gradually, Basanti
developed a deep dislike for her father-in-law (sasur) and
mother-in-law (saas), and she thought of her sasur as a
stumbling-block. One evening, while giving food to him, she
cruelly strangulated Raja Singh. As he was very old, he could
not resist it firmly. Anyhow, this incident created a suspicion
in the mind of Rajesh and the same night, he badly dashed
Basanti to the wall, who ultimately unfolded her guilt. This
was unbearable to Rajesh.
After a few days, Rajesh felt ashamed of his wife's
heinous act. He lost his mental balance and one day, he went
to father's farming land. He took a rope and without
, \
worrying for the future, he hanged himself to the branch of a
Neem tree and died at the spot. His wife took it very
seriously lest the incident should be known to other. Looking
into her future to be dark and shameful, she in the early
morning of the next day jumped into the deep well from
which she used to take water for her family members. This
way Basanti also committed suicide. Such a double suicide
by Rajesh and Basanti within two days became a talk of the
town. Obviously, Basanti's strong desire for living separately
and her demand for the distribution of land could not be
materialized; she rather, lost her husband and land as well in
her struggle for gaining power and wealth in the shortest
period. Her greed and jealousy proved to be fatal to both
husband and wife.
As I still remember, land and water disputes were very
common among the relatives, brothers and the neighbours,
in the district of Sri Ganganagar, which ~ listened to, when I
was there in government college. In fact, land and water are
very dear to all the farmers' family of that area. These
disputes usually led the concerned persons either to murders
or to suicides, and surprisingly, these cases were soon
reported to_the police stations as the huge amount of money
was given in bribing to the officers in favour of either party.
23
These days agriculture in India is not so profitable to the
farmers, especially to those farmers who have small
holdings, as it was some years back. The inputs like
fertilizers, seeds, labourers and related things are bought at
high prices on the one hand, and on the other, agricultural
products are abundantly available in markets, the farmers do
not get at times, the equal prices of its cost. Moreover,
draughts, floods, storms, hurricanes, etc., destroy the
growing crops, which ultimately, lead farmers to their
plights and miseries. They take loans either from banks or
from the money lenders, and the returns are so meagre that
small farmers become empty handed. How can they repay
the loaned money with interests? The answer to this question
is very difficult. Consequently, many farmers realizing their
inability to sustain and to improve their economic conditions,
commit suicides as we read in newspapers about the recent
incidents of suicides in Orissa. Andhra Pradesh, Bihar,
Rajasthan, etc. The central and the state governments hardly
reach there to their rescue. This is the genuine situation that
intermittently affect the poor farmers and drive them to
commit suicides.
24
The old man and his suicide has a strange story for me to
unfold. This incident took place in the month of May, 2001, in
Sanganer city of Jaipur district, Rajasthan State. The old man,
Ram Singh, aged about seventy years, was living in his own
house, along with his wife. Heera Bai, and two middle aged
sons - Debu Ram and Lakhan Singh, both married. Ram
Singh's sons were labourers on daily wages, and their wives,
illiterate ones, were also engaged as labourers wherever they
found majduri (labour). All of them were simple and hard
working labourers in order to support the family members.
While away from their house for majduri, Ram Singh usually
remained all alone.
The feelings of loneliness and indifference towards him
by his sons and their wives after they returned home from
43
their daily work in the evening, was Ram Singh's genuine
reason to be ignored. He was not able to walk smoothly as he
had a factured leg bng back, while doing majduri. Only
Heera Bai, his devoted wife remained at home during the
day, who looked after her husband. One day she expired
after a short illness. It was a great shock to Ram Singh as he
was mainly dependent on her. Days and months passed
gradually, and the condition of Ram Singh started to be weak
both physically and mentally. His sons and their wives
hardly talked to Ram Singh as usually happens with old men
almost in all families irrespective of their being rich or poor.
In the present case, however, Ram Singh had to face
economic hardship, loneliness and depression. He was badly
perturbed and always remained silent one to peep back ir,to
his past days, when he was young and free to move
anywhere happily.
"What should he do?", was a very difficult question for
him to answer. One day, when his sons and the daughter-in-
laws were away from home for majduri, Ram Singh,
suddenly, went on his home's top of the room; anyhow, he
reached the top of his neighbour's two storeyed house; and
then, he surprisingly jumped over the live wires of the street
light. His body partially burnt, remained hanging over the
wires openly looking as he was playing some game. When
the neighbours, or the goers in the street, saw him dead, they
informed the police that brought the hanging warrior to the
ground. The neighbours were unable to understand as to
how such an old man reached the top of the building to jump
over the wires. In fact, he could not tolerate the death of his
wife, and something from within, propelled him to commit
suicide in such a horrible way, amazingly a unique way to
die. When this case was reported, along with Ram Singh's
hanging photo, in the newspapers, I was, too, stunned to
read and saw the deadly scene.
This world, as I see it, begins with like a game for kids
and children; looks lovely to youths; anxious to those who
reach the age of sixty; and then, seems to be a hell to the very
old men, who feel that sons and daughters-in-Iaws and their
offsprings ignore them and care little for their comfort and
health. The feelings of loneliness, indifference, physical
incapability to walk and the diseases like cancer and diabetes
fall over the shoulders of every old man. At the age of 75 to
100 years, things look in changing meanings and altered
scenes, which drive the very infirm old men to go to the way
of suicide. A very long span of life now seems to be a curse to
all those who live face to face with death, being infirm, blind
and belittled.
25
Apart from the incidents cited earlier, here I would like to
mention certain sectarian or the so-called religious ways
leading the involved persons intentionally towards self-
killing or suicide. These are as follows:
First to mention is what the Japanese call 'Hara-Kiri', the
most merciless way of self-killing. There was a 'Samurai Sect'
in Japan, which probably still exists, and is also popular
among the people there. According to this sect, it is a ritual
act of killing oneself by cutting open one's stomach with a
sword, performed, especially by the followers of Samurai
Sect in Japan. When a grimy situation, anyhow, arises before
an individual, it is considered to be an 'honourable way' of
avoiding disgrace in society. The situation of 'disgrace' may
have many factors, yet intentionally to go to 'Hara-Kiri' for
committing suicide is the most respectable yet painful way of
self-killing.
Next to cite is 'Santhara' popular among the followers of
I Mahavira, the last Tirthankar of Jainism, especially among its
Swetamber sect. This is a slow yet steady road to lead the
sadhus (saints) or sadhvis (women saints) voluntarily, without
being forced, for ending their lives. When a sadhu or sadhvi
feels that he or she has done enough tapsya (asceticism) and
service to enlighten the people, he or she shuns any kind of
food except taking minimum amount of water. This way of
self-killing may take many days, but no one, under Santhara,
returns back for taking foods to survive more. This way of
going to death is voluntary or intentional. The person, under
Santhara, is regarded by Jains as a holy ones to be highly
honourable and reverential one, and when one dies this way,
his or her funeral ritual is performed with all sanctity
according to the religious rites of Jainism. Whatever the
holiness of sanctity of Santhara, some sociologists regard it as
a peaceful and intentional way of self-killing because of
physical or mental weakness due to infirmity of old age
ailments.
Further to quote are the instances which are related to
the Hindu way of life. Among these the significant ones are
Jal-Samadhi, Sati and Johar:
1. When a Hindu saint, religious or highly honourable
tapsvi, feels himself near to moksha, makes a sitting pose
into the running water course of Ganga, Jamuna or
Gangotri, before his disciples who dare not save him in
any way. This way of 'self-dying' is called 'Jal-Samadhi',
which is intentionally performed mainly by saints and
seers in consonance with the tradition of Hinduism.
2. Another way of self-killing, called 'Sati' is related to
Hindu women, only for the married ones. 'Sati' means a
woman who burns herself alive with her dead husband's
funeral. It is the action or custom of intentionally
burning a woman h e r s ~ l f alive with her dead husband
just to demonstrate her fidelity or faithfulness to her
husband. She does so or is encouraged by her own
wishes to show her absolute love for the deceased
husband. It is also the most painful way of self-killing by
burning along with one's husband, and that is why, it
was banned in 1829 by the British Government, when
the social reformers, like Raja Ram Mohan Rai who
eventually saw his sister-in-law (bhabi) burning along
with his brother's dead body in Bengal long ago. She
screamed; but no one, even Roy, came to save her.
3. 'Johar' is another way of self-killing, which was mostly
prevalent in Rajput families of India. Now this custom
does not exist, yet it was also a very painful way of self-
killing. It was the ceremonial act of burning oneself to
death, performed by Rajput women and sometimes also
by children, usually after receiving the news of the
defeat of Rajput kings, or warriors, in battle against their
enemies. If the women or children were caught alive,
they were tortured or molested by the enemies. Such a
frightening situation or disgracefulness impelled them
to adopt the way of self-burning called 'Johar'. All these
were the so-called religious ways of suicide during the
days of medieval India.
Here a question may be asked: Why now these holy or
religious ways are called suicide? It is because the term
'suicide' is an action of killing oneself intentionally, or any
action that may result in disaster, like death, for oneself is
considered to be suicide in law. Therefore, we regard them as
suicides and according to the articles 304, 305 and 306 of the
Indian Penal Code, such cases are punishable because of their
being crimes.
26
Now here is quoted another incident of suicide by an
unmarried and employed girl of Bhopal, the capital of
Madhya Pradesh. It probably happened during the first
quarter of the year 2000. In Bhopal, there was an educated
family comprising of the parents (Karan Singh and Govindi),
their three daughters (Neetu, Mahima and Sumitra) and a
son (Ashish Kumar). Karan Singh and Govindi were worried
about their daughters' marriage, especially of the eldest one,
Neetu, who was a government employee as an accountant.
Neetu was beautiful, slim and homely; but her height was
four feet and six inches.
Whenever the parents of Neetu contacted some boys'
parents to see their daughter, they used to corne, but her
height became an obstacle in her marriage. Neetu grew about
thirty years of age and she also pampered an inferiority
complex in her mind. As per Hindu tradition, only after the
eldest girl's marriage, the younger ones can be married. In
her horne, Neetu's marriage was a worrying problem to be
talked about daily and in her office, the colleagues at times,
just as a joke or to tease her, used some sarcastic remarks.
quite unpalatable to Neetu. She found herself as a helpless
entity in her horne as well as in social life. As a result, Neetu
developed a pathetic mood and thought of herself and
unlucky girl. "How can I help myself and the parents as
well?", Neetu asked herself. Looking at her inability to face
and fight the odds and obstacles in life at the earliest. Neetu
one night consumed poison, and consequently, she was
found dead in the morning to the great surprise of her
parents, brother and sisters. This way Neetu committed
suicide to end anxieties and sad feelings of the whole of her
family members.
In Indian society, especially among the orthodox
Hindus, the position of girls, whether educated or illiterate,
employed or unemployed, is precarious in matters of
marriage, dowry and divorce; the girls are treated as
burdensome responsibilities; and in most of the cases, they
are not free to move and encounter the wills of male-
dominated social governance. Only the girls are expected to
be submissive, sober and virtuous vis-a-vis the boys. The
Indian Constitution gives them freedom, equality and
dignity; but in practice, the ,Hindu customs and tradition
deny all such things that favour and empower the
womenfolk; the similar. situation is also found in other
communities. This is one of the hard realities of the Indian
social system.
27
The most important to mention is an event of suicide by a big
historical figure, namely, Adolf Hitler (1989-1945). During
the last days of his life, Hitler and his personal secretary,
Ivana, lived in a bunker in Berlin to avoid their capture by
the allied forces of U.S.A., U.K., U.S.S.R., France, etc., during
the Second World War (1939-1945). However, both of them
once realized that their end was near, because the enemy
forces had surrounded their bunker. Then, Adolf Hitler
asked his officers, "I order, after you find us dead, crush our
bodies by rolling over us a tank so that enemy forces can
never pick up any part of our bodies to dishonour and be
thrown on the street". The officers, though stunned, assured
to obey his order. In the evening, first of all, Hitler married
Ivana, till then she was unmarried and virgin; afterwards,
both of them enjoyed the whole night their wedding; and
before sunrise, they took cyanide capsules. Thus, they
committed suicide and the officers, so ordered, brought their
dead bodies out of the bunker and rolled over a tank on them
to mix up their bodies with dust and soil of Germany so that
no enemy could identify their bodies. It was just to avoid
their being captured alive, not to be hanged in the streets and
they took it as their dignified self-destruction.
28
Here is another cruel way of suicide. As reported in the
newspapers of 5th August, 2001, a man, namely, Sanatan
Mohanti, aged 50, belonging to the village - Kesargad, of the
district Dhenknal in Orissa State of India, jumped into the
burning pyre of his wife, Sanjuwala Mohanti, aged 42, and
thus, he died soon before the participants in her funeral rites
could save him. It was obviously a suicide case of self-
immolation. Why did he embrace such a way of suicide? A
few days earlier, his wife Sanjuwala fell ill whom he got
hospitalized for treatment; but she died leaving him alone,
and incidentally, they had no issue born to them. Sanatan
Mohanti found himself squarely all alone, soon he lost his
mental balance, because he could not bear the brunt of death
of his wife. He was so depressed, frustrated and shocked
because of Sanjuwala's unexpected demise that he chose the
way of self-immolation to be one with his wife.
As the foregoing incidents of suicide unfold the terrible
tales of self-killing, we can be sure to discover as to how
many astonishing ways are adopted by those who embrace
death willingly yet suddenly. These instances are suffice to
help us to go to the depth of their causes in order to infer
something inherent commonly in all the cases of suicides.
The graph of suicides has been going higher in comparison to
the earlier decades. This is a very grimy situation for all those
who feel or are sensitive to such ghastly occurrences. How to
stop and check them, is a very difficult task to us to explain
as the phenomenon of suicides is found in all human
societies, in all sections or classes of men and women, girls or
boys, children or adults, irrespective of their belonging to
any creed, caste, race or country. Whenever new incidents of
suicide are reported or flashed in bold letters in all the
newspapers, I feel and take them with all compassion
towards the victims but unable to help them in any way. To
be brief, we now turn to find out and list their apparent
reasons first and then, to discover what must be the inherent
cause commonly related to all incidents of suicide, though
very difficult and tedious task to deal with.
29
This is an ~ n s t a n c e of suicide that occurred twenty two years
back in 1980. I was incidentally the middle man while
negotiating the marriage between Shiva Kumar of Lohamadi,
Agra and Kamla Devi of Hathras (my birth place) as both
parties were well known to me, both were well-educated and
their parents were rich. Shiva Kumar got a government job as
an officer and was posted in Jodhpur (Rajasthan State); and
three sons and one daughter were born to them, all were of
age between 16 and 24 years. Kamla Devi was very beautiful,
soft spoken and a good house-wife, and so was Shiva,
handsome, simple and sober, both were of Jatava caste. The
tragedy began when Shiva and a lady teacher, namely, Puspa
Jain, both living in Mandir Marg locality, fell in love with une
another. This was objected to by Kamla Devi vehemently and
the husband of Mrs. Jain, too; but things went on continually.
One day, Mrs. Jain's husband came to Shiva's house and
threatened Kamla to stop her husband otherwise he might do
anything bad to her. So terrprized Kamla asked Shiva,
"Please do not indulge in such immoral act as we have very
grown up sons and daughter". "Keep quite, mind your
business", he retorted angrily. Kamla was mentally upset,
and to the surprise of all, she burnt herself to death by
throwing kerosene on her clothes as Kamla could not face the
arising situation of humiliation and disgrace to her and the
family as well to her, there was no alternative except self-
killing.
30
This was a very strange case of suicide preceded by double
murder. The incident took place on 6th August, 2001, in
village Ganeshpura, of Sikar district of Rajasthan State. The
suicide was the result of a clash between the daughter- Berli
(unmarried) of Pokhermal Jat and her bhabhi-Sugani (wife
of Ramnivas, son of Pokhermal). There was something like
an egoistic conflict between Berli and Sugani for the last two
or three years. On the night of 6th August, Sugani and her
daughter- Dhampu, aged four years, were sleeping on the
roof top of the house. Berli, getting an opportunity took a
Kulhari in her hands, and ferociously, without being
hesitated and worried, attacked Sugani and Dhampu
mercilessly and cut their necks off. Afterwards, thinking
about her disgraceful act or being afraid of arrest and
tortured by police, Berli came down hurriedly and jumped
into a nearby well, hardly fifty metres away from her house,
and thus, she committed suicide. All these facts came to light
in the morning when Pokhermal went up to see why Sugani
and Dhampu were sleeping so late, and to his great surprise,
he found both of them dead with blood thrown around on
the rooftop of the house. He reported the matter to the police
station. To be brief, Berli wanted to take revenge by finishing
the entire family of her brother Ramnivas, who was, then
serving in military forces somewhere away in Kashmir. It
was a mystery to all those who came to know about such a
cruel act by BerH.
31
This incident of suicide is that of a Communist Party of
India's State Secretary of Madhya Pradesh, namely, Comrade
Shailendra Shelly. He committed suicide by consuming
poison (i.e., celphos tablets) in Bhopal, the capital of Madhya
Pradesh, on 7th August, 2001. Shelly was a very devoted
worker, probably unmarried. He had left a suicide note on a
piece of paper: "No one is responsible for my self-killing; I
am disturbed aftd frustrated as I feel my inability to carry on
the party affairs well in a way that I did in past years; and
that is why I am myself responsible for my suicide". It was a
shocking news for his friends and party activists as they lost
a jovial fellow in his demise.
32
A recent incident of suicide preceded by frightening and
gruesome murder, took place in Agra disJtict of Uttar
Pradesh on 10th August, 2001. There were two very close
friends of a locality living at a distance of one km, namely,
Rajendra and Sridhar, the first belonging to an ordinary
family, the second one was from a rich family; both were
graduates. Rajendra had pampered a big ambition for being
a rich boy in a shortest period to attract a girl whom he
loved. Anyhow, an idea struck Rajendra's mind, "Let me
kidnap Sridhar to ask for a ransom of two lakhs from his
parents. If materialized, both of us would distribute the
amount equally." One fine evening Rajendra went to
Sridhar's house and asked him to ride on his Hero Honda to
enjoy in a nearby resort. Sridhar happily agreed to his
proposal and reached a lonely place of a garden's comer.
Rajendra, then, told his friend about his .plan; Sridhar
rebuked him; and meeting a cruel rebuff, Rajendra started
beating him so furiously that Sridhar could not survive to
encounter Rajendra's strong fists. Many years' old friendship,
thus, turned into an enmity. Rajendra, then, was badly
shakened and stunned, and hurriedly, took out some petrol
from his Hero Honda. He poured petrol upon him in order to
bum his body so that nobody could recognize Sridhar; but
soon, Rajendra himself realized his guilt and crime; instead
of running away, he embraced the burning friend's body.
This way both of them went in eternal peace, one by murder
and the other by self-killing as inferred by the police.
33
This incident of suicide is somewhat different one from those
mentioned earlier. The incident happened in the year, 1990.
There was a couple, namely, Ram Lal and Chameli, living in
a village (Nahroi) near the city of Hathras, a district of Uttar
Pradesh. Three sons and a daughter were born to them. The
family was well known to me as it was near to my village.
They were simply labourers and Ram Lal was literate, and
his sons were grown up boys - Ramesh, Ganesh and Om
Prakash, aged 10, 15 and 18, respectively. The economic
condition of this family was far away from normal.
Unfortunately, first two of the boys (Ramesh and Ganesh)
died from smallpox, and this was a big set-back to their
parents. They were, then, mentally disturbed. A few years
later, Om Prakash fell ill due to typhoid. His condition
worsened day-by-day because of proper treatment could not
be possible due to the poverty of his parents. Some
neighbours advised Ram Lal and Chameli to meet an old
Hakim (Ayurvedic doctor); they did so; and Hakim asked
them to massage the head of Om Prakash with the ghee of a
cow. One day Chameli went to a nearby village to buy the
ghee; but on the way looking into the untimely demise of her
two sons and feeling that her present son would not survive
more, she jumped into a well leaving the glass and a scarf
near the well. She, thus, committed suicide and later on, her
son Om Prakash, too, died. Probably, Chameli could not face
the shock of her two sons earlier and being afraid of the same
fate of her son, she had no interest living more in this cruel
world of God, who did not help her in any way.
34
This is the queer case of suicide by a sadhu (saint), Swami
Devaduta that took place in the year, 2000, in Bhinmal, a city
of Rajasthan state. Devaduta was about fifty years old and
had a well-built physique with a handsome figure. He was
staying in the precincts of a temple of Shiv a, where many
55
females - young and old, used to go for worshipping Shiva.
Incidentally a young lady, Nirmala, came into contact with
the saint to have his blessings for a male child as she had two
small daughters. Anyhow, the saint, being in the grip of
Cupid - Kamdeva; fell in love with her, and at times, he had
enjoyed sex with Nirmala. Unfortunately, when this love
affair came into limelight, the saint was badly beaten by
Nirmala's family members for such an illegal relationship;
but being afraid of more disgraceful life, Devaduta drank a
bottle of tezab, i.e., a toxic liquid, and next day, he died. He,
thus, killed himself to avoid the insult and injury of his
psyche. No one helped him; instead, everyone used
invectives against him of untolerable nature.
35
Nature does not usually oblige everyone as most of the
people, especially the young ones, want things to go their
own ways. Even what one calls the fate does not favour all
equally in the achievements of life-goals. A young boy,
namely, Kunal, of a karorpati parents wanted to fulfil each of
his desires as soon as possible; but at times, he also used to
ask them to have a very beautiful girl as his life partner. The
parents asked him, "to have patience, if he wishes to marry a
girl of his choice." By the time, the boy, aged 25, became a
post-graduate in philosophy he had read Plato's theory of
ideas, quite opposite things of the empirical world. As a
result, Kunal thought of an 'ideal wife' in terms of an
extremely very beautiful partner. At times, he lost himself in
Plato's 'world of ideas', which were hardly practicable in this
changing world. Unfortunately, the parents could not
understand his idea of an 'ideal bride' as they were not
aware of Plato's philosophy. Many years passed this way;
but the things of his liking did not favour the boy. He grew
so frustrated and desperate that he tied his head and hands
with electric wires, and suddenly, switched on, which
resulted in his instant death, stunning his parents as to why
he had done so: It happened in the month of June, 1961,
when I was a student in Agra College, Agra. In other words,
Plato's ideas were in a sense the fantasies of impossible
nature, and Kunal became a victim of sheer fantasies.
36
A few of the suicide cases, we may also find among the
terrorists who work and sacrifice their lives for the so-called
pious mission or for the freedom of their enslaved areas by
other powerful countries. The Muslim militant organizations
are so determined for the separation of Jammu and Kashmir
from India that the terrorists can murder anyone who comes
in their way. Though Pakistan honours the dead terrorists as
freedom fighters, yet to India, they are criminals or the
terrorists, who always stand alert to kill the innocent citizens.
The Tamil terrorists are also fighting for a separate Tamil
state for the Tamils from Sri Lanka. The people of
Netherlands are too; fighting for an independent
Netherlands now under the suzerainty of U.K., and in a
similar way there are many other militant organizations
which are working for the one or the other causes. Anyhow,
some of them, sensing that they have been encircled by the
anti-forces, they immediately, take out the cyanide capsules
from their pockets; and thus, they quickly prefer to die rather
than being captured or tortured for divulging their secrets of
planning and working. Whatever, the terrorists think of
57
themselves, they willingly embrace death or self-killing as a
great honour or a greater cause.
37
The last supper of a hungry family ended in a frightening
collective suicide by Saida Khatoon (wife of Mohammed
Hamid), along with her six children, aged from 4 months to
12 years, of village Chakahladbad of Mushhari block, district
Muzaffarpur (Bihar State). This incident of suicide took place
in the second week of August, 2001. The family of
Mohammed Hamid, aged 45, was very poor, he had gone to
Delhi for working as a rickshaw-puller, leaving Saida and the
children in the village. Hamid used to send some meagre
amount of money to feed them. The amount was very less
than what they needed. Saida was facing acute poverty for a
long time, and she found it increasingly difficult to fight the
pangs of hunger. The family, in fact, was at the verge of
starving for some days. Saida would always think of ending
her life because of her acute poverty; but the neighbours, at
times, dissuaded her from doing so, as said Sofia Khatoon
one of the neighbours. Anyhow, Saida got convinced that her
poverty and starvation; would not go away. One evening she
mixed poison in foods that her children ate, as she also did;
and thus, all the six children, and she herself died within a
few hours. The death of four month old Asharfi was so tragic
that some villages fainted at the sight as was reported by The
Sunday Times of 19th August 2001.
38
An O.B.C., I.A.S. officer, namely, Prem Singh Chaudhry,
aged 50 years, had a family of six members - two sons,
Hitesh and Vinod, aged 15 and 20, respectively, and also his
old parents-Sridhar and Rameshwari. The parents were
wholly dependent on him as they had no land to cultivate
and nD--Work of business. The wife of Chaudhry, Sushila, had
no respect for her saas and sasur (mother-in-law and father-
in-law) as she was from a very rich family living in Delhi. She
was an ultra-modern lady; but the LA.S. officer belonged to
an ordinary social background. Anyhow, the parents helped
their son to rise in life, who had an immense regard for them;
but he could not change Sushila's rude behaviour towards
his parents, which was a cause of tension between the
husband and the wife. Sridhar and Rameshwari were also the
poor or helpless victims of the disgraceful situation. Once
Prem Singh was posted in Agra district of V.P. The miserable
situation, however, persisted for his parents that pushed
them into a melancholy state. To get rid of such a situation
Sridhar and his wife, anyhow, reached the Jamuna bridge
and jumped into the fast running water. Thus, a couplery
suicide took place in the month of August, 1999, a sad end of
the honest and self-respected parents.
39
A ~ o t h e r incident of couplery suicide took place in our
vicinity under the Mahesh Nagar Police Station on 22nd
August, 2001, near Kartarpura, Deepak Vatika, just at half a
km distance from my residence. A boy, aged 20, namely,
Krishan Jangid, was originally from Ramgarh Shekhavati of
Sikar district of Rajasthan state. He was living in a rented
house in Sriram Colony of Sod ala for the last two years, he
left it; and came to another rented house in Deepak Vatika on
the morning of 22nd August, along with his beloved girl,
namely, Vimla, aged 19, who was not from Jangid caste; but
belonged to a very low caste family. Both of them cleansed
the new rented house first and told the owner of the house
that they would rest for a few house. The owner went to his
work, and when he enquired about the so-called married
couple in the noon after he returned for taking his meals. He
knocked at the door, but there was no response. The owner
felt himself disturbed and sent for his neighbours, who
dismantled the concrete built window, and to their surprise,
the couple were vomiting repeatedly. Before they could be
shifted to any nearby hospital, they breathed their last within
a short time. The matter was reported to the police. After
identifying the boy the police informed his parents who
reached there soon.
When the parents were questioned about the girl, they
denied that she was the wife of their son as Krishna was
unmarried. In fact, the boy and the girl loved each other, and
the boy had asked his parents to get married with his
beloved; but they blatantly disapproved the proposal as she
was from the lower caste. The boy was a factory worker who
was living separately from his parents in order that he could
freely meet and enjoy with his beloved; later on, to get
married themselves secretly. The parents of Vimla, too, were
against her love affairs because of caste feelings. The beloved
and the lover, anyhow, continued their love affairs either
through phone or personal meetings, intermittently. The new
rented house was, in fact, for the purpose to materialize their
wishes of being married; but the family's stubborn attitude
and social tradition came if. their way. They grew frustrated,
and looking into their dark future, they consumed the heavy
doses of celphos tablets; and thus, they ended their lives
together, probably, to demonstrate that their love was real,
not simply a film acting. The failure of love-marriage because
of caste barriers, came apparently to the forefront, which was
a disgraceful situation to them. To be brief, there was no
alternative for them except to embrace each other in an
eternal sleep.
40
Another incident of suicide was also a result of love-marriage
between a Dalit boy and a twice-born girl of village,
Dhoriwala, in the district of Rewari of Haryana State. It
happened in the month of March, 2000. It was really a
frightening case preceded by an open murder. The Dalit boy,
Anil Kumar, aged 25, very handsome and healthy, was post-
graduate in sociology, and the girl Sumitra, aged 20, a
graduate, most beautiful one, of the same village, fell in love
with one another. Incidentally, one day, Anil eloped with the
girl and got married somewhere in a ~ Arya Samaj MandaI.
Incognito, living and roaming here and there, after a year
both of them reached their village supposing the incident
would have been subsided by now; but it proved a wrong
supposition. Soon they were caught and caged in a separate
room from each one. Next day, the village panchayat was
called and the parents of Anil were also asked to be present
there. Surprisingly, the boy was sentenced to death by
hanging on a nearby tree. First, the boy was hanged tied with
a rope on a branch of the tree. Then the dried woods were
collected and put beneath the hanging boy. Afterwards, the
woods were ignited to fire. The flames were so raised to the
height that Anil, alive by then, was brunt to death,
mercilessly before the whole panchayat, including his
61
parents, who wept and cried for the life of their son. No one
listened to them; rather they were beaten badly in order to
leave the village by the next day. When the girl came to
know of such a heinous act, she, anyhow, freed herself from
the so-called cage. She ran towards the tree of gallows for
Anil; she quickly climbed over it; and she hanged herself
over the same branch of the tree which witnessed the
burning of her lover. This way Sumitra, too, embraced death
to meet her lover in the next birth, if so happened ever.
Although a case of suicide, she sacrificed her life visualizing
that the parents and the villagers would make her life a
living hell; so it was better to die rather than living an
ignoble life in a hostile and inhuman situation.
41
On 22nd of September, 2001, a couple, namely, Bhuramal and
Govjndi, along with their 5 year old son, Mahesh, belonging
to village-Jatiyana near the Sadar Police Station of Alwar
district (Rajasthan State), committed suicide by jumping out
from the doors of a fasting running train. It was a couplery
suicide, creating a very frightening scene. Why did the
couple commit suicide?
The age of Bhuramal was 35, whereas his wife was 30,
and the male child was of 5 year. From their dresses the
police identified them as labourers who had come to Alwar
for mazduri (labour) from the State of Bihar. As per a piece of
paper, found in the pocket of Bhuramal, an amount of Rs. 60
had to be paid to the owner of rickshaw that was hired by
him to earn wages by pulling it. There was some hot talking
with someone who was also present in the compartment of
the running train. He might be the owner of rickshaw,
probably, who could have chided the couple for going away
to some place without settling the debt. The economic
hardship and the pressure or fear of the owner of rickshaw
were possibly the apparent reasons, and it is also said that
the owner had a lust for sexual relations with Govindi who
had resisted his evil attempt vigorously for more than once.
42
A person, living in Harmada area of Jaipur, namely, Lal
Chand, aged 50, committed suicide by consuming celphos
tablets on the 4th of September, 2001, and his body was
found in the shrubs of Harmada. Lal Chand was a class four
employee in Rajasthan Handloom House. A piece of paper
was found in his poc}<et which disclosed as to why he was
pushed to the act of self-destruction. As written in the piece
of paper, he was discriminated because of his low caste
(Bairwa) by the office colleagues. Lal Chand had specifically
mentioned the names of six persons of his office, who treated
him as the beast of lower caste, which he did not like. Instead
of complaining against them to the higher officers, he
adopted the way of suicide. Probably, he thought, no officer
could help him as all of them belonged to higher castes. From
the family members, it was also said that Lal Chand was a
liqour addicted, and he constantly was in tension because of
his grown up daughters remaining unmarried. Whatever the
secret of his self-destruction, Lal Chand faced hostile
situation in both family and office, which prompted him to
be free from all troubles or tensions this way. In fact, caste
discrimination is a reality almost in all officers and place
which has been spreading like a wildfire everywhere, a sad
situation in India life.
43
Here is the case of ragging of a new student, studying in the
first semester B.E., in Maulana Azad College of Technology,
Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh State. His name was
Abhishek who belonged to Vidisha city, a brilliant boy of 19
years, son of a school teacher, Mohan Babu. The day
Abhishek came to live in the college hostel, the old and
senior students started teasing him on one pretext or the
other. He felt it a great obstacle in his studies feeling helpless
and frustrated, he ran out of the hostel, and reached the
Vidisha Railway Station. As a surprise to all, Abhishek
jumped before a fast running train near the station, and as a
result his body was crushed and thrown into pieces here and
there, hardly to be identified by anyone except his family
members. Abhishek, thus, committed suicide on the 10th of
September, 2001, in order to end all the fear and troubles of
ragging. He was treated in some inhuman way by the senior
students, and once, Abhishek had told one of his friend
students, " I am bored and I dislike to study and stay in this
college." Whatever the apparent reasons or the inherent
causes, Abhishek was always afraid of 'ragging misconduct'
which, though illegal or a crime in the eyes of law, still
persists in Indian educational institutions to compel one to
go to the act of suicide.
44
This incident of suicide took place on 10th of September, 2001,
in the Jhotwara are of Jaipur city by an old man of 70 years
living with his sons and daughters-in-Iaws in a separate room
of the house. The poor victim, namely, Shyam Lal, was sad
because of his wife's death a few months earlier to his
64
A Philosophy of Suicide
suicide. His wife, Phaguni, was very sincere, who looked
after well her aged husband; both were happy; and there was
no economic hardship as their sons were government
employees. What was, then, the trouble? In fact, Shyam Lal
was a sensitive man as old men grew so; he was very sad and
lived in a separate room all alone; and the young sons and
their wives hardly talked to him. Shyam Lal felt loneliness
without any communication with anyone. His neighbour,
too, did not visit him even as they did not have any interest
in his. So being confined to his room all alone for most of the
time, Shyam Lal took a kerosene bottle and during the silent
hours of the frightening might, he doused his cloths with
kerosene oil and lighted them with a match stick, and as a
result, he did after a few hours without any screams. His
sons and daughters in-law came to know of it when they rose
up in the morning looking bad smelling smoke out of their
father's room. They were all stunned and felt sorrow for
leaving his father all alone.
45
For the last 50 years, we have been witnessing the horrible
incid2nts of suicide, that is, self-destruction followed by
killing of leaders or very important individuals through self-
destructive devices like time bomb, gun-firing, dismantling
of splendid multi-storeyed houses or towers, etc. It is the
terrorist group which adopts such devices. The persons of
terrorist groups are well trained by the chief of the terrorists,
and the chief of the terrorists recruits young boys and girls
and makes them determined to die in order to kill the enemy
as was done in the killing of Rajiv Gandhi, when a girl
keeping a bomb with her dashed against the platform for
bursting the bomb. The girl not only killed herself but also
killed Rajiv Gandhi in the year 1991 somewhere in South
India.
The recent incident of self-destruction by some terrorists
happened on 11th of September 2001, when they started
travelling by four air crafts from Boston (America) to
somewhere to attack and destroy. The U.S.A. President's
resident, well known as White House, and 110 storeyed
Tower of world Trade Centre. During the journey, each one
of the terrorists first overpowered the pilots and took the
control of the airplanes driving cockpits by killing the pilots.
All the terrorists aimed at destroying the White House and
the World Trade Centre as per the plan and instruction
guided by the chief of the terrorists. It was the "most wanted
terrorist" namely Osama Bin Laden, who is the self-imposed
messiah of Islam in the world. Laden is the 17th son of an
Arabean rich man. He has opened training centres all over
the world for guiding the Islamic youths, both boys and girls,
to defeat those whom Laden brands as the enemies of Islam.
After the destruction of WTC building, laden has became a
hero of the Muslim world.
The main point is that the terrorists, as per the
instructions given to them, are brain-washed who agree to
die for the cause of Islam, a holy I zehad' to liberate the
countries ruled by non-Muslim people. This is what the
Islamic terrorists are doing, and the incident of Kashmir is an
eye-opener, when the terrorists came into a tall sumo van
loaded with explosive material and they burst it by a remote
control just in front of the Kashmir Assembly. As a result, 30
persons were killed on 1st of October, 2001, and several
persons were seriously injured. The self-destructive groups,
or individuals, both male and female, first go to kill
themselves followed by merciless killings, incidentally of
many innocent persons, in order to gain attention and
publicity of what they want to achieve. Whether the aims of
the terrorists are justified or not, they die for the greater
cause of Islam as the terrorist leaders claim to be so. This is,
however, the barbarity or inhumanities on the part of the
terrorist groups widely spread all over the world; which is
nothing but a naked and beastly way of suicides, killing
others, mostly innocent persons as we witness in the act of
the bursting of explosives in front of the Kashmir State
Assembly on 1st October, 2001.
46
An incident of suicide took place in Pink City's Mansarover
Colony on 1st of October, 2001, and the man, who committed
suicide, was Kishori Lal, aged 60 and educated one. Why did
he resort to such a painful way of dying? As reported in the
newspapers, Kishori Lal was suffering from some deadly
diseases, especially from epilepsy and migraine, which he
thought as incurable. Although, he was treated well and was
also looked after well by his family members, yet he was
badly upset, frustrated and disappointed; he was afraid of
. being a sick man for life-long; and that was haunting his
mind constantly. So overpowered by an emotional inability-
to face the extremely unbearable situation, Kishori Lal
consumed poison to commit suicide, and thus, freed himself
from all the anxieties and painful diseases for ever leaving
behind his lamenting wife and one son, one daughter, to
meet the fate and future by themselves; of course, to face the
realities of life.
67
47
Recently another incident of suicide came into light when
reported in the newspapers of 30th September, 2001,
committed by the chief of a mafia group operating in the city
of Delhi, namely, Sukka (proper name is Sukhvir Singh),
aged 35 years, also a graduate in science. Sukka had a group
of ten young boys and five young beautiful girls to assist him
in a way he liked. Sukka was a popular name because of
newspapers reportings and also a constant headache to the
police. He was never afraid of police as he used to bribe the
police officials of a police station where he was operating his
activities. It means that Sukka in connivance of police used to
ask his mafia boys and girls to visit those houses where there
was no one. Two or three boys used to enter the premises of a
lonely house and after unlocking the doors, they collected the
valuable items, including cash and ornaments, and thus, they
used to bring all that they had collected to the centre where
Sukka was living. To keep a vigil around the houses, the
mafia girls, having each one a bag full of items for sale so
that no one could suspect them as thieves or as unwanted
girls. Anyhow, one day a mafia boy requested Sukka to give
him some more money than already decided as a bounty; but
Sukka did not oblige him. Mentally, the mafia boy was badly'
upset as he needed money for his sister's marriage. Without "
visualizing the consequences, the mafia boy met a D.I.G.
(police) and informed all about the Sukka's mode of stealing,
collecting huge money, even by murdering anyone coming as
a hurdle, living luxuriously like a don.
However, it was disclosed by a police constable to Sukka
who grew furious against that mafia boy who informed the
higher police authorities. Before Sukka was captured by the
crime branch police officials, he, anyhow, caught hold of the
boy, tortured him and mercilessly killed him. Sukka was
caught and locked up in a police station other than that of his
area of illegal activities. Sukka was badly beaten and
tortured, and as a result, he was mentally disturbed and
shakened from within. Here Sukka alsQ bribed a police
constable for bringing to him a bottle of wine' and after
taking the whole of wine he took and looked at the empty
bottle in his hands. Suddenly a thought carne into his mind
that henceforth, he would not be in a position to lead a
princely life like the previous one, he struct it so quickly and
aggressively against his head that he died within a few
minutes. This way, Sukka committed suicide after killing the
mafia boy.
48
It is a very frightening incident of suicide by two grown up
students, a brother and a sister, namely, Vivek and Narvada,
aged 18 and 20, respectively. The incident happened in the
month of November, 1997 in the city of Alwar, a district of
Rajasthan State. Both brother and sister were brilliant
students studying in the first year and final year of three
years degree course, respectively, and had good reputation
among the teachers and the fellow-students for their sinceritY
and devotion to studies. Alwar city has separate colleges for
girls and boys. Vivek and Narvada were regular in their
daily life routine and never wasted their time in gossiping
with other fellow-students. They were a bit ambition to
become big officials like LA.S. and LP.S. for which they were
very conscious as how to achieve their goals of life.
Their parents, namely, Ishwar Chand and Gytri, both
were educated; only Ishwar Chand was serving as an upper
division clerk in the Department of Education, and Gytri was
simply a house-wife, but they were not nicely adjustable
husband and wife; and used to create family tension for some
unknown reasons. It was a mystery to Vivek and Narmada
as to why they were at loggerheads with each other, that is
Vivek \ and Narmada 'found them disagreeing or quarrelling
both in morning and evening. Such a family tension, a
situation of unsavoury talks and unhappy moods, was
constantly effecting the minds of both brother and sister,
because the family situation was gradually becoming an
obstacle in their studies. They were unable to ease the tense
family life between husband and wife, though in their earlier
life both were good to each other. Anyhow, this situation
could not continue for long and the small family turned to be
a battle ground that was pinching and puzzling the minds of
Vivek and Narmada.
With all respect to their parents, one day both brother
and sister very humbly requested them to end all the
disputes and tensions in order to facilitate their studies for
doing their best in the ensuing examinations and also to
fulfill their dreams for becoming big officials; but their
parents did not give any heed to the request of their son and
daughter. The situation of frustration and tension continued
to persist to the harm of Vivek and Narmada. The family
feud was becoming extremely intolerable to Vivek and
Narmada. To the surprise of their parents and also
neighboU);s Vivek and Narmada, one unfortunate night, took
celphos tablets, and in the next morning they were found
dead. Thi!l way they became the victims of a couplery
suicide, which stunned all these whe learnt .of such a ghastly
suicide, Afterwards, their parents wept bitterly fer net
realizing that their sen and daughter ceuld de se, and they
repented mest; but their sen and daughter had gene te sleep
fer ever.
49
Here is anether incident .of self-destructien, i.e., self-killing,
.or suicide, fellewed by killin.gs .or murders .of many ethers.
This happened en 1st .of Nevember, 2001, in Kashmir, when a
Tata Sume van full .of explesives dashed against the main
gate .of J&K State Assembly. The Assembly was geing en and
almest all the M.L.As. were present there. The sele target .of
the self-destructive group was te dismantle the building' .or
the Assembly Bhawan, aleng with killing as many members
as pessible, including the Chief Minister, Sheikh Abdulla.
Hewever, it was the geed luck .of all these where were
present inside the Assembly Building, because they had
finished their business and had left it just a few minutes
befere the blast teek place. Unfertunately, the driver .of the
Tata Sume, a terrerist .of the self-destructive greup, and the
.outsiders .or the persens, whe were there en the read, geing
hither and thither, were suddenly killed .or crippled, whe
ceuld net think .of such an event.
The number .of persens, se killed, was atleast 32 and
th,ose .of injured badly and crippled fer ever, was mere than
35. The scene befere the Assembly road .or nearby, quickly
turned te be the graveyard, weeping and leud crying, and
these whe were, anyhew, escaped from the deadly blast ran
away haphazardly te their destined places. Next day, in a
condolence meeting, the Chief Minister, while speaking,
wept bitterly and appealed to compel government to order a
military attack on the terrorist training centres in Pakistan
Occupied Kashmir (P.O.K.) in order to get rid of all the
terrorists. Why had the terrorists taken such self-destructive
step? It was to attract the countries of the world to resolve
the 'Kashmir Problem' to their satisfaction, that is, the
terrorists, or the so-called zehadis (liberators), want to free the
state from India as an independent nation for the Kashmiri
people, though Jammu & Kashmir has become the part and
parcel of India long ago. However, the way the terrorist
group has been going on for the last many years, is heinous
and horrible, which kills innocent persons, including
womenfolk and children. Recently, such an event of self-
destruction took place in the U.s.A. on 11th September, 2001,
dismantling the towers of World Trade Centre and killing
thousands of people.
50
As reported in the Hindi newspapers of 9th October, 2001, I
read two terrible tales of suicide; one is related to the locality
o ~ Sanganer Gaushala and the other to the Mansarovar
Colony of Jaipur, though both the incidents of suicide were
distinct from each other, yet involved the stories of coercion
against the married women of young ages, and the pathetic
aspects of both are as follows:
A married lady, aged 27, having a seven year old son,
Sarita was living with her husband Narendra Sharma and
aged saas and sasur. It was not a case of dowry death but an
incident of inhuman treatment because Sarita was regarded
as an evil lady having an inL1Uspicious spirit. Since her
coming to the house of Narendra Sharma, nothing happened
to the expectations of the family members, even her only son
became a victim of some incurable disease due to Sarita's evil
spirit, though she had no quarrel with anybody. It was false
to regard her as the family members thought of her
possessing an evil spirit. As such, Sarita was ill-treated and
was avoided to be seem, especially in the ll!0rning hours. She
was unaware of it; but after a few years Sarita, anyhow, came
to know all about as to why she was ill-treated and deemed
to be inauspicious one. She felt i ~ ~ very much and told her
husband who, too, gave no heed to her well-being. One day
after having her evening meals she took poison and also gave
it to her son. By next morning both of them were found dead.
It was really a result of false assumption that/she had an evil
spirit in her beautiful figure.
The second incident of suicide was a matter of
insufficient dowry. A young girl of 20 years, namely Kamla,
was married to Suresh Khatri, aged 25. A few years back. The
in-laws were living in Mansarovar Colony and Kamla's
husband was a trader, having a good income; but at times, he
used to think of possessing more money out of his greed.
Suresh did not have any other source to collect money, and
in connivance with his parents and unmarried sisters, all
started teasing Kamla that she had come in their house
without bringing a sufficient amount in cash; and at times,
she was beaten and kept confined to a solitary room without
food and water for days together; but her parents were
unable to afford to give more than what they had given in
dowry. Money-mania had so much gripped the minds of the
family members that they dreamed, not of Kamla's being
beautiful and faithful to them, but of more money from
parents. As a result, Kamla was extremely frustrated and
depressed from within; and to the surprise of all, she knifed
herself to get rid of such greed and cruel in-laws. She had no
alternative but self-killing.
51
All the incidents of suicide, enumerated so far, have been the
terrible tales in the Indian perspective; but this one is from a
foreign country, Pakistan, as I read it in the newspapers of
11th October, 2001. This incident of suicide was preceded by
some merciless killings of very innocent children. A Muslim
fanatic, namely, Javed Iqbal, of Lahor (Pakistan), aged 45,
was a good looking man, but he was cruel, merciless, and
aghastly in his heart, which nobody could easily understand
his real yet hidden personality. It is unbelievable, Iqbal used
to get pleasure in killing any innocent child, boy or a girl; he
used to roam hither and thither in search of a child in order
to abduct that child on one pretext or the other; but what he
had to do with that boy or girl, is horrible to know. Iqbal first
used to bring the child to a lonely place, and then, started
cutting any of part of his body till the whole body was
thrown into small pieces around. It was his hobby which
nobody could think of such a very beastly way of
entertainment and pleasure.
The above incidents of killing children and
subsequently, cutting and throwing his body into tiny pieces
alarmed the police, and ultimately, Iqbal was caught by
police, when he was doing or disposing the 100th child's
body, i.e., he killed 100 children over some years. The trial
court awarded him a II death penalty" after his cruel crimes
were proved. He was, then, put in the Kot Lakhpat Jail of
Lahor till his beastly crime and death sentence were
confirmed by the High Court. While in jail, Iqbal realized his
guilt and cruelty towards children, also a deep feeling of
infanticide. Before he could be hanged, he committed suicide
in his jail kothri along with Sazid, a co-partner, on 9th of
October, 2001. This end was really a great relief to those who
had school-going children.
52
This is an act of self-destruction by a chowkidar (watchman),
namely, Ram Chandra Singh, aged 47, living in the Jagatpura
area of Jaipur city, along with his family-wife, Maya Devi,
and two children-a son and a daughter. This incident took
place on 17th October, 2001. Ram Chandra Singh was
employed in a factory. His salary was very meager, yet he
was an addict to drinking liquor daily, and that was the main
cause or everyday altercation between him and his wife. At
times, Maya Devi chided him that on the one hand, "Ours is
a condition of poverty, and on the other, you relish drinking
country liquor; this is shameful on your part." Ram Chandra
took it seriously, as an insult and disgrace; his wife had gone
to a neighbour for some work and children to the school on
that fateful day; finding himself alone, Ram Chandra doused
a tin of Kerosene on his clothes; he ignited a match stick; and
thus, he burnt himself to self-destr.uction. It was another way
of very painful suicide when Maya Devi returned back, she
was stunned and cried loudly; the neighbours soon came
there and reported the incident to the police siatiun.
53
A Christian boy of Delhi, namely, George William, aged 25,
was a resident of Saket Colony, and was a sales
representative of a reputed firm of the medical products. He
was earning about six thousand of rupees per month to
support himself and his aged parents, and he was happy
with his present profession and position; but was unmarried
that made him, at times, worried whether the parents of the
Muslim girl in the vicinities of Saket Colony, whom he loved
very much, would agree or not for an inter-religious
marriage. ,The girl, namely, Razia Sultana, aged 21, was also a
liberal one to marry with George William; she was, however,
afraid of her orthodox parents. The affairs of loving each
other continued for a considerable period. Anyhow, Sultana's
parents came to know of it and severely chided her for
marrying a kafir (Non-Muslim). Sultana was, then, confined
to a small room in order to stop her from meeting her lover,
George William. Though he was prepared to embrace Islam
for the sake of his girl friend; but Sultana's parents were
extremely adamant not to go to this way in any circumstance.
Due to her long confinement, Sultana grew nervous and
desperate as to how to face the adverse situation; but
visualizing her dark future, she strangulated herself by so
tightening her scarf that she ended her life within a few
hours on the fateful morning of 23rd of April, 2000.
54
There was a good friend of mine, namely, Satish Kumar,
when I was a student in Agra College. Satish was a
handsome boy, intelligent and also a bit romantic; both of us
were studying in Agra College and we lived together in a big
room of the college hostel for two years. Satish got a
government job in fooacorporation of India (F.CI.) and was
posted in Delhi. I, too, got a government job in Northern
Railway, Baroda House, New Delhi, as a typist. Both of us
used to meet occasionally in Delhi. After a year, I got another
job of an auditor in Accountant General's office in Jaipur in
the year, 1963. Incidentally, Satish was transferred to Jaipur,
and when he was travelling in a bus from Delhi to Jaipur, he
got a seat just near a woman, namely, Jyoti, aged 35, smart
and beautiful. What happened, then? While introducing and
talking to each other, Satish fell in love with Jyoti, who was
unfortunately a widow as her husband, a school headmaster,
died due to a deadly disease. She brought Satish to her house
in Jaipur. Jyoti was also an officer in a corporation of
Rajasthan State, and they began to enjoy mutually as both
were young, and thus, they became virtually a couple,
husband and wife.
Strangely, Satish was married having two lovely sons,
living in Agra, along with their mother. When they grew
young and mature, the story of their father's love affairs with
Jyoti, anyhow, came to their knowledge through their
mother, they started hating their father, Satish, because of his
illegal relationship. Jyoti had also two sons, one by her
deceased husband and other by Satish. Gradually, when her
two sons grew young and mature, they, too, began to hate
Satish, and thus, he became a victim of being discarded by
both sides. Unluckily, Satish was dismissed from service
because of certain corruption charges; then, he wholly
became to be dependent on Jyoti at the age of 55 years; he
turned to be a helpless and sick man, along with being a
felonious old man after realizing the shock of his folly.
Afterwards, Satish wc:ts never respected either by his
previous wife and sons, nor by Jyoti's sons. He was actually
riding on two horses, a difficult task to balance himself. He
crossed sixty years of his life; by then, he faced the pangs of
oldage ailments; and he also met a total accident making him
a crippled one. Satish himself narrated the whole sad story to
me, when we met in Jaipur. The last days of his life turned to
be a frightening hell to him. Though Jyoti had a sympathy for
Satish; but the situation squarely developed into a hostile one
and unbearable to him. Both the families, especially his sons
of the former wife and the present one, condemned him like
anything for his follies. Looking into the severe miseries of
future life, afraid of being dumped and darkened, he so
forcefully struct his head against a sharp edged corner of a
newly built house (to live gracefully and peacefully) that
Satish died instantly but ingloriously. Surprisingly, not a
single son of either side attended his funeral pyre; no
weeping, no tears, thus ended the story of coincident of love
into a grim tragedy. Here one must realize" As you sow, so
you reap."
55
Another young boy, namely Shiva Kumar, aged 25, who
became a victim of suicide, was a lecturer in Rajasthan
Education Service (R.ES.), very handsome, smart and
intelligent; he was posted in government college, Kota, and
was going well as an unmarried young man; but he was in
search of a beautiful companion. Incidentally, Shiva came into
friendly contact with a beautiful lecturer and also girl student
of his college, namely, Sveta and Rajni, of the same age group,
respectively; both fell in love with Shiva, without knowing one
another; but Shiva was, being a romantic lecturer, enjoying her
company. But with the passage of time, he was badly
entangled in conflicting love affairs as Sveta and Rajni, both
emotionally overwhelmed, wanted to marry with Shiva who
had two best alternatives to choose, either one of them. Sveta
was an earning lady; whereas Rajni was a daughter of a very
rich parents. Such was a situation, either this or that way,
which affected the psyche of Shiva adversely, because of
incapability to decide or choose -anyene alternative, though
both the alternatives were almost equal in terms of beauty and
money. In the absence of a firm stand or an indecisive
situation, Shiva pushed himself to go to the road of becoming
a psychopath, that is, he turned to be a person suffering from a
severe mental or emotional disorder. He, then, faced severe
mental illness that affected the whole of his personality which
ultimately led him to be a self-killer by taking poison on the
fateful might of 20th August in 1998.
56
About ten years back, probably in 1992, I read a news of
suicide by a women, that jerked me squarely. A middle class
Thakur family lived in Gwalior, a big city of Madhya
Pradesh, consisting of parents, their two sons, Sohan Singh
and Pratap Singh, and one daughter namely Suman elder
than her two brothers. What happened to this family, was
really an unprecedented event. The parents died because of
some incurable diseases who left Suman and her brothers
helpless and in gloomy situation, and they were really
joggled after their parents' untimely passing away.
79
However, Suman (unmarried) gathered self-confidence
and determination to support her brothers who were, then,
the college going students of their graduation classes. How to
financially support them, was a difficult task before Suman.
Anyhow, she kept them in the college hostel, and then, asked
them to devote their studies so that they could become big
officers. She told her brothers that she would do some work
i1l' Agra (Uttar Pradesh) to earn money and send it to them
regularly by money-orders. On this pretext, Suman reached
Agra where, to one's surprise, she joined a group of
prostitutes. Whatever she earned, she used to send it to them.
After a few years, they became graduates, and luckily, both
the brothers were selected, one as an LA.S. and second as an
LP.S., and got their postings in Madhya Pradesh. Afterwards,
they got married; children were born to them; and asked to
live in government bungalows, with all luxuries of life; but
they worried about Suman.
Eventually, Suman happily came to know all about her
brothers; but by that time, she had grown old with white hair
and wrinkled face. Suman met her brothers one by one with
great hopes. She told how she supported them and that
disgraceful story, infuriated her brothers who not only hated
her; but they and their ultra-modern wives, also forced her to
get out of their bungabws and worried her not to come and
meet them again. In fact, Suman was happy and wished to
live with her brothers for the rest of life. But she faced
condemnation, hate rebuke virtually excommunication by
her brothers, which smashed Suman's whole of psyche.
Again, she reached Agra and the rainy season's jumped from
the Yamuna bridge into fast running water course to get
herself drowned one with nature.
80
57
When I was looking into some newspapers' cuttings related
to the incidents of suicide, I found another instance of an
I.p.s. officer, namely, Sia Ram Meena, who became a victim
of such untoward happenings. He was posted in Tonk, a
district of Rajasthan state, and was a school-going student.
Early marriages are still in vogue among the Meena
community. Two lovely sons; Amar and Karna were born to
Sia Ram Meena and his wife, Bhanwari, who was looking
after the agriculture land, for her saas and sasur had died. No
one, then, new that Meena, a handsome boy, would become
an I.P.S. officer. In Tonk, he was living all alone, because- he
did not like to keep Bhanwari with him as she was not well
educated and modern one to the expectations of a big police
officer.
In fact, the I.P.S. officer was entangled in a dilemma, i.e.,
a situation in which he had to choose between two or more
undesirable things or courses of action. He faced a vague
situation whether to remarry another beautiful and educated
girl of his choice or to keep Bhanwari with him, who was
really a care-taker of Meena's agriculture land and other
properties. The officer was also in a mood to keep his sons
with him in order to give them some opportunities for school
education. He was also not in a position to divorce Bhanwari.
Thus, Sia Ram found himself in a very complex situation to
go to this or that way. In the midst of being gripped in many
alternates, Sia Ram started suffering from mental imbalance,
and one might fed up with an utter loneliness,
indecisiveness, he hanged himself to die from an iron hook of
the ceiling fan; the incident of suicide, took place in the year
1999, which shocked everyone who knew it, especially his
simple wife and two sons. It was really a heart-breaking
incident of suicide.
58
A tribal young man, aged 25, was charged and arrested for
murdering four persons of his area, Bayana, a small city of
Madhya Pradesh state. The man namely, Ram Prasad Gadri,
was locked up in small room of the police station of Byavara.
In fact, Ram Parsad was running from one place to another to
escape his arrest; but during this criminal exercise, he could
not h ~ v e foods for the last three days and was badly feeling
hungry though he was healthy to sustain himself. Anyhow
Gadri dismantled a window of the room, quickly ran
towards a long tree behind the police station and he climbed
up to the top of the tree to willingly die by jumping down.
When the police inspector and other policemen carne to
know of this incident, they requested Gadri to come down;
but he was adamant and afraid of severe beating and torture
by the police. The police inspector, then, sent for a few
journalists and o ~ h e r district official; who appealed him to
safely corne down; he agreed but on the condition that
instead of police atrocities; he should be given foods first. He
was assured by the persons who were present there. The
moment Gadri came down, he was provided with sufficient
eatables which he enjoyed and filled up his belly to the full
capacity. Though Gadri was fully satisfied, yet he was
mentally disturbed assuming that the police would not leave
him now and he would be beaten and tortured black and
blue by the police. Gadri was locked up again. So to avoid
such painful situation, he strangulated by tying tightly his
lungi (a small piece of cloth) around his neck, and thus, Gadri
ended his life intentionally, on the night of 20th october,
2001.
59
This incident of suicide took place in Agra (Uttar Pradesh) in
November, 2000, in which a very handsome boy, aged 25, of
Jatava caste, and a beautiful girl, aged 20, of Vaishya
community, were entangled in love affairs; the boy Ram
Naresh and the girl Suchitra, lived in Belan Ganj locality; and
their love of each other was an affair of inter-caste that is not
allowed among the Hind us irrespective of radical social and
legal changes. Ram Naresh was a graduate in arts; but was
an unemployed and wholly dependent on their parents, who
were not in favour of such love-making and when they came
to know of its seriousness, they conveyed this 1l!atter to the
parents of Suchitra in order to stop her daughter from going
ahead on the road of love. After fully knowing pros and cons
of the ensuing mishappening, they thought of a plan of
marrying her.
One day the father of Suchitra sent for Naresh Kumar
and his parents to his residence and in very polite language,
he said "Naresh, you are an unemployed educated boy. I do
not have any objection; but on one condition, Suchitra may
be married to Naresh.'" "What is the condition?", asked
Naresh. Then, Suchitra's father said, "If you get a
government job within a year from now I shall allow my
daughter to marry you irrespective of whatever the
indignation I may face in my family or from the relations".
The parents of Naresh agreed, and Naresh too, was happy to
_Terrible Tales of Suicide 83
listen to such a liberal attitude of a Vaishya. Despite his best
efforts, Naresh could not succeed to get any government job,
and the period of one year came to its end to the surprise of
Naresh, and he faced a situation of deep frustration and
failure to fulfill his dream of an inter-caste marriage.
After the lapse of one year, Suchitra's parents were
happy and at the earliest, they arranged the marriage of their
daughter with a boy of Vaishya community. How could the
course of events may turn to the bad luck of both, Naresh
and Suchitra? Neither the parents of the boy, nor the parents
of the girl, could think of it. With all the best wishes, Suchitra
went to her new home after her marriage. Anyhow, she knew
what had happened to thwart the story of love, pure and
pious. Before she could celebrate her bedding night in a well
decorated and profusely perfumed room, she tightened her
chunni (scarf) around her neck and forcefully strangulated
herself to death so that she could keep her virginity intact. In
fact, her new companion, was thrust on her without her
conset. Incidentally, the same night Naresh, too hanged
himself to death by the ceiling fan. The story of a true love
between Naresh and Suchitra reached its climax to a horrible
end into their suicides at two different places but the same
night probably to convey the message of annihilating the
barriers of caste, or creed, in matters of love and friendship.
It seems, as if both the victims were made, or scarified, for
each other.
60
The last to mention, are the two incidents of suicide by two
women, one married and second unmarried, namely, Saroj,
aged 35, and Rajni, aged 28, respectively, as appeared in the
newspapers of 6th October, 2001. Both the incidents of
suicide took place in Jaipur, one in Murlipura and second in
Shastri Nagar localities. Though both the cases have different
reasons; yet' seem to b(! the most frigptening ones. The
husband of Saroj was a vegetable seller, who as a bread-
winner, always engaged himself in his work right from early
morning to the last of visible rays of sun. One the one hand,
Saroj was worried about her business, and on the other, she
also felt loneliness the whole day without any merry-making
with her own kids, and such a frustrated situation made her
a mental case of multiple personality, that is, she used to
work with changing moods behaving as a normal woman
before her husband; but in his absence, she started behaving
in a different mood like one that of a lunatic personality.
Ultimately. After being a shattered lady frem within one day
Saroj doused a tin of kerosene her self and ignited with a
match stick, and thus, she ended her life to the surprise of her
husband, who sincerely looked after Saroj to help and
encouraged her to live happily; but the destiny did not oblige
him.
As regard the self-destruction of Rajni, she could not
face the situation of being rejected repeatedly by many boys
and their parents not finding her a suitable match due to her
blackish colour, short height, and unattractive personality,
though she was an educated girl, expert in household
management, homely and adjustable, too. Rajni's parents
always encouraged her to wait patiently by advising, "Dear
daughter, face the situation for the time being and look
forward; as we believe, in each and everyone's life, whether a
girl or a boy, there comes a time when the course of events so
turns in favour that one gets what one resolutely wishes,
wants or intends, to achieve; but one has to wait, peacefully,
with hope till hope creates hope." Anyhow, Rajni could not
abide by her parents' advice, who were really optimists in
order to sustain themselves for the sake of their family's
welfare and happiness. She lost her mental balance; and one
night she consumed a heavy dose of celphos tablets to end
her own anxieties and miseries, and also to give relief to
parents from the burdensome responsibility of getting her
married to live peacefully.
61
While reading the newspaper of 13th November, 2001,
(Rajasthan Patrika), I found two more incidents of suicide, one
couplery and second collective one. The victim couple were
Bajrang Kaushik (age 30) and his wife Saroj Kaushik (age 28),
who were the residents of Malviya Nagar of Jaipur and
walked on foot near the Khatipura Railway Station of Kanota
Police Station. There they waited for the fast running the Puja
Express train and when the train approached them, tightly
hands shaked, jumped suddenly before the engine and thus,
ended their lives on the evening of 13th November, 2001.
Their bodies were badly crushed into pieces to give a
frightening scene to those who witnessed it.
What was the reason to go to such an extreme step? As
written on a piece of paper kept in the pocket of Bajrang
Kaushik, his younger brother, Gopal, had been facing a
dispute, or an altercation, with his wife over an allegation
that Gopal had illegal sex relationship with his bhavi (Saroj
Kaushik); right or wrong, it was serious allegation to tarnish
the images of Bajrang and Saroj. The parents of Gopal's wife
were pressuring her to entangle Gopal in a dowry case. It
was also written on the piece of paper that they were
voluntarily committing suicide and after their death, the
whole of their own property be transferred in the name of
Elu, their only son, and Elu should also be sent to his nana-
nani (the parents of Saroj) living in Kolkata, to be brought up
and educated there. The couple Bajrang and Saroj, were
really stunned and shattered from within by an utter false
allegation.
62
The second incident of collective suicide was really a
frightening mishappening when husband and wife, Dhanesh
Singh, an assistant teacher, aged 45, and his wiflf' Deepa, aged
40, residents of Bikaner (a district of Rajasthan State), along
with their two sons, Rohit and Vikas (school-going children)
committed suicide in Ajmer on 12th of November, 2001.
Theirs was a small family of four members; they came to
Ajmer from Bikaner on 10th of November; they stayed in
Lodha Dharmshala of Khailand market; and interestingly,
before suicide, they visited Pushkar, a religious place, to have
blessings of God. They also met Dr. Alok Garg of Ajmer for
having some medicines for one of their sons who was
suffering from fever and throat infection. Dhanesh Singh's
wife telephoned to her brother to inform that she was going
to commit suicide. Before any relative could save them, the
husband and wife first gave potassium cyanide powder to
their sons, who died soon, and then, they themselves took the
same powder to go to the way of self-killing. They locked the
doors of room number seven from inside and thus, all the
four victims went into the heaven of eternal sleep.
87
Dhanesh Singh left a piece of paper in which was
written, "I have left a sum of Rs. Eight thousand in order to
perform well all the religious rites of my family according to
the Hindu Shastras; the property I have in my name be
transferred in the name of my mother. We have gone to the
committal of suicide at our own, and therefore, no one is
responsible for our suicide. I also request the police not to
entangle anyone of my relatives as our act of suicide is
voluntary. II What had led Dhanesh Singh and his wife Deepa
to commit suicide in Ajmer? It remained a mystery as
nothing apparently was clear or visible to anyone of their
parents, brothers and sisters. Anyhow, we may only presume
that certain conditions, or inherent causes, would have led
them to commit the couplery suicide preceded by the cruel
murder of the two lovely sons.
63
During the years 2000-2001, the process and movement of
making "Jaipur, the Pink City, a heritage city", by the
government, thousands of daily bread-winners through their
roadside tea-stalls, dhawas (food hotels under tin shades or
thatched covers), vegetable sellers sitting on the roadsides,
and some others like hotel or pan-masala and fruit sellers,
were displaced suddenly and mercilessly, creating overnight
problems to the poor, illiterate, even some educated youths
doing such works or engaged in boot-polish and shoes
repairing. Although these bread-winners had occupied road-
sides against the government or J.D.A.'s (Jaipur
Development Authority) rules without permission yet the
authorities were so coercive and inhuman that such sudden
dismantling and battering the established means of
livelihood, had driven some persons, so engaged to go to the
way of self-killings, because they had to face unexpected
unemployment and economic hardships.
A few of the bread-winners, namely, Jay Ram Meena,
betel-seller who' had his wife and two small babies to feed;
Sarupi Bai, a widow engaged in selling vegetables having
three daughters to feed; Ram Lalvani, a fruit-seller, having a
large family depending on him for bread, living in different
localities of Jaipur city, committed suicides in the last days of
the year 2000. Not only these, some other extremely poor
persons, also adopted to die rather than living like beggars'
life. It was a matter of surprise and shock to them that no
alternative places were provided to them; rather, their
dismantled materials were destroyed completely by J.D.A.
and dumped somewhere else also. The beautification of
Jaipur was, in fact, carried on at the cost of the poor people's
bread and employment (roti and employment) as it left them
in a desperate situation.
What I have narrated here is not to suggest that the
work of beautification, or making Jaipur, a heritage city,
should be discontinued henceforth. I have simply indicated
as how to rehabilitate those whose means of livelihood have
been uprooted by force before they are displaced. The same
thing happened on 23rd of November, 2001, when thousands
of bread-winner1s tin shades, thatched places, etc., were
forcibly uprooted in the 'Thadi Market' of Mansarovar
Colony of Jaipur. Due to this operation, a few of them were
pushed to the ways of suicide. Such a sudden and
unexpected process of dismantling may be held responsible
for driving the most poor men or women to any mis-
happening. To be brief, a situation of unemployment,
economic hardships and miseries should not be created
I
overnight at least by the government or J.D.A. without
warning and providing suitable alternatives to earn
livelihood, i.e., rotiroji.
64
This is an incident of murder before suicide that took place in
a village of Ghadshana town of District Bikaner (Rajasthan
State) on the night of 5th December, 2001. Balvindra Singh
Bavery, aged 42, of this village had taken meals along with
his family members and slept on his cot. At about 10 p.m.,
Bavery stood up from his cot and he picked a sharp-edged
iron weapon that was kept in his house. Then, he furiously
a t t a c k ~ d his sleeping wife, Preetam Kaur, aged 40, again and
again, so cruelly till her head was shattered into small pieces.
Listening to the frightening cry of their mother, the three
children suddenly awoke. They were squarely stunned.
While two of them, afraid of Bavery's cruelty, hid themselves
under her mother's cot; but the daughter of Preetam Kaur,
namely, Buggi, aged 15, came forward to the rescue of her
mother so courageously that she fought against her father,
the killer. Anyhow, Balvindra Singh caught Buggi tightly and
threw her on the cot, and then, he, like a beast, attacked
Buggi on her face by the same iron weapon for about seven
to eight times and .. this way, she was also murdered. Many
times, he attacked both wife and daughter till he became sure
that they were died.
Balvindra Singh, himself shocked extremely, sat
peacefully for some moments and then, drank a bottle of
pesticide, poisonous liquid, to kill himself. For about three
hours, he ran hither and thither inside the house like a
lunatic because of extreme painful situation. Ultimately, he,
too went into an eternal sleep. The process of murders and
suicide continued for three hours as the two hidden children
(6 and 8 years) saw with amazing eyes and sensitive ears.
The infighting between father and daughter to stop the
cruelty and killing was really a shuddering event for
anybody. No pity, no love, no filiality, the ghastly murders
resulted in suicide because of Balvinder Singh's mental
imbalances and inability to adjust with faithful wife and
lovely children.
65
The last to mention is an incident of suicide that happened in
Kota city of Rajasthan State on the evening of 5th of
December, 2001. A handicap Devi Singh, aged 55, was a peon
in the Rajasthan State Electricity Corporation, Kota. For the
last 28 years, handicapped due to poliomyelitis in both of his
legs, he was working as a chowkidar (watchman) in the fifth
unit of R.S.E.C. He got this job as a reserved candidate from
the handicaps' quota, and had to be retired after 5 years from
now. The officials of the corporation asked him to voluntarily
retire. Devi Singh kept himself mum and did not apply for
voluntary retirement. The officials, then, started torturing
him mentally in one way or the other. An asst. engineer of his
unit, Muneshwar Singh, not only tortured j)evi Singh alone
but also his son, Manohar Singh, a student of 12th class who
used to help his father to bring him daily by cycle so that in
day time he could continue his studies. Devi Singh was the
only bread-winner for the whole of his family.
Then, the asst. engineer took it seriously as to why Devi
Singh could not abide by his advice to retire. The engineer
not only used invectives against both father and son, and he
also ordered-if Devi Singh could not bring his son any day,
the day would be treated as I absent' I hence no payment of
such an absent day. It was a sufficient warning to mentally
disturb the father and his son, Manohar Singh. This
threatening made the boy to discontinue his studies. In fact,
Manohar Singh wanted to replace his father, if the officials
could do so; but his request was rejected outright. One day,
the engineer sent for Devi Singh in his room and forcibly
ordered him to sign the papers of his premature retirement,
and in such a clever way, Devi Singh was retired voluntarily.
On the evening of 5th December, Manohar Singh came
to know of it after his father came out of the room. It was a
severe mt'ntal shock to him. Suddenly he rushed to his home
leaving his father on duty. What had happened, then, was an
unexpected event without telling the horrible tale of his
father's torture to anybody, he hanged himself to the ceiling
hook to commit suicide, and anyhow, when Devi Singh
reached his home, he, too, was terribly shocked to learn the
story that turned into a tragedy of his son.
To elaborate and emphasize these incidents of suicide
are sufficient to give us a vivid picture of how and why one
goes to the gallows, i.e., what impels to condemn oneself to
death undergoing the most painful experience. We can draw
certain conclusions; apparent reasons, inherent causes or
many other hidden aspects to unfold, from these terrible tales
of suicide. Let us, therefore, move towards the issues related
or relevant to these unfortunate happenings in human
societies. Some of the foregoing incidents of suicide have
been so complicated and confusing that can perplex anyone
who comes forward to study them in all of their aspects and
meanings.
Apparent Reasons for Suicide
In view of Dr. c.J. John, a psychologist of Medical Trust
Hospital (Ernakulam), the flashing of suicide news as
published in newspapers, are partially responsible for
propelling persons to go to the way of self-killing. John has
made a report of his studies about suicides, and he has
discovered that the publishing of news of suicide is so
dramatic and deadly that produces self-destructive moods
and motives to lead the persons towards the vicious circle of
self-killing. The news are also flashed in framed language
along with details of suicides, that the persons, finding
similar situation of facts, and factors are influenced to
embrace death willingly to end the anxieties and miseries of
their life.
This is a good study of suicide events, but the flashing of
news is not the cogent reason behind the suicides. This may
be one of the apparent reasons like that one among which we
have already mentioned. Here it may be noted that the
illiterate or uneducated men or women, who do not read
Apparent Reasons for Sllicide 93
newspapers also commit suicides. So the flashing of news
cannot be inherently the valid reason to encourage persons
for going to the way of suicide. Apparent reasons are those
that are clearly seen or understood obviously. Such apparent
reasons seem real or true, but not always necessarily so.
There is something deep, apparently not known, that
suddenly sparks within one's psyche to commit suicide. Here
we may explain the apparent reasons or the ways with case-
wise that are found in the earlier instances. These are as
follows:
1. The boy, who committed suicide, was so sensitive to his
father's addiction to drink liquor and begging money
from the students of his college, that he could not face
the shameful situation or stop from what his father was
doing disgracefully the ignoble acts.
2. The next boy, who committed suicide, was prompted to
go to this way because of his father's warning of beating,
if he did not rise early in the morning to walk like him.
The fear of beating and inability to follow or obey his
father's order led him to embrace death.
3. In the third case, the professor, really found himself in
the grip of his deadly disease, i.e., stomach cancer,
which so frightened him to end his life that was
inevitably visible to him, and as he thought, sooner the
self-killing the better way was to finish his life at the
earliest. The apparent reason was the fear of deadly
cancer, a surest way to death.
4. In this incident of suicide, the apparent reason was the
lack of mutual co-operation, or disharmony between the
husband and the wife. The lady's stubborn attitude may
also be added to as the supporting ground for suicide.
5. The next events of suicide were due to illegal sex
relationship between a married husband and the woman
other than his wife or a woman's illegal sex relationship
with a man other than her husband. The moment such
relationship is known to either one, the helpless wife or
the frustrated husband becomes prone to commit
suicides. In the cited case, the stubborn attitude of man's
beloved was an apparent reason.
6. Here we may find the ill-treatment of her son's wife by
the mother-in-law (saas) vis-a-vis the sensitive nature of
the deceased. The conflicting egos of saas and bahus are
common these days to cause family tensions.
7. An altercation between the husband and the wife may
also be an apparent reason of the husband's suicide. The
severe shock may also be added to cause suicide by
somebody.
8. It was an obvious fact, the fourth wife's bad economic
condition, turned into stress and depression, led her
commit suicide as a way to end all anxieties and
miseries.
9. In this case of suicide, the apparent reason was student's
failure in examination or an unexpected lowest marks in
examination. As inability to face shameful performance
in any competition test may lead a sensitive student to
commit suicide.
10. Herein the pressure of work or strenuous duties, along
with loneliness or loveless nights may be the apparent
reasons of suicide by an I.P.S. lady, though her husband
was also an LA.5. officer, and as such, there was no
economic hardship or unemployment before her.
Apparent Reasons for Suicide 95
11. This case of suicide was a strange event as it involved a
seasoned LA.S. officer. He could have faced the political
pressure situation created by V.I.P. politicians'
interference for getting some benefits by way of illegal
indulgence; but unfortunately, he went to take an
extreme step of self-killing.
12. This event of suicide involved a girl's high and
ambition, and the way she adopted to realize
it was uncalled for as her parents were not in favour of
such a career in film industries. She escaped with a lot of
money without her parents' wishes and she got nothing
except disgraceful end.
13. It was a suicide by a karorpati due to enormous loss of
money in shares' business. A greedy attitude is involved
in such suicide, though the very aged businessman, had
enough money to sustain any reverse situation.
14. The mental and physical torture of newly married girls
due to insufficient dowry may be an apparent reason,
though the husband may be to her side, which, too, was
disliked by the in-laws. A greed for more dowry is
commonly found almost in all instances of self-killing by
the newly married women.
15. The Kathmandu horrible murders and the suicide by the
crown-prince were complex, but apparently failure in
love-marriage, or greed for kings' chair (gaddi), was the
cause behind such a grimy situation of his parents;'
murder, along with other members of royal family,
leading to self-killing. There may be other reasons of
political, or even a part of conspiracy, but love and
greed were inevitably involved in it.
96 A Philosophy of Sllicide
16. This case unfolds the terrible tale of unmarried sisters
and their parents who committed collective suicide
because of orthodox mentality, blind belief in traditions
and customs or social taboos, which forbid inter-caste
marriage or in the same gotras, among the Brahmins, the
twice-born ones.
17. The uneven distribution of agricultural land and
immovable property among sons may also be apparent
reasons, along with father's adamant refusal to do the
desired things by one or all of the sons. In this case of
suicide, the married son and daughter-in-law (bahu)
wanted to be independent from joint family that was
unacceptable to the father, which led to a collective
suicide, including the killing of innocent kids.
18. The suicide, a ghastly collective one, took place due to
neighbour's false allegation for his daughter's elopement
with the connivance of his neighbour and subsequent
police torture and atrocities, and this hostile situation
turned to be apparent reasons for a collective suicide
along with innocent children.
19. Ernest Hemingway committed suicide as a result of his
inability to keep promise or due to utter depression
because of his mind did not work to his expectations. He
was also a wine addict that made him weak and fickle-
minded to do things as he wished.
20. Here the apparent reasons of suicide were husband's
being liquor-addict and his wife's deep frustration to
stop her husband from being such a bad habitual
person. The heavy liquor or wine drinking becomes
apparent reason in many cases of suicide. A woman's
barrenness may also be added to the occurrence of
suicide events as we observe in this instance.
21. The huge loss of money, the resultant inability to pay
debts, fear to become poor, imprisonment causing social
disgrace, indignity and social disgrace may be noted in
this case of suicide as some apparent factors for self-
killing by both the rich and the educated persons.
22. This incident of suicide clearly involved the shameful
and disgraceful act on the part of the woman who
wanted to be independent and distribution of
agricultural land among the sons_ by her father-in-law
for which she strangulated him. H ~ "husband felt very
shameful and started hating his wife. First the husband
committed suicide and then, his wife did so. The double
suicide happened due to greed and hatred for in-laws.
23. The poor farmers committed suicides because of
poverty, natural disasters, draughts, continuing bad or
less profitable crops, and inability to repay the loans.
These suicides also involved the ideas of dark future.
24. The old man (majdur), after his death, faced loneliness
and indifferent attitude towards him by the family
members, which afflicted the aged one, so he committed
suicide in a way, quite strange as he jumped over the
live wires of electricity. Infirmity, blindness and being
belittled may be added to as supporting grounds for
suicide.
25. Herein are the instances which have religious sanctity
for suicides or fanaticism for doing so as Hara-Kiri, Jal-
Samadhi, Santhara, Sati and Johar. Such ways were
regarded as good and morally justifiable in olden days.
26. This instance of suicide by an employed girl happened
due to her being of low height, sarcastic or teasing
language used by her office colleagues and anxieties on
the part of her parents and sisters. With growing age,
'she could not adjust with such a hostile situation.
27. Hitler's suicide was a unique event as he could not like
to be captured alive and humiliated and hanged
publicly. He died for his honour and bravery in the last
of his days, along with his secretary wife, Ivana. It is
said, 'Better to kill oneself gracefully than to live in
slavery or prison".
28. The self-immolation of Sanatan Mohanti was a feeling of
loneliness, being childless, and the unbearable mental
shock, after his wife's death as she was the lone and
devoted housewife in the family. The feeling of
frustration and desperation led him to end his life along
with the burning pyre of Sanjuwala.
29. The self-burning of Mrs. Kamla Devi involved the
feeling of humiliation and disgrace to herself and the
family due to illegal love affairs and infidelity on the
part of her husband it also battered her psyche, along
with family tension and frustration.
30. Anyhow, Berly wanted to take revenge in return to her
being suffered at the hands of her bhabhi-Saguni and
she murdered Saguni and Dhanpu mercilessly. It was
really a result of deep anger and injury of Berly's
psyche, and the resultant fear, tension and disgrace. It
was a suicide due to the feeling of a felony on the part of
Berly.
31. It was a suicide by a political worker apparently because
of his inability to carryon the party affairs; he might be
a victim of loneliness as a result of his being unmarried
and also due to some mutual conflicts with party
workers.
32. The murder and suicide clearly show as to how close
friendship between Rajendra and Sridhar turned into
hostility and enmity just out of one's greed for money to
attract a girl who had nothing to do with Rajendra's one-
sided love. The murder was a cruel criminal act, and the
subsequent suicide demonstrated one's greed, feeling of
deep repentance and self-condemnation as Rajendra
achieved nothing but contempt of his psyche at his own.
33. The death of her two sons within a span of five years
had frightened Chameli who also suspected that her
third son, too, would not survive more, and without the,
she would not be able to face numerous hardships that
may come up henceforth. It was clearly an extreme
shock and dark future that pushed Chameli to jump into
the well in order to end her fear and anxiety.
34. It was an illegal sex relationship, adultery, disgraceful
act, on the part of the saint as well as the lady. The saint
was not expected to do such heinous crime as he was a
sannyasi to seek moksha by renunciation and meditation.
35. The victim could not visualize the distance between the
ideas and the facts; he found himself in a situation of
mental agony, though he was shown many beautiful
girls; no choice, only suicide ended his worries and
fantasies.
36. The main reasons of suicide among the terrorists or
militants are to save themselves from the fear or the
frightening situation of cruel methods of torture,
mentally and physically, at the hands of police or
100 A Philosophy oj :)ulclde
military forces, they prefer to die rather than disgrace,
indignity and insult to their personalities. It is deemed to
be a great honour to the victims of their native land.
37. In this event of collective suicide, the apparent reason
was acute poverty, hunger and starving situation that
squarely shattered the family of Saida Khatoon. She
could not face or see the starving children before her
eyes, and as a result of sensing dark future, she took
such an extreme step of self-destruction.
38. The behaviour of the so-called modern bahu (bride) of
the I.A.S. officer was rude and cruel driving the in-laws
in a disgraceful living that inevitably turned into an
unbearable and melancholic situation for them better to
die rather than surviving a few years more.
39. The Hindu society is so conservative that in the fast
changing world, it does not tolerate inter-caste
marriages. The couplery suicide was a result of caste
barriers, the boy being from the so-called high caste and
the girl from a very low caste; both were mentally
disturbed and realized their inability to live a love-
marriage, peacefully and independently. This way their
lovely dreams were bruised aside.
40. This case of suicide involved a Dalit (Scheduled Caste)
boy and a twice-born girl; both were well educated and
adult ones to know the pros and cons of love-marriage.
The incident of suicide was the result of a cruel and
painful murder of the Dalit boy on the part of the village
panchayat and the subsequent self-destruction by the
girl clearly showed how the caste factor played its
heinous role. This was really a shocking event to all
those who read it in newspapers.
Apparent Reasons for Suicide
lOt
41. This incident of suicide involves the apparent reasons as
poverty, the economic hardship, and the evil design of
the owner of the rickshaw to have illicit sex relationship
with Govindi. When her husband came to know about it
as told by Govindi, he decided to leave the town (Alwar)
to escape the coercion of the owner of rickshaw; but the
owner, anyhow, entered into the compartment of the
train and both the parties had same heated discussion
that resulted in jumping out the compartment of the
couple along with their innocent five year old boy.
42. It was the matter of caste discrimination against Lal
Chand by his office colleagues, and he had also the
responsibility to get his daughters married at the
earliest. But Lal Chand, being also a drug-addicted, was
unable to do what he wanted. Herein the apparent
reasons were triple in nature - caste-bias, liquor
addiction and poverty, which pushed Lal Chand to go to
self-destruction.
43. The self-killing of Abhishek was apparently due to
ragging i.e., mockery and teasing, by the senior students
which he could not resist bold but meekly submitted
himself to the refuge of suicide. As he was always afraid
of being ragged thinking he could not do justice to his
studies and parents as well.
44. This suicide by an aged person, 70 years Shy am Lal, was
apparently due to two main reasons - (i) the death of his
beloved wife who always looked after her husband's
care and comforts; and (ii) an utter loneliness, along
with indifferent attitudes towards him by his sons and
daughters-in-law. It is the general trend against the aged
or infirm persons these days in the so-called modern
society.
45. The self-destruction by the terrorists is also a mode of
suicide; but it involves either pre-suicide killings or
followed by murders of others. This mode of self-
destruction has assumed an alarming way of suicide,
killing at the same time, several persons. Apparently, its
main reason is to sacrifice oneself for a greater cause or a
holy war against the enemies in the name of a religion
and fundamentalism.
46. The suicide by Kishori Lal took place due to his negative
thinking or false belief that he would not be cured of the
disease like epilepsy and migraine and to survive long
without the help of continuing consumption of
medicines, and thus, to end all the deadly ailments of
life, he committed suicide that grievously stunned his
family members.
47. This incident of suicide by Sukka was a result of the
comparison of his princely life to the life of ignominy,
beating and torturing, after he was captured by the
police. He, then, realized that his survival would no
longer be worthwhile and it was better for him to die to
get rid of further humiliation at the hands of police,
though he deserved for such an ill-treatment being a
mafia chief and a murderer of his associate.
48. Such a couplery incident of suicide by a brother and a
sister was really heart-breaking and extremely painful
not only to their parents but also to all those who carne
to know of it. The main apparent reason for that suicide
was a constant family feud or conflict between the
husband and the wife. It was really not a suicide to the
taste of both of them as it became a desperate and
unbearable family situation.
1\ !'pnrent Reasons for Suicide 103
49. The incidents of self-destructive suicide followed by
killings of unconcerned people, are to sacrifice oneself
for a greater cause, i.e., either to liberate the people or to
gain sympathy from the fellow-countries in their favour.
In a sense, this is nothing bl,lt a false step or an act of
madness on the part of the terrorists, the so-called
zehadis.
50. The suicide by the two young women, Sarita and Kamla,
was a result of their being ill-treated and dehumanized
by the in-laws, even by their husbands. Sarita committed
suicide because she was regarded as inauspicious,
having an evil spirit; whereas Kamla did so because of
extreme torture and inhuman behaviour towards her by
in-laws for bringing to them insufficient dowry in cash.
The ladies had no alternative but self-destruction.
51. It was beyond anyone's understanding as to what led
Javed Iqbal to kill the children in such a beastly way.
The apparent reasons of his suicide would have been the
sudden self-realization of his folly, guilt or heinous
criminal acts against the children, the madness inherent
in his mindset, and also the feeling of self-condemnation
for his 1/ sarzad gunah". Before Iqbal could be hanged till
death, he adopted the way of self-destruction. In fact,
Iqbal realized that his death was surely near and it
would be better to die at his own, so he went to finish
his life inside the jail premises.
52. This self-burning case of suicideoy Ram Chandra Singh
was clearly a result of poverty or economic hardship and
of his being an addicted to liquor, which led to the daily
clash between him and his wife, though Maya Devi was
right and honest to ask him to leave the habit of
drinking liquor driving the whole family to acute
poverty. In fact, had her husband left the drinking habit,
the family tension or mutual dispute could have saved
him from suicide.
53. This incident of suicide by Razia Sultana was dearly a
result of an uncompromising and stubborn, or say, very
orthodox attitude of her parents; in other words, the
inter-religion marriages are not encouraged in Indian
society; rather, such marriages are deemed to be a
sacrilege that can also invite the wrath of Almighty, God
or Allah.
54. The tragical end of Satish's life was an obvious result of
his adultery, ill-legal sex relationship with Jyoti, a young
widow and shamming him by his sons with contempt
and condemnation; he realized his felony pushing Satish
to self-destruction; and his inability to adopt himself
with the hostile and ignoble situation emerged out
because of his riding on the two horses (two families) at
the same time, keeping his two legs each one on their
backs, a very dangerous game.
55. The psyche of Shiva Kumar was initially a strong and
balanced one; but his being entangled in the situation of
an utteJ: indecision, severe mental and emotional
disorder of his personality, led him to take a disastrous
step for self-destruction, which looked unusual and
strange one to all of his colleagues, students, and also to
the ladies, Sveta and Rajni. At times, this happens in the
cases of confused and indecisive love affairs.
56. After the demise of her parents Suman became a
pr9stitute for the sake of her brothers to rise in life. In
fact, they became big bureaucrats but to condemn hate,
rebuke and excommunicate their sister, who sacrificed
all her dignity, virginity and happiness for a greater
cause. Suman lost all that for which she had undergone
to face the hardships of life, but unfortunately she met
indignities one after another to die in the way of suicide.
She, in fact, began a disgraceful profession that resulted
in her unfortunate end. Suman was also aggrieved
because first of all, her brothers refused to recognize her,
and then, after listening to her disgraceful story of past
life, they recognized her as Suman; but did not to give
any shelter; instead, to use invectives against her, which
pushed Suman to die herself somewhere also.
57. The victim of suicide was an I.P.S. officer, who was
entangled in a dilemma, which was a result of an early
unmatched marriage, utter loneliness, indecisiveness in
a situation of certain alternatives, and the feeling of
divorce, along with love of little sons and greed for
property. It was really a riddle for the writers like me, as
to why he could not resolve such a hostile situation that
compelled him.
58. The victim of suicide, Ram Prasad Gadri, though a
criminal, yet he was badly afraid of severe beating,
torture and atrocities by the police, and in fact, he was
given a severe jolt, a sudden shock to accept his criminal
acts. Whatever, the story, Gadri committed suicide to
escape the ensuing inhuman atrocities by police officials,
though he was also a cruel and beastly murderer.
59. This was an end of the terrible tale of a true love and
friendship between the victims of double suicide
belonging to two different castes, that is, the apparent
reasons, being the rigid and intolerant attitude towards
inter-caste marriages or inter-creed marriages in Indian
society. Despite many radical changes in our legal
system, such marriages are hated and condemned by
orthodox and fundamentalistic elements prevailing in
matters of love-marriages.
60. The incidents of suicide, committed by Saroj and Rajni,
were of typical nature as one was married and second
was unmarried. As our experiences unfold, one may be
frustrated even after marriage or one may also be
unhappy even being unmarried. Reasons were apparent
in terms of acute desperate situation as well as of the
visualization of dark future. If one fails to face things as
they come, one goes to the way of suicides, nobody can
help him at any cost.
61. The whole of the family was facing an acute situation of
mutual distrust and non-cooperation, serious doubtful
allegation against Gopal by his own wife to have illegal
sex relationship with Saroj, and that was unbearable to
Bajrang, who along with Saroj, went to commit suicide,
leaving behind Elu, their only son, forlorn. Such
couplery suicide could be undertaken only when the
victims become entirely battered by disgrace, false
allegation and continuing family tension.
62. This was an incident of a couplery suicide, probably,
due to property disputes and their being seriously
battered from within for reasons best known to Dhanesh
Singh and his wife; otherwise they could have never
taken such an extreme step to kill their own sons by
giving them the powder of potassium cyanide, and then,
to kill themselves. Who could murder their sons? No one
except the parents facing a very tense and unavoidable
situation responsible for their shattered self-images.
63. Here a sudden and unexpected change or .dismantling of
the means of livelihood mercilessly by J.D.A., necessarily
shocked the victims of suicide, as they came overnight in
a very desperate situation to face economic hardships.
There were no alternative immediately available to them
and as such, the victims went to the ways of suicide
leaving behind crying and weeping the family members.
64. The cause of suicide after two murders by Balvindra
Singh Bavery of his wife and daughter was not economic
condition or hardship; but the loss of mental balance as
well as the resulting maladjustment with the whole of
the family. He was extremely a mental case for reasons
unknown to any of his family set-up. In fact, there could
have been the double role of Bavery, i.e., one normal in
day true, whereas abnormal in night, which led to such a
beastly act of murders and suicide.
65. The suicide of Manohar Singh was entangled in a
juxtapose of both apparent and inherent causes, that is,
the torture of his handicapped father, Devi Singh, and
subsequent forced voluntary retirement along with
invectives used against his father and himself. He could
not bear the insulting or disgraceful behaviour and also
the forced retirement of Devi Singh. The suicide was a
result of severe mental shock to Manohar Singh, the
sensitive boy of tender age who wanted to get a
government job before the retirement of his father; but
his ambition faced a unbearable situation for self-killing.
There may be so many instances of fearful suicides that
one may feel shuddered, and become deeply emotional after
reading and listening to the horrible tales as to how men or
women, even adults, adopt so painful ways to die that may
also frighten anyone. Self-killing scenes, if taken seriously,
can drive anyone who is sensitive and humane, and that is
why persons avoid to see the ghastly places where suicides
happen. The apparent reasons, in fact, may be numerous; but
some representative, or clearly visible, causes may be
summarized as follows:
Intolerable shameful and situation;
Habitual drink and rude behaviour;
Fear of invectives and severe beating by parents;
Mutual distrust and non-eo-operation between the close
relatives;
Illegal sex relationship either by husband or by wife
with any other person;
Stubborn and cruel attitude;
Ill-treatment and altercation between the two persons
like wife and husband;
Severe shock due to sudden and unexpected events or
murders:
Fear of dark future due to acute poverty, unemployment
and hunger;
For one's honour and dignity;
Family conflict, clash and tension;
Mental stress and depression;
Economic hardship and unemployment;
Apparent Reasons for Suicide 1U9
Loneliness and indifferent attitude of family members
towards the aged ones or family disputes;
Pressure of work and inability to finish it in time;
Loveless nights and haunting loneliness;
Unexpected and sudden happenings of unsavoury
events;
Political failure and non-achievement of the desired
goals;
Sacrifice for a greater cause of the freedom;
Extremely illegal or corrupt practices anyhow, when
corne to light;
High ambitions and unending desires;
Enormous loss of money and failure in business and the
resultant inability to repay debts;
Inability to work efficiently and resultant frustration or
depression;
Failure in examination;
Mental and physical torture;
Insufficient dowry in cash and kind;
Self-realization of a felony;
Unsavoury greed for wealth and social prestige;
Alienation and condemnation;
Unsuccessful love-making and severe shock due it;
Shock of one's loss of sons;
Orthodox and fanatic mentality;
False allegation and long court cases;
Police coercion, torture and atrocities;
Diseases like cancer and leuchaemia, epilepsy and
migraine;
Inability to keep promises;
Utter depression and deep melancholy;
Fear of deadly diseases and boredom of taking life long
medicines;
Indecisiveness in choosing one of many alternatives;
Situation of unbearable desperation;
Rude and cruel behaviour of ultra-modern lady towards
her in laws;
Being very sensitive and emotional in life;
Unmatched early marriages;
Inability to repay heavy debts;
Extreme poverty, hunger and starvation;
Infidelity either on the part of wife or of husband;
Deep anxieties and situational pressures;
Unbearable hostile and enmity situation;
Social disgrace due to imprisonment;
Wide-ranging frustration and maladjustment;
Infertility and barrenness of a woman;'
Self-contempt and repentance;
Molestation and rape;
Disgraceful profession like prostitution;
Insufficient income to feed the large family members;
Fantasies of impossible ~ a t u r e ;
Inter-religious marriages deemed to be a sacrilege;
Severe punishments by village panchayatas;
Parents' pressure on their sons or daughters to do things
according to their wishes or daily routine;
Humiliation and disgrace to the entire family due to
infidelity and family tension;
A feeling of revenge as a result of deep clash between
the two ladies' egoisms etc.;
Mental shock, a feeling of loneliness and losing a good
companion;
Caste barriers and the stubborn or orthodox attitudes of
the parents;
Extreme intolerance of inter-caste marriages, especially
love marriages between different castes;
A situation of continuing feud and quarreling;
Sudden death of someone, the dearest most;
Ragging, i.e., mockery and teasing in educational
institutions; and
False notion about someone being inauspicious and
possessing evil spirit.
As we have observed earlier, each incident of suicide has
its own unique background and other factors - social,
economic, political, flashing of news condemning the persons
involved, which instigate them to go to the way of suicide.
Almost in all human societies individual, couplery or
collective suicides take place in certain incidents, even the
innocent kids are taken up by the parents, either by the
mother alone or the father, to die with them. It is so amazing
that the hands, which bring them up to be educated and
move on, kill them also. The little children, who could go to
112
schools, or play merrily in homes, crying for sweets, or
making noise, etc., are cruelly poisoned or thrown into wells,
just to finish the entire family. Self-killings are nothing but
beastly acts on the part of mature mother, father or both of
them. There should be some immanent reasons for such
ghastly suicides; otherwise, the parents could never have
done so. Usually, the parents are to wish and bless their sons
and daughters to be happy and prosperous, and to kill them
mercilessly is not less them a crime. In most cases, the socio-
economic conditions are responsible for driving the whole of
family members for committing collective suicides.
The social life these days has become so polluted by self-
aggrandizement that man is alienated from man himself.
Each and every man is so badly bound by his own interests
that he can do anything, fair or foul, to satisfy himself. No
one cares for others' sorrow or suffering. On the one hand,
anti-social groups, or mafias, are becoming stronger day-by-
day, and on the other, police connivance and protection
clearly support them to loot and plunder money or some
properties of others. A few of such people work without any
hesitation and fear. The whole of society is afraid of them,
and in some cases of suicides, the mafias are also instigators.
For an individual to live freely has become difficult when he
finds himself alone in this vast world. To be brief, the socio-
economic conditions have so changed that the graph of
suicides is going upward in one way or the other. With the
increasing of wide-ranging hardships and distortion of
human relations, the suicides have assumed many cruel
forms and ways. How can the suicidal tendencies and
happenings be controlled or minimized? This question is
very hard and complex to be answered. However, we have to
ponder over such a question, deeply and seriously, in the
interests of the generality of people. In other worlds, though
only a few of thousand cases of suicide, have been cited, yet
these unfold many things hidden behind them to motivate us
to explain the nature and scope of suicides.
In such a brief space, it has been possible to analyze only
a few aspects or the factors, of the very complex psychological
and sociological problems presented by the terrible tales and
numerous causes of suicides - the analysis is in no sense
complete and infallible. However, or most probably, it will
serve in a humble way to illustrate a direction in which it
seems possible to utilize the conceptual tools of philosophical
inquiry in orienting ourselves, at least intellectually, to some of
the larger aspects of the tragic and multiple social world we
live in; the world of horrible events like suicide,' rape and
murder, to consider the possibility of going farther, of
predicting the probable social consequences, of possible
outcomes of the suicide and considering what we can do about
the ensuing cases of suicide, on the scientific, economic or
emotional levels, we must devote our intellect and wisdom in
the larger interests of mankind.
Theories of Suicide
The problem of suicide is as old as human history, for "man
is a social animal", who is, in fact, a rational being as well as
an irrational one, emotionally and sensitively, tending
towards both living with comforts and facing odds or
obstacles in one way or the other. Suicide is one of the human
aspects, tendencies or acts, and when the human relations,
anyhow, get or become distorted between the two persons,
adversely affected one of them, can choose or may be driven
to take an extreme step like suicide. Though there are many
apparent reasons behind committing suicide, yet some
thinkers have endeavoured to find the undercurrent, i.e., a
feeling, influence or trend, especially one that is against the
main or most obvious one. A few of the thinkers, who
worked in this field, may be cited here as follows:
Freudian Theory of Suicide
An Austrian physician, neuropathologist and psychiatrist,
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), while studying the causes of
Theories of Suicide 115
pathological mental process, resolutely rejected vulgar
materialistic attempts to explain changes in mental acts, or
human relations, by physiological causes. He did not agree
with the materialist world outlook, and denied objective
methods of studying mental activity; but Freud created a
subjectivist theory for "the distorted human relations",
mostly responsible for extreme steps like suicide. What is,
then, the undercurrent of distorted human relations
according to Freud?
In the opinion of Freud, mental activity is considered to
be as "something independent, existing side by side with
material processes", and it is governed by "special,
unknowable, eternal psychic forces lying beyond
consciousness". According to Freud, dominating the spirit of
man, like fate, are immutable mental conflicts between the
unconscious striving for pleasure, mainly the 'sexual', for
aggression and the "principle of reality" to which the mind
adopts itself. Freud maintains that all mental conditions, all
actions of man, and also historical events or social
phenomena, including suicides (emphasis mine), are subjective
to psycho-analysis, and he has interpreted them as
manifestations of unconscious, above all sexual, impulses.
Thus, the ideal-the psychic (above all unknowable 'Id' -the
unconscious) is considered to be the cause of the history of
mankind, morality, art, science, religion, state, law, wars,
murders, suicides, etc. To be brief, in Freud's view, along
with the phenomenal factors, "a sexual undercurrent" is the
cause of all events, human relations or of all suicidal
happenings. This way Freud clearly found the sexual
impulses, if not properly satisfied, as the main cause of
suicide.
Criticism
Whether Freud's conclusion is true or false, may be
controversial, yet it is quite acceptable that the sex impulse
~ p l a y s a significant role in the events of suicide as the
incidents reveal. If a father forces his daughter for sexual
intercourse with him, the chances are greater for her to
commit suicide rather than being the victim of her own
guardian. We may find many of such cases of suicide. The
sex impulse, however, being important one, is not wholly the
undercurrent of all suicides. In fact, this is an apparent
reason empirically visible cause, i.e., it is one of the apparent
reasons as we have already mentioned earlier. Freud is
partially true but not totally right in emphasizing the sex
impulse alone as the main cause of all suicides.
For example, a child of ten to fifteen years of age, when
fails in some examinations continually or eventually,
commits suicide. Is this case of suicide as a manifestation of
sexual impulse? We can hardly agree with Freud, for there
are ample incidents of suicide wherein we can never
visualize the undercurrent of sexual impulses. Again, for
example, Ernest Hemingway committed suicide, not because
of sex impulses, but due to his inability to keep promise. Like
wise, very rich personages, well-educated ones, employed
high officials like LA.S. and LP.S., also commit suicides, not
because of sexual impulses, but due to their inability to cope
with the coercive, adverse or hostile situation that becomes
most unbearable to them. To avoid disgraceful, humiliating,
situation, one may be well prone to go to the way of suicide.
The so-called moral, holy or religiOUS ways of suicide
like Hara-Kiri, Jal-Samadhi, Sati, Johar, or Santhara can hardly
be regarded as the manifestations of 'sex impulses'. The sex
impulses are not universally, or generally, applicable in all
events of suicide. These may be supporting factors but not
the inevitable reasons behind all the suicides.
The pathological state of mind is a minor disease that
may be temporarily caused by some outer forces. It is found
among the human beings as a tendency. How one takes the
realities of life, makes a man sick or cheerful. Man is what
mind makes of himself. It is said that "man ke jeete jeet hai,
man ke hare har", that is, if one controls his mind, he
conquers, and if one's mind accepts defeat, he is defeated.
This means mind may be driven to either way, victory or
defeat. So if man loses his mental balance, he becomes sick,
and if he makes himself confident and determined, he gains
what he wants to achieve. In other words, the Freudian
theory of sex impulse as the undercurrent of all events is not
acceptable absolutely. It is one of the factors, as mentioned in
earlier chapter, which forces one to commit suicide.
What happens in wars, or in the acts of terrorism, is
quotable one to refute Freudian theory. Suppose a high-
ranking military officer, if finds himself in the situation that
makes his capture quite visible, he goes to self-killing instead
of being tortured and mutilated at the hands of enemy. In
similar case of a terrorist, he takes cyanide capsule to
instantly die instead of being killed by the enemy military
forces, for he may be forced and tortured to divulge the
secret plans. These are the cases of self-killings wherein we
do not find sex impulses but some other factors behind
suicides.
The Freudian theory about the working of the human
mind based on "subconscious sexual ideas or feelings", is not
tenable as the undercurrent force to drive a person, a child or
even a lunatic, for going to the way of suicide. There may be
a 'Freudian slip', when a comment made accidentally by a
speaker instead of what was originally intended, but which is
considered to reveal her or his true thoughts as
manifestations of sexual impulses, if he talks much about
girls or women, even about his wife and daughter. In fact,
this is not a universal phenomenon, but only a part of the
forces that we find in some incidents of suicide. However,
Freud's contribution in the fields of psycho-analysis and
mental pathology is remarkable, because even after a
century, he is respected as an investigator of certain new
ideas related to human psychology and also for his
enthusiasm to inspire scholar to undertake further researches
in this field.
To sum up, Freud emphasized essentially the
unconscious character of mental processes, the conscious
processes being merely "isolated acts and parts of the whole
psychic entity". Freud's emphasis on the unconscious,
irrational elements in human behaviour first around a great
deal of opposition; but latter that opposition died down
when it was understood that scientific analysis of these
irrational forces has the effect of lessening their damaging
effect on one's personality: the more we progress in
understanding the mechanisms and processes of these
irrational forces, the more we may eventually succeed in
rationally controlling them or failing to achieve completely
such as ambitious goal-we may at last be able to lessen in a
practical manner of the harmful effects of irrationality in
everyday individual and collective behaviour. Thus, Freud's
contribution to lessening human conflicts was, to certain
extent, positive for guiding the mentally sick individuals.
After taking into consideration the psychological aspect
or cause of suicide, now we turn to the sociological base of
suicide as putforth by Emile Durkheim (1858-1917), a French
sociologist and positivist philosopher, disciple of Auguste
Comte. Durkheim maintained that sOciology must study
society as a particular kind of spiritual reality whose laws
differed from those of the individual psychology. For him,
human beings need an ideal order and tend to create an ideal
society: religion may set up such an ideal world in which
pain and sorrow exist no more; and religion may stand for
collective sentiments to symbolize some of society's ideas:
ceremonies, reunions and celebrations.
Durkheim Theory of Suicide
To begin with, Durkheim, first of all, repudiated most of the
accepted theories of suicide. His monographic 3tudy
demonstrated that heredity, for example, is not a sufficient
explanation of suicide. Climatic factors are equally insufficient
as explanatory factors. Likewise, waves of imitation are
inadequate explanations. With Durkheim, I, too, agree that
heredity, climatic factors and waves of imitation are not the
rea] reasons behind the incidents of suicide.
Durkheim has classified all the suicides into three main
types, namely, egotistical, anomique and -that may
briefly be summarized as follows:
Egotistical Suicide
It is the type due to the tendency of individual to shut
themselves up within themselves. This situation takes place
when other individuals and associations are so busy with
their own activities and affairs that some individuals feel
'slighted', 'affronted', 'hurt' and 'ignored'. Introvertive traits
thus, gain the upper hand and the ego builds a wall around
itself until it feels entirely cut off from the social world, and
this leads to suicide.
Anomique Suicide
This is a type that follows catastrophic social changes. Social
life all round seems to go to pieces. Without the social
backing to which one is accustomed, life is judged to be not
worth continuing. Durkheim does not take into consideration
that the ability 'to take it' as found in one's character or
configuration of personality might be as important as the
social upset itself. This means that dramatic or unexpected
social changes may drive an individual towards the way of
suicide.
Altruistic Suicide
It is taking one's life for the sake of a cause. Japanese
sometimes illustrate this type when they take their own lives
for the sake of a larger social unity that threatens to be
broken if they do not engage in self-destruction.
Durkheim also observed that all cases of suicide occur as
an expression of a group breakdown of some sort. Suicide, in
the main, happens due to 'negative social causes'. It results
from 'loneliness', from lithe feeling that nobody cares for
him", and suicide results "due to excess individualism". In
the opinion of Durkheim, when people are generally engaged
each in his own enterprises to the extent that some
individuals feel that they are outside the pale of human
interest, their suicide is fostered to take place.
Theories of Suicide
121
Criticism
Durkheim, no doubt, touches many factors responsible for
suicide; but in attempting to correct previous explanations of
suicides, he commits the error of 'overstatement' of the social
causes, and this way Durkheim has left no room for any
factors save the social. As we have already mentioned, the
social causes are not alone responsible for suicides; but some
inherent reasons associated with one's life are also significant
ones. In all of the three types of suicide, Durkheim's
emphasis is more on social than the individual factors.
Before Durkheim propounded his theory of suicide,
some sociologists also found heredity, climatic conditions
and waves of imitation as the causes of suicide. Heredity can
hardly be accepted as the main cause of suicide, because
heredity is the passing on of physical or mental
characteristics from parents to children and that has not yet
been established by any scientific or medical research so far.
Climatic conditions, such as drought, floods, extreme cold or
heat, may partially by held responsible for suicide as we find
individuals or families to go to self-destruction because of
natural calamities. In a similar way, the waves of imitation
concept is not so cogent a factor leading persons to suicide.
The waves of imitation theory is just like a flashing of suicide
in newspapers. Both may affect the minds of sensitive and
easy-going persons; but hardly to drive them to commit
suicide. In comparison to heredity, the climatic conditions
and waves of imitations are important that may be included
in the list of 'apparent reasons'.
Durkheim's three types of suicide have some value as
empirical factors responsible for suicide. When he talks of
'egotistical suicide', he seems right that in a situation wherein
an individual finds himself, anyhow, to be cut off from the
rest of the relatives, friends and so on, he is driven to self-
destruction. This is due to social alienation, and not
egotistical loneliness as Durkheim thought. The anomique
suicide, for him, means' a sudden great disaster' in social life,
which affects some so much that they go to the way of
suicide. In this type of suicide, Durkheim probably ignores
'natural catastrophe' or natural factors like earthquakes,
storms, floods, etc., which force some individuals to commit
suicide as we find in one or the other parts of the world. That
is why his theory of suicide has not gone so in-depth and
width as to include the apparent reasons that we have
mentioned earlier after quoting certain examples of varied
nature.
To be very frank, Durkheim's theory of suicide lacks or
overlooks many apparent causes, which have come up after
almost a century's lapse, when he attempted to frame it.
Suicides have assumed so many forms or ways, and also
strange causes that might not have been conceived by him.
The incidents of suicide happen now on an alarming scale
having multi-sided c ~ u s e s in terms of economic hardships
and unexpected emerging social, economic and political
trends, and false notions taken to be true by the younger
generation.
Theories of Suicide
123
forces others to self-destruction in order to take over their
properties. This way utter selfishness, greed and lust have
assumed dangerous forms as to visibly cause suicides by self-
respected women, good citizens and reputed personalities.
Instead of being humiliated, tortured or raped, women or
girls tend to self-killing, if squarely and wrongly surrounded
by anti-social elements. Besides, this situational trend,
Durkheim has not gone into in-depth explanation of suicides,
that is, being a sociologist and positivist philosopher, he did
not investigate the philosophical causes for suicide as some
existentialists have done so to enlarge the scope of study.
In fact, Durkheim's theory of suicides, etc.; but of suicide
suffers from I generalized conclusions'; 'classification of
suicides', etc.; but each and every case of suicide is unique in
itself and any two cases can hardly be causally similar,
though they may appear similar, because both consuming
celphos tablets; but the causes, inherently behind their
suicides, may differ. The taking of celphos tablets is, not
doubt, common; yet the mentality and motivational situation
may not be exactly the same. One may be suffering from
chronic and deadly disease and the other may be that the
husband or the wife shows no real companionship or mutual
trust and love. If we go further, even in taking celphos
tablets, we may find that a student, male or female, has failed
in some examination, that was not conceived by the student.
In fact, we have to study all the cases of suicide each one
separately. So we cannot classify them in water-tight
compartments. For example, Hitler's suicide had all the three
elements of Durkheim's classification as that included
egotistical feeling, anomique element and altruistic
motivation in terms of having an "absolute ego", desiring
high social and political respect, and making Germany a
great nation for the welfare of all German citizens,
respectively. To be brief, such multi-dimensional or causal
factors, if combined together in great personages, are very
difficult to be classified. As we go in depth, each suicide has
its own history and features to take place.
Melvin Seeman's Ideas
Here it would be relevant to mention the ideas of Melvin
who found' alienation' as the major factor leading one to the
state of dangerous steps. The modern changing society has
created a situation of alienation that means 'detachment' or
estrangement', and Melvin offers an ordered analysis of its
varied meanings, which may be summarized as follows:
(i) Powerlessness-the individual feels that he cannot control
the events which fall upon him.
(ii) Meaninglessness - the individual feels inability, or is
confused, in choosing varied alternatives available to
him.
(iii) Normlessness-the individual realizes that he cannot
follow the approved rules of social governance.
(iv) Isolation - the individual feels detached from or
uncommitted to the goals or beliefs which are highly
valued in his society.
(v) Self-estrangement-the individual becomes disillusioned
about his own identity and self-commitments, and he
turns upon himself the same attitude that he takes
toward others.
In such a situation, Durkheim with keen-eyed, saw the
major causes of suicide, and others, including Melvin, found
in it, the cause of disintegration of an individual's
personality, or an image, strenuously framed by him. To say
in brief the individuals so grew mentally, are likely to
commit suicide, i.e., the situation of alienation is very much a
potential cause of suicide. The disintegration of one's
personality is in a fact, a prelude to go to the way of suicide.
Genetic Factors
Apart from the foregoing theories and ideas about suicide,
some scientists have been trying to find out whether there is
any genetic background of suicide cases; there is some
probability that the genetic factors also push certain
individuals to go to the ways of self-destruction. This is a
problem of the science of genetics. What is, then, the science
of genetics? The term, or subject, I genetics' is "the scientific
study of the ways in which different characteristics are
passed from each generation of living things to the next
generation". In the context of suicide, a victim of suicide
must have someone in his family lineage, who had
committed suicide. It means that the genes of that suicide
victim would have been passed to the next suicide victim in a
biological process. Whether one knows it or not, it is yet to be
discovered or investigated for establishing a theory of suicide
based on genetic factors, though it is not an easy and simple
task to completely discover the link between the victim and
the family history.
To conclude, we have explained some theories or ideas
about suicide easily understandable by the concerned:.
students and scholars of sociology and psychology; but, as it
seems to me, the views of Freud, Durkheim, Melvin and
those of scientists, who are engaged in unfolding the
mysteries of suicide, have not yet been successful in finding
out an essential undercurrent working hiddenly or
inherently, as a phenomenon in all kinds of suicide. Their
views, however, may be partially acceptable or applicable in
one case or the other. What we actually need is not
essentially to describe only the apparent reasons or visible
factors responsible for suicide cares; but to know the
universal force, i.e., a common working principle in terms of
an undercurrent that drives one male or female, rich or poor,
teacher or student, employed or unemployed, literate or
illiterate, normal or sick-to commit suicide, and that is what
I am devoted to, as a humble student of philosophy.
Mysteries of Suicide
Mystery is a mystery to know, because it is a thing, or an
event, of which the cause or origin is not known or it is some
thing difficult to explain its hidden aspects. There are many
mysteries of life that still remain unsolved. Likewise, despite
many studies about its occurrence by some great sociologists,
suicide is a mystery about which not much is known or can
be discovered easily. The history of suicide is shrouded in
mysteries. Let us first take up the mystery as an 'ism' that has
gained an important place in the fields of philosophy and
religion.
What is mysticism? It is a religious-idealistic view of the
world. Mysticism owes its origin to secret rites (mysteries)
conducted by the religious societies of ancient times. The
underlying feature of these rituals was a contact between
man and God, or some other mysterious being, and belief in
the supernatural. Communion with God is supposedly
achieved through ecstasy or revelation. Elements of
128
mysticism were peculiar to many ancient philosoplico-
religious doctrines, i.e., Confucianism, Brahmanism,
Orphism, Pythagoreanism, Platonism and Neo-Platonism.
The mystic philosophers consider revelation a kind of
mystical intuition, as the highest form of cognition in which
being is perceived by the subject immediately, that is, a
sudden revelation to an individual who is so directed that
this or that act is a truth which has to be abided by the man
to whom, the truth is revealed. The sudden revelation of
truth propels the individual or a group of persons related to
some sects, both negatively and positively, to go to either
way, that is to kill oneself or the whole group, or to do
something good to human societies.
There have been many sects in the past; some still
existing, which ask their disciples or followers to kill
themselves for spiritual salvation or to the welfare of the
human race. An individual, to whom the truth is revealed,
may kill himself, as he was asked by gods or the
supernatural powers, that are invisibly known to him alone.
This is also a mystical factor responsible for individual,
couplery or collective suicide. Apparent causes seem
obviously clear, but the inherent or the mental states of man
cannot easily by known. Anyhow, something from within,
best known to the concerned person, also drives one to
commit suicide; only apparent causes are not suffice to
explain the occurrence of suicides.
What is, then, the mysterious element that suddenly
causes or motivates oneself to go to the way of suicide at the
earliest moment? As we read and listen to some mysterious
factors, which may be held responSible for suicides, only the
concerned individual realizes them. For example, Jal-Samadhi
Mysteries of Suicide 129
is the highest state of meditation and realization, as is
generally held, wherein death is thought of being one with
God, Brahma or the Absolute; it is, in fact, the state of death
seen as a deep trance; and only the God-man or a spiritual
leader goes to such a state (death) or samadhi. It is a sort of
self-killing and the God-man only knows the secret of ecstasy
or salvation. To persons, like ordinary ones, the mystery of
self-killing remains secret. That is why we find some
mysterious elements as the factors in the suicide.
The human nature is so varied that nothing can be said
exactly about a particular individual in comparison to others.
In Buddhist philosophy or religion, each person is unique in
himself and that makes a difference among the persons who
seem to be similar. As I perceive, not scientifically or
medically, but psychologically each child, boy or girl, when
goes on to grow year after year, starts building an image of
his or her own personality with a view to making it better
than others; the person regards such a personality most
superior one, which ought to be respected, honoured or
dignified in social life. The process of building an image by
oneself begins right from the early life to the end of life. To
him, such an image should not be ignored, alienated or
attacked by anyone, even if one does wrong. This is,
however, not a 'Nietzschean Superman', or 'a Brahmin' of
Hindu tradition, not a soul, or an absolute ego; but an image,
whole and holy, that is not to be condemned in any way by
one's parents, brothers sisters, relatives, friends, police and
military forces, teachers, colleagues or fellow workers. An
individual makes his image as an integrated or absolute
personality, which is best known to himself. It is deep in
thought wide in scope, yet intuitive to him alone. This is, I
suppose, a mysterious being surrounded by its own ideas
and acts comprising of both good or bad, fair or foul, positive
or negative, aspects without any sense or realization of its
limits and demerits.
This image is built in a lively, concrete, sensuous,
directly perceivable form in terms of a definite aesthetic
ideal. The right understanding of the essence of one's image
is knowable to him, and it has a number of distinctions which
differentiate it from scientific concepts, political ideas, or
moral principles. It represents an inseverable, interconnected
unity of the sensuous and empirical elements and is abstract
in nature, mediated, individual and universal, accidental and
necessary, external and internal, part and whole, appearance
and essence, form and content. This image is the unity of
those elements or gradients which are social, economic,
political, psychological, emotional or sentimental conveying
lofty personality, which is assumed as an absolute being in
itself by the individual. It is the creation of man by man for
himself; whether right or wrong; no matter.
The interests of such an image or human personality
nurture a surrounding environment that is not to be
disturbed or shattered by others as well as by himself,
because without it, irrespective of its being true or false, right
or wrong, man cannot survive long. The undercurrent of all
such images, pampered by man himself, is its striving for
peace, freedom and progress, as it believes or holds essential
and valid for himself. This can hardly be expressed in visible
facts or visual factors by anyone, and despite his own
images, the images of others may not be known to one
another as these are shrouded in mysteries. The personal role
of an individual in building an image is more important than
environmental forces. To be brief, it is built and affected
indirectly by a number of extra-empirical factors.
Such an image is the phenomenon of all human beings
as they cannot live without doing or having these images.
When individuals meet and talk to one another, they keep
their images in view in making relationship and friendship.
The images have characters, likes and dislikes of their own.
But the very fact that if it is alienated by certain events,
circumstances, sudden changes or climatic forces, this begins
or invites a signal of danger which may result in madness,
depression or desperation. Each man's image has a subjective
superiority more than the objective forces or causes which
affect some drastic change in it. The image or one's
personality needs relative independence and relative
recognition in social life, both by boys or girls, men or
women, to be happy and easy-going not only in family but
also in a club, party or in society. The ideal, as the image, or
personality, of what should be, and the wish, as the image of
what is desired, are both the demands of it. Unlike vague
dreams, that lead man away from reality, everyone's
personality (image) is connected with the needs of family and
society, which help us to know life and change or mould it in
consonance with the interests of oneself and others as well.
What I have expressed so far in this chapter, the gist is
that every person's image or personality is a complex
combination of all elements - physical and mental, empirical
and metaphysical, individual and social, good and bad,
realistic and idealistic, emotional and sentimental ideas, facts
and experience and thought, etc., and all these factors make
one's personality, image, or say, the total personality, which
anyhow, should remain intact in terms of visual traits and
mental qualities. The building or formation of such 'totality
of personal image' is a mysterious phenomenon in view of
the appearance and immanence. This total personality is not
to be disturbed by anyone, even by the nearest ones, as it is
desired by each and every individual. Such a subjective
totality makes an individual aware of many things around
him and he endeavours to adjust with them, if all goes well.
The totality of one's personality, if injured, damaged, or
continually disturbed by environmen.-:al forces or fatal
diseases and is attacked by unexpected events, he is very
much prone to commit suicide. One's personality, so built
and pampered, if looks to him battered and shattered both
physically and mentally by apparent reasons or immanent
causes, he may go to the road of suicide. The characteristics
and qualities of person's total image has to be respected as a
whole, because it comprises of an artistic, and assertive, a
likeable, a strong or a sensitive image. However, the totality
of one's image (personality), is not Bergson's 'Elan Vital',
Freud's 'Ego-Id', Sankara's 'Soul or Brahma'; it is a
combination of both physical traits and mental states, i.e.,
matter and consciousness, as we find in Buddha's philosophy
and religion.
Here a relevant question may be raised: What is, then,
the philosophy of suicide? In my view, the philosophy of
suicide is to know, to' understand and to analyze the
apparent reasons and immanent causes which drive one,
male or female, boy or girl, old and young, educated or
illiterate, rich or poor, ordinary or great personage, etc., to
commit suicide. Although the problem of suicide is primarily
psychological or sociological, yet as I think it is also a
cine to be proved deeply and seriously. Along
with psychological or sociological background, the person,
who is prone to, or commits suicide, essentially develops
within, a philosophy of life which may not be known to
other; but it works in all the individuals. It may appear
vague and confusing to others; but to me, it, anyhow,
develops and makes a man conscious of his worthlessness or
meaningfulness. This philosophy of life is immensely
affected and afflicted by many factors such as apparent
reasons and immanent causes which have been explained
earlier and now we can summarize them as follows:
Apparent Reasons
Intolerable and shameful or ignoble, situation;
Habitual drinking liquor and rude behaviour towards
one's own family members;
Illegal sex relationship, either by husband or by wife,
with any other person;
Ill-treatment and altercation between the two persons
like husband and wife;
Family clash and dispute over the distribution of
parental properties;
Economic poverty and hardships;
A long unemployment making one unable to carryon
the responsibilities;
Pressure of work and inability to cope with situational
problems;
When surrounded or to be caught and tortured by
enemy forces;
Inability to keep promises in time;
An utter indecisive and uncertain situation in love and
property matters;
Unexpected and sudden happenings of strange events;
Political failure and non-achievement of desired goals;
Illegal and corrupt practices when become open;
Enormous loss of money and utter failure in business
and the resultant heavy debts;
Failure in examinations;
Indecisiveness in a situation of two or more alternatives;
Insufficient dowry in cash and kind;
Unsuccessful failure in love-making;
False allegations and court cases;
Police coercion and torture;
Fatal diseases and continuing acute pain;
Unmatched early m(ll"riage;
!nability to repay heavy debts;
Poverty, hunger due to natural devastation;
Infidelity either on the part of wife or of husband;
Disgraceful means of livelihood;
Social disgrace due to imprisonment or adultery;
Infertility and barrenness of woman;
Molestation and gang-rape;
Severe punishment by village panchayats;
Inadequate income to feed the large number of family
members;
Parents' pressure on their sons and daughters to do
things or work according to their own wishes or daily
routine;
Extremely worst climatic conditions;
Social alienation and condemnation of someone for no
reason;
Talks and flashing of news of committing suicide;
Constant rapid questioning without waiting for reply;
Inability to do things fast enough according to one's
choice;
Sudden loss of sons and daughters due to fatal
accidents;
Ragging of new students by senior students in
educational institutions, etc.
Immanent Causes
Pear of severe beatings by parents;
Mutual distrust and non-cooperative feelings;
Stubborn attitude towards others;
Severe shock due to sudden and unexpected events like
murder or someone's death;
To save one's honour and dignity;
Mental stress and depression;
Peelings of loneliness and indifferent attitude towards
aged persons;
Loveless nights and haunting loneliness;
Continuing mental tension and torture;
Orthodox and fanatic mentality;
Utter frustration and fear in terms of future life;
Situation of unbearable desperation;
Being extremely sensitive and emotional in life;
Deep and wide-range anxieties;
Being extremely sentimental and annoyed;
Feeling or guilt for committing a heinous crime;
Repentance and mental agony due to doing some illegal
or immoral act;
Feelings of inability to cope with hostility and enmity;
Being envious and jealous of others' success and
achievements;
Inferiority complexes as a result of unsuccessful career
or business;
Feelings of being worthlessness in this world;
Impending feeling of self defeatism;
Impracticable high ambitions;
Feeling of self-condemnation and utter worthlessness;
Profound despondency with increased blood pressure;
A thorough disgust of life and thoughts of suicide;
Great fear of death;
Peevish and vehement contradiction;
Anthropophobia;
Mental derangement and illness;
Self-realization of felony;
Mentally disorganized personality;
Anxiety and insecurity of future life;
137
Over sensitiveness to noise, excitement and confusion or
crowd;
Psychoses-the serious forms of mental disorder;
Fantasies of impossible nature; and
Maladjustment with one's own self having a false image.
These reasons or causes behind suicides work together,
or squarely drive one to commit suicide, because their
combination becomes so forceful that an individual is sure to
go suddenly to such an extreme step. When does it happen?
How can a grim situation bring him to this point? What is the
undercurrent of all suicides? Who is responsible to add
something grievous to it happen suddenly?
Before answering these questions, it must be noted that
the above enumeration of apparent reasons and immanent
causes is not the final list, nor we claim that it is a scientific
classification, it is just to show how many factors - apparent
and immanent-work together so immensely that affect a
person to the extent he cannot remain peaceful; he becomes
mentally sick full of anxieties and miseries; and ultimately,
finds relief and solace in self-killing. A number of new factors
may be added to the already mentioned reasons or causes.
The words-'apparent' or 'immanent', or 'reason' or causes'
should not confuse anyone. They simply stand for visibly
'clear' and 'inherent' in one's mind, respectively. The word
'reason' means the cause of something or of somebody doing
something: a fact, situation or a state, that explains or justifies
a happening; and the 'cause', in a similar way, is that which
makes something happen or justifies the completion of an
act.
So far as the foregoing questions are concerned, much
can be said in answer, but a suicide takes place only when
these apparent reasons and immanent causes, anyhow
combined together, to injure, damage or dismantle the
citadel of an individual's total image or personality.
Sometimes a situation so emerges and confronts the
individual or a couple in a way that obviously and internally
forces him or them to embrace death instead of living
disgracefully, lonely or ignored in family or society. The
undercurrent of all suicides is the constant erosion of ones
image, or say, totality of it. The apparent reasons and
immanent causes are the supporting factors.
I do not claim to be absolutely near to the truth as some
may take our explanation of "a philosophy of suicide" as an
imaginary flight into dark clouds and remote stars in the sky.
The building of an image or the total personality of one's life
may also look mysterious searching out a black cat in a dark
room, which is actually not there. If one thinks so, I cannot
help him. Yet I am sure, there is some sort of philosophy
behind all the incidents of suicide, however, It may seem
inadequate and incomplete to unfold all the aspects of
suicide. As I have said earlier, a philosophy is the search for
knowledge and understanding of the nature, meaning and
scope of the universe and of human life. So suicide or self-
killing, is a study of human life and behaviour.
If we have the moral philosophy, the philosophy of
history, the social or the political philosophy, the philosophy
of literature, etc., why cannot I visualize "a philosophy of
suicide?" The varied kinds of philosophies may be mutually
conflicting or poles apart; but one should not deter from
developing a philosophy, "my personal philosophy" or
otherwise, a distinct outlook about life. Looking into the
wide-spread occurrences of suicide cases, I was enthused to
search and determine whether or not, there can be a
philosophy of life, and to the best of knowledge and belief, I
have endeavoured to explain the phenomenon of suicides as
a result of philosophical inquiry.
As it appears to me, I have prepared a ground for
'philosophical inquiry' for into the field of suicides, which
has been the subject of sociology or of psychology so far.
Again, a philosophy gives a particular set or system of beliefs
or an attitude to life that is the guiding principle for human
behaviour, and the incident of suicide is a kind of human
thought that guides man to behave or to look at things and
occurrences-human and natural, in his own way. This may
be both positive or negative, good or bad, exuberant or sick,
and individual is free to go to either way as the situation
demands or as he endeavours to control it in his favour or
advantageous one to him. This, however, requires a great
deal of confidence and courage, ability or intelligence, to
bring or mould the existing situation in the direction he
wants it to be.
Here again one may ask: What is the net result of your
philosophical inquiry? To me, there is a sudden sparkling
shining with flashes of light, i.e., self-realization, lively and
brilliant, that enlightens or darkens the mind of someone to
go to either way, that is, if he realizes that his being in this
world is meaningful and worthwhile to serve the interests of
his family, community or the whole of mankind, he controls
himself and gains a new psyche in the largest interests of the
generality of the people; and thus, he continues to live even
in the midst of adverse and hostile situation. This is what we
may call' a positive attitude'. But if the same individual, with
sparkling or flashes of light, i.e., self-realization, feels that his
being in this world is not worth living and is absurd or
irrelevant, his personality seems to him darkened because of
some apparent and immanent causes, he suddenly jumps
into the arena of death, i.e., self-killing, without caring for
what would happen to his family. This is obviously 'a
negative attitude' towards human life. In other words, one's
'total personality', anyhow is dented and darkened, injured
or badly damaged, shattered and battered because of some
forceful apparent and immanent causes, he is sure to commit
suicide in order to avoid jealousy, disgrace, envy, enmity, or
anxieties of this world. This is clearly' escapism' and inability
to face and defeat the anti-forces that become dominant as
we found in the suicide cases of Hemingway and Hitler.
The mysteries of suicide are really baffling when we
read or listen to the varied or numerously increasing graph
of such untoward happenings; these seem to be nerve-
racking. According to a recent survey of suicide cases in big
cities like Delhi it is amazing to anyone of us who look at
them (as reported in Rajasthan Patrika of 30th October, 2001).
The survey has disclosed that in Delhi alone one thousand
persons commit suicide in a year and the apparent reasons of
suicide have been pointed as poverty and unemployment
among the youths, both males and females. The society, in
fact, is unaware of this tragical phenomenon and the
governments, central and provincial, are also doing nothing
for resolving the problems of rising unemployment, grim
poverty and acute hunger, which have been coming up due
to the policies of free market economy, globalization and
multi-nationals' motives to exploit the people. There may
141
also be other factors or causes behind the wide-ranging
suicide happenings. Therefore, governments need effective
measures to check the fast-running series of suicides at the
earliest; otherwise things may go out of control during the
years to come.
To conclude, any incident of suicide is so a complex and
mysterious phenomenon that needs a thorough study and
analysis. Whatever, I have said so far, is based on the terrible
tales of suicides and I do not claim that mine is a new
complete, or scientific, discovery. However, it is relevant and
refreshing a study and one may accept or reject my analysis
unfolding some secrets of suicides. There may be still
numerous facts, causes, even mysteries, about suicides,
which have to be probed by interested scholars. I would
welcome, if someone goes further in this field to find out
some new things, facts or causes, in support or in refutation
of what I have analyzed in this study. A finality, in a grim
problem like suicide, is very difficult to deduce and establish
as every case of suicide is unique and versatile one in its own
occurrence and factors.
Roles of Psyche in Suicide
The role of psyche in human life is very decisive as its
formation determines the nature and the scope of human
activities. It directs man to behave and to act in a situation
that changes from time to time. The psyche, however, is not
soul as defined in different philosophies or accepted in
different religions of the world. It is not the 'absolute spirit'
of Hegel or of Sankara's the 'Absolute Brahma'. It is simply
the 'human mind' associated with one's physical body, but
not apart from organic shape.
Any psychic experience or otherwise, in fact, is a unique
one for each person. Being born a male and not a female,
being the lovely child and not an ugly one, being saddled
with a peculiar name, being compelled to offer science
subject, being a rich child and not a poor one, and a thousand
other day-by-day occurrences of strange nature are of
extreme importance to the particular person, though such
experiences appear trivial to others. No experience, whether
Roles of Psyche in Suicide 143
psychic or physical, can be considered unimportant in the
development of personality. Persons develop habits,
attitudes, and wishes that gives their life its organization,
primarily out of the every day unpretentious that are unique
to them.
What we call feeling, perception, impression, mental
advertence, if taken together, form or make 'mind', or rather
mentality or mentation, i.e., mental processes, mental
phenomena, or the totality of mind. It is called the 'psyche' in
psychology; in religion it is called the 'soul'. Here we take it
in terms of psychology, and this would serve our purpose as
to how varied roles it plays in the formation of one's image,
or personality, that is the totality of mind and body. The four
primary or root elements-prathvi, vayu, tej (agni) and jaZ,
make the physical body, or phenomena, called 'corporeality'.
Mentality and corporeality, in combination, make the totality
of human personality. The formation of the total personality
begins with the birth of a child and goes on to be so up to the
last moment of life.
The study of the psyche of the individual has taught us
how severe a struggle it is for him to rid himself of the
dominant one, or anyone of his family, to rid himself in such
a way that his conduct is not inspired either by a positive or
by negative emotional attitude. In the social life, there
appears a similar struggle for independence by one's psyche
to save its image from being injured and damaged.
What is, then, the psyche? The psyche is the produce of
interaction specific to a subject between that subject (self) and
the object, i.e., the outer world. The formation of an image or
a total personality takes the form of phenomena of man's
subjective world accessible to self-observation, feelings,
sensation, ideas, thoughts, etc. Speaking about the essence of
psyche, it is necessary to distinguish it as a philosophical
concept and as a concrete scientific concept. What is
important to our present study? The philosophical concept of
psyche is relevant to us as it has a direct bearing on the
fundamental problem of suicide.
In this respect, the concept of psyche (the totality of
personality) may be identified with the concepts-
'consciousness', 'thought', 'cognition', 'mind', 'idea', 'spirit',
etc., and is regarded by the philosophy of suicide as a special
image of each and every individual, which is the reflection of
the objective situation in the form of 'ideal images'. The
physical objects and psyche (mind) are the unique
combination underlying all the human personalities. The
psyche cannot exist outside and independent of the totality
of human personality. In the formation of such personalities,
varied elements of the self and the outer world play an
important role in allowing man to orient himself in the
surrounding world. Psyche itself is formed in the process of
the interaction of the subject with the object and in this it is
formed according to some other psychological and social
laws.
Obviously, the formation or appearance of psyche is
connected with the development of life creating at the same
time, its own autonomy within an ideal situation. Leaving all
other animal worlds, the specific feature of human psyche is
consciousness of its own existence, or say, reality, which
ensures prevision of events and planning of actions in a
particular situation. The transition, or the formation, to the
higher stage or forms of development of psyche is the result
of the reconstruction of the organ of psyche - the brain: in the
human phase. It may be changed from time to time as the
psycho-social and economic situations require. To simplify
the words; if the sudden or unexpected change take a place
in one's autonomy, the psyche rushes soon either to save
itself or if failed, it results in self-killing called 'suicide'.
,
From its very origin and formation, the human psyche,
the totality of personality, has been a psychological and
socio-historical product. In one's individual life, the
development of psyche, especially of the contemporary man,
is formed in the process of his mastering the forms of
activities and also in maintaining the cordial, co-operative
and friendly human relations at the levels of married life,
family, community or also at the international level, if one
happens to be a great politician or a war hero, failing which
he may be very much prone to self-elimination, self-
destruction, or plainly speaking, he may go to the way of
suicide, if he happens to be very sensitive and emotional; no
matter, whether or not he is poor or rich, feeble or strong,
male or female, boy or girl, great or ordinary, educated or
illiterate, as the phenomenon occurs in all sections of human
societies the world over.
Here again, I wish to clarify that when I talk of the 'total
human personality', it means the unique integration of
physical elements and mental states of a man, which are the
two aspects of the same coin. Both are the constituents of the
totality of human personality. It matters little, if I use the
word 'psyche' for the whole of human personality or the
'body' (i.e., the physical appearance). Wherever I have used
either psyche or physical body in a singular form, it stands
for the human personality, and therefore, one should not
confuse one with another as both are an integrated 'form or
human personality. The formation of an ideal image, one
needs to identify his personality in varied roles. Since the
human personality includes in itself both the physical
elements as well as mental states, it has its own versality, all
the aspects of which are difficult to know by others, or even
the individual may be ignorant of some of its mysterious or
hidden features; but it is sure that each and everyone has an
ideal image, or personality, that should not be injured,
damaged or dismantled by anyone whosoever he may be as
everyone wants it to be intact in all the situations whether
these are favourable or hostile, facilitative or obstructive.
What we call the 'psyche (mental) diseases' inevitably
impress the males or the females with the idea of destruction
of the mind and body. In reality, the destruction relates only
to the whole personality. The essence of psychic diseases lies
in a return to its own image or personality's effective life and
functioning. This is afforded by the state of sleep that every
night each one desires. Anyhow, if this situation is not
available to anyone, an essential adaptability to family or
social conditions may not be possible. The psyche, thus,
temporarily or permanently, may be injured by the bitter
experiences of life.
The main aspect of human personality is the
Subconscious autonomy which dominates the psyche, and if
this is inhibited and injured by censorship and rigid rules, it
distorts the friendly and lively relations as it is also formed
by social interactions. The result may be painful. Anyhow, a
hitting of the psyche by way of invectives or by other means,
it may result in self-killing. Some may face and tolerate it and
others may not, if the psyche is being continually injured or
damaged. Therefore, it is necessary to know whether one is
sensitive and emotional, if we want that the cases of suicides
do not occur alarmingly.
How to avoid the tragical situation wherein one may be
prone to suicide is a problem that should be pondered by the
family members, or social relations. One who is engaged in
creative work may not easily go to an extreme step like self-
killing, because the creative work presupposes the discovery
of a new mode, means or methods of action and thinking.
The creative activity demands the maximum application of
the initiative, knowledge and ability of man, and this way,
the formation of human personality, or psyche, associates
itself with new ideas and methods to deal with the painful
moments of life. It is a sort of moral make-up of the refined
people, especially of young generation, to cope with the
adverse situation emerging out as a result of many factors
like computer revolution, globalization and free market
channels.
A psyche, a human personality, has many roles to play
in different situations, and the results, good or bad,
favourable or harmful, are dependent on it as to how it takes,
reacts or adjusts itself with them. In order to maintain both
mental and physical health of psyche, the modern sedentary
generation needs outdoor exercises, recreation and
communication. The wholesome forms of recreation and
creative work would gradually and visibly improve its
capacity for an effective activity for avoiding the tragical
situations. The new and old generations, though have some
gap or distance, must properly use the human resource-
education, freedom, friendship, co-operation, mutual trust,
faith in one's parents, communicative attitude, fraternal
relation, patience, mindfulness - in order to keep oneself or
even others to have a balanced psyche, i.e., extremes of any
kind have to be shunned in modem life-styles.
By reviewing and examining one's ideas and activities
that one's psyche conserves, an individual would realize that
no one outside his own autonomy has the power or means to
upset his inner peace and balance of his psyche. Only the
good habits and intentions can help oneself. One should
realize that negative emotions such as ill-will, jealousy,
anger, anxiety, envy and enmity soul stifle the mind's growth
vis-A-vis this adverse and hostile world. This requires one to
be aware of what goes in and comes out of the mind.
Through this gradual process of self-awareness about the
surroundings of one's personality, one would be able to
check and weed out the negative attitude before one because
enslaved by his own doings.
The positive moods, ideas or relations to be maintained
are simple. One must work hard and be honest and non-
greedy. One should not waste one's time and talent
unnecessarily, idling away and doing nothing. Let one be
,constructive, moderate and conscientious in whatever he
does. One should not pamper a false image, full of
impracticable ambitions and anxieties. In fact, a long life may
not be good to oneself and to others, but a good and
energetic life is long enough to enjoy one's self.
To point out, an important factor to set aside the
tragedies of suicide or for a happy life, is one's ability to live
in harmony with others - family members, neighbours,
friends, well-wishers, teachers, and wife or children. To
achieve such a balanced personality, one must realize that
there are many roles one's psyche can play to reach the doors
of success and happiness. Therefore, one should not be
Roles of Psyche ill Suicide
149
unduly or untruly, upset, if other people endeavour to injure,
damage or dent, and hit one's psyche knowingly or
unknowingly, rudely or angrily, because it harms or drives
him to a tragical end in terms of self-destruction, self-
immolation; in short, to the painful suicides.
As said earlier, a human personality has many roles to
play in relation to family and society. The personality
(psyche) as a style of both 'thinking and behaving', must be
taken as it ought to be as it is in the making. Again and again
I repeat that every man has own psyche which comes ,into
contact with others, and yet develops a sort of autonomy
even living in family, society and country. The psyche has
nationality extraction, leisure-time interest, attitudes towards
other institutions, especially the area of manliness, and so on.
With the simple beginning, the psyche at a more complex
level, when confronted with some of the variations and
conflicts, if not well adapted, it can be prone to suicide. The
man, therefore, in the beginning and onwards, shouid be
taught to appreciate and also be appreciated by others, so
that he remains in a normal state of behaviourand to avoid
any untoward event, his psyche has to be disciplined,
patterned, or socially structured, that is, instruct him, 'now
thyself' and at the same time 'know thy family' and also
'know thy society' in order to forgive others.
Moreover, the preliminary education, or schooling,
offers to each one an opportunity to learn wide-ranging
human resources and relations as well, which teach the
psyche where you make it and find itself well prone to
adaptation to the environment in which it lives. The
orientation, thus, can help everyone to be humane not only
towards others but also to oneself. Here we mean that the
psyche or human personality is a product or a formation of
social relations. If the social relations, in a particle situation,
so alter or badly distorted, an individual, who is incapable to
understand the causes, may be deviated and desolated to go
to any painful step like suicide.
If the human personality (psyche) is well adapted to
family or social relations, neither poverty nor dishonour,
neither disaster nor sudden change, can threaten him for
going to any hazardous step. If such a man remains patient,
tolerant, passionate, mindful, etc., conflicts, disturbances,
difficulties, hardships, odds, disputes, etc. simply pass away
without harming him; and love and hate, jealousy and
revenge, sorrow and suffering, bereavement, be taken
mindfully and bravely; but in personal relations caring has to
be pampered and adapted to the benefit of all persons
surrounding him.
The psyche, which I mean 'mind', is something living
and vital in the formation of one's personality. It may be
asserted that in all the acts of its formation, the mind plays an
active role as the human mind is not passive or is not at the
mercy of senses, though there are also the essential parts of
human personality. In one's personality building, the mind,
though the interchange of action from with as well as from
without, the way is paved for the growth of self-
consciousness. The mind or psyche, which is, to use the
language of Samuel Taylor Colridge, "the infinite I am" (the
total personality). It is a real actor in this external and vast
universe. Every individual has in his mind a complete image
(picture) of the idea which he wishes to keep intact, and
man's mind is trained or formed to things in family
or society according to their relative i!J1portance. The total
personality, then, takes the shape of an organized pattern of
external and internal actions and reactions to meet the
onslaught against its own existence. Any powerful attack by
someone else against it or self-repudiation, repentance or self
negation, signals to yielding some untoward happenings.
To conclude with an important question: what can help
in building a strong and well-balanced personality in one's
life? To answer, I can assert my point of view, every man's
and woman's life is short and the channel in which it runs is
always very narrow and tedious one. As a result, the
experience of every individual is usually limited. A limited
experience gives an individual a narrow range of his
personality formation. That is why one has to aware and alert
to avoid the assimilation of wrong elements in one's total
personality. Everyone is bound to meet and talk to persons
who have led a different sort of life and have different
experience to recount, and so unless one is aware of such
experiences undergone by other people, there is no
encouragement and enrichment in one's value of life. This
means that if one chooses what is worth and relevant to the
formation of one's right sort of personality, one must learn
from any authority worthy of perusal and to assimilate into
one's own self. It should not be considered to be an imitation
of anybody's personality; however high he may be; it
becomes one's own 'original psyche', self or the total
personality. The main point is that in the building of one's
psyche, an image, one must learn good things or experiences
from the lives of others ,who have contributed much to
encourage and enrich the human personalities facing the
untoward happenings in life as effectively as possible.
Resolving Approach to Suicide
After unfolding many aspects of suicide, one cannot remain
silent and may ask: Is there any possibility to minimize or
control the incidents of suicide? To me, the possibility is less
than one may expect from the sociologists, psychiatrists, aI1d
social workers as the phenomenon of suicide is wide-ranging
in its nature and scope. However, I may suggest personally
to adopt a humanist approach in social relations that can help
us to resolve or minimize the alarmingly increasing cases of
suicide.
The humanist approach, as a resolving power, has
originated from the roots of humanism which is a system of
beliefs, values and empirical socio-economic relations. This
approach concentrates on common human needs and seeks
ways of solving human problems, including the problem of
suicide, based on reason rather than on faith in God, or
miracles of metaphysical or supernatural nature. This means
that in order to tackle the problem of suicide, we must have
Resolving Approach to Suicide 153
sympathy, kindness and understanding of social relations
that mostly govern the behaviour patterns of man and
society.
As it is well known to all of us, societies are the systems
of human relationships that bind the people of different
shades together so that they can cope with the problems
arising from many known and unknown factors. All the
normal men and women, as human beings, live in societies
and develop their personalities (psyche) within them. People,
or individuals, once conditioned or patterned, but societies,
can hardly exist outside of them for long and remain wholly
normal. What we call the human relations are affected by
societies.
Any human society is overall a social system in which
individuals are united or organized by shared or reciprocal
relations in corporate entities defined by social, cultural and
geographical boundaries. Individuals come into existence as
the products of many forces, human needs, self-interests and
desires, mutual agreements, mutual aid or faith, and so on.
No doubt they differ from one another, yet they have
common basic features or characteristics. Since the reach of
society extends from the elemental activities into every
aspect of human living, our whole life is inseparable from it.
It conditions all our reactions, that is, our general attitudes
and values come primarily from the family set-up and the
social organization that surround us, and if the social relation
are cordial and courteous, the case of suicide, probably, can
be minimized to a greater extend, because these yield good
results.
154
In fact, a society begins to mould an individual, or the
people, from the moment of one's birth. Under the normal
conditions, or circumstances individuals come into the world
as members of a family which is the first unit in society. It
makes a boy a girl into a human personality endowed with
many potentialities. It means the formation of psyche, i.e., the
total personality. The nature of each one's personality
develops through continuous activities and growing social
relations. Man becomes a kind of image and gains varied
capabilities for adjusting with others in society. The
conditions of a family are very important while looking at
the depth of sadness or suicide, because these mould the
attitudes and abilities to face hard and rough realities of
society in which they are brought up and live. Positive and
negative attitudes or moods both are engraved in one's
psyche; the total personally, that thinks and acts either way,
i.e., the advantageous path or the suicidal road.
The impact of society on individuals or families, is
natural and necessary; man, once conditioned or moulded in
a particular psyche, or personality, can hardly live without it.
The separation of individuals from their families or societies
is almost unknown to us, and the participation in social
relations is necessary for the growth and development of a
human personality that makes him identified from others. In
other words, societies, arising from reciprocal human
relations, are the largest overall organizational systems that
unite men in corporate syntheses acting as units in given
situational areas. In face, no one is self-sufficing; but all of us
have numerous wants and desires, which can only be
satisfied in a society, and if one is alienated or isolated from
the walls of family or society, he faces a lot of difficulties
155
relating to status and properties; it is the most probable
situation for him to go to some suicidal activities.
Although the families or societies seem common, yet
there are subtle differences that make each individual unique
and versatile in his moods of thought and way of activities,
and that is why each and everyone of us has its own modus
oprendi as well as modus vivendi, which, I think, is
something mysterious. The human personalities, as rooted in
culture, history, religion, or environmental forces, still
remain undiscovered in all of their inner and outer aspects,
though these aspects may be studied though their
manifestations in social relations, leading us to suggest a
human insight or approach to minimize the painful
happenings of suicide. Each case of suicide acquires its
reasons or causes from the ground realities of family stahlS
and social set-up, including the relations among the family
members and social fellows.
Here I take the example of Indian society as to how it
adds fuel to the fire. The .social conditions of it, are casteistic
and the emerging trends and relations are based on varna,
caste and untouchability, and that moulds and effects each
one to form his own image rooted in caste relations. The
psyche differs from one to another, which reacts in its own
way. The social relations among Hindus are based on caste,
feelings of low or high, and gender discrimination, inter alia,
is so conditioned that the womenfolk are always
subordinated to make domination. This aspect or feature of
Indian society, especially of the Hindu social system, leads
the Hindus to keep women under control, and in case of
insufficient dowry, they are humiliated, alienated and
tortured, which injure or damage their psyche, the total j
personality, to the extent, that leads one to self-burning, or
forces a newly married girl to consume poisonous drug. The
point is that the humanist approach to dowry deaths is not
taken into consideration or in social relations, and the result
is the increasing graph of such suicides. When the self-
burning cases due to Sati and Johar were considered in
human perspectives, these do not occur now. So also a
humanist approach has to be properly utilized in suicide
incidents.
Nothing is so practical as a scientific principle or as a
mathematics problem. But it is possible for man to solve or
minimize some of his problems like suicide by applying the
humanist approach as it is sure way or behaviour for meeting
the practical situations. It, however, needs right knowledge
or the understanding about the social relations such as the
freedom and equality in the affairs of life whether in a family
or in a society. Economic conditions may also be taken into
consideration as the poverty and unemployment may also
driven an individual to the way of suicide.
An adaptation to family, society or the environmental
forces, is a universal phenomenon. All individuals, living
together in different places or situations, must make
adaptations to the socio-natural environment that surrounds
them as well as to each other. The adjustments of men and
women, boys and girls, youngsters and old ones, in groups,
to the natural and social environments result in their creation
of numerous institutions and organizations, which can surely
help them in overcoming several obstacles and hurdles;
otherwise very difficult to cope with them. This way the
individuals create or add to their culture, that is, their
distinctive ways of living in order to move on the road of
157
smooth and peaceful grounds. However, anyone of the
individuals, who live together, finds himself unable to adjust
with others due to egotistic, climatic influences, or fatal
diseases, it is the responsibility first of the family and then of
society to help him take things bravely as they are with him,
he can save himself from any untoward incident
The environment, including that of one's family and of
society, thus, play varied roles in man's life, and at the same
time, the different roles of psyche also reckon with in terms
of success and failure. The interactions between the roles of
both, set an infinite range of possibilities of good results in
order to make life worth-living and meaningful. The social
relations, so created or moulded, in the diverse
circumstances reflect individuals' adjustments to the
situations. In this process, human beings' labour, culture and
education, become stimulating and invigorating to others.
All persons together create a social environment, a culture
which is derived from their adaptations to the different
external forces and internal elements. The humanistic
attitudes, mood or cultural values, are surely to make an
individual successful in life.
Taken in this sense, the more individuals feel that they
share fairly and equitably in available benefits and
opportunities, the higher would be their social conscience
and their feeling of identification with the other members of
family or of the society. If some members feel that their vital
interests are disregarded, social peace and order may be
disturbed or violated by the ensuing stresses and tensions,
because the effectiveness of social unity or conscience
gradually diminishes, the chances of resolving way of
conflicts and contradictions.
158 . A Philosophy of Suicide
The Indian social environment, despite many changes
due to social reforms, western influences and educational
facilities, is hard to be adopted by the lower caste people vis-
a-vis the higher caste people because of the conservative and
orthodox attitudes towards the former by the latter ones. A
few years ago probably in pre-independence days, a young
'untouchable' in a rural area heard cries for help from a well,
he jumped in and rescued a child from drawing. The people
of higher castes, the well meant form them, first offered
compliments to him for such a brave step. After a few
minutes, it became known that he was an 'untouchable'. The
attitude of the crowd underwent an immediate change, and
to anybody's surprise, praise was turned to abuse; invectives
used against him. Why? The untouchable had trespassed into
a high caste compound and polluted the well by jumping
into it. Instead of any reward, he was fined for it. Could this
hostile social situation not lead him to self-destruction? It
was very probable; but the point is to emphasize that a
humanist approach was utterly condemned and the result
could have been a tragedy. In other words, beliefs
superstitions, taboos, customs, mores, etc., even at present, in
Indian society, lead the womenfolk, the weak and lowly, to
dowry deaths, self-killings, Sati or Johar burnings. Who is
responsible for such a sorry state of affairs? In short this is
the responsibility of the socio-religious environment and the
indifferent attitude to apply the humanist approach in such
cases before the ensuing incidents.
As the humanist approach presupposes, societies cannot
exist without meaningful, cordial or co-operative relations
between the people. Communication is, therefore, a basic
requisite to their existence. Individuals use symbols and
values to transfer ideas from person to person. Spoken and
written language are man's chief symbolic and value system;
but men develop many others to have contacts between
them. In applying the humanist approach to social relations,
communication is the basis of existence of societies and their
structures and related duties a society not only continues to
exist in transmission, in communication, as it makes
individuals aware of the good or bad things. All the persons
live in a community in virtue of things they have in common,
and the right communication is the way in which they come
to possess things in common. This can lead persons to a well-
ordered society to fight against the anti-forces that come in
the way of their worthwhile living.
It is .also important to note that the communication
should also be at times full of laughter that makes people
lively; the mere facts of existence are not suffice to enliven
the people. The humanist approach also includes in itself
laughter, for it may serve as an effective communication
device among people by unifying a group, a family, in good
humour and conveying the message that we have to be
humane to those who may likely go to the way of suicide, if
circumstances so require. In other worcls, all individuals like
to have their companivns family members or friends laugh
with them but not at them. This means that if you make a
joke or laugh at one, who has not yet achieved any success,
he may be disappointed or prone to suicide. That is why the
human resources like laughing, amusement, humour,
entertainment, friendship, freedom, equality, etc., have
significant roles to ease the tense situations in favour of those
who are, anyhow, depressed and disappointed.
An individual's personality, or the psyche, rooted in
good environment and friendly or equal social relations, may
be strengthened to the benefit of him by the socialization
process based on the virtues like courage, confidence,
education, justice, benevolence, pity, patience, humour,
laughter, mutual help, positive attitude, kindness,
mindfulness, and so on. Each human being acquires a
pattern, or an image, of habits, attitudes, and traits that
characterize him and mould or make him a unique
personality. Individuals develop an awareness of themselves
as persons mainly thorough the role-taking process as they
develop their personality. This process of image or
personality formation is surely to prevent one from taking
untoward steps even in the midst of hostile situation;
whereas the persons, who do not get good opportunities to
be so, are likely prone to go to extreme steps.
Obviously, we know that a society is made up of human
beings, and it is also clear that it is the interrelationship
among the human beings that make societies. One of the
aspects of our understanding of a society is how it, in turn,
shapes persons, for persons are the essential carriers of the
culture of any society. This leads us to one of the features life:
persons produce societies and societies mould persons. This
is to mean that individuals and society are not separable
phenomena; but are simply collective and distributive
aspects of the same thing, and each one of us exists both in
time and in functional role. Personalities differ, because we
have different situations and varied roles to play. A man's
personality, or that of a child, is, then, the totality of habits,
attitudes, emotions and traits that result from socialization,
and that characterizes us in our relationships with others. A
human personality, psyche (mind), is the set of unifying
elements or principles that controls individual behaviour and
coordinates our impulses and actions in their responses to
the situation around us.
The human being, thus, is the socialized human
individual. He is one who has acquired the behaviour
patterns society transmits to him and to he reacts in his own
specific ways. No individual is ever identical to another,
because the growth and expression of the varying biological
and psychological potentials and the external environments
that influence him are always different. Consequently, a
society is a group of unique persons. Each individual is
distinguishable from every other individual because of his
unique personality and because of certain variable roles. This
is the humanist approach, rooted in man for man, that can
create among them an attitude to help each other
economically, socially and also in many other ways. If we
have developed right relations between the people based on
freedom, equality and fraternity, many of us would not be
pT0ne to self-destruction. It is only the right understanding
ene each other and their co-operative attitudes that can
encourage them to fight against the antiforces, which exist
almost in all the human societies.
We have all the possibilities in a society, or in a
personality, that can help us in the hours of crisis. Life faces
many crisises and experiences: ill-health, crippled conditions,
negative mentality, death of a near and dear, poverty,
unemployment, police torture, atrocities by one on another,
heavy financial loss, sudden change conditions,
inability to adjust and to learn things around him. Anyone of
these experiences, of course, is a unique one for each person.
Being born a male and not a female, being the youngest and
not the eldest child in the family, being an illiterate and not
educated, being poor not a rich, being saddled with a
peculiar name and figure, being compelled to undertake a
particular course of studies, and a thousand other day-by-
day occurrences are of extreme importance to the particular
person, though these may seem very trivial to others. So no
experience can be considered insignificant in the formation of
a personality or an image. The persons develop habits,
desires, attitudes, wishes, urges, and ambitions that give
man's life its organizational and social relations which make
persons conscious of their existence. This complexity and
unity of many things play a decisive role in helping man to
adjust in an adverse situation, and if he, anyhow, fails to
adopt himself to the situation of his living, he may be very
much prone to take tragical steps.
The psyche (mind) becomes the controlling factor in
personality after the individual has developed his sense of it.
The awareness of 'myself' and the 'situation', favourable or
adverse, gives the person his insight and the approach with
which he looks at things and other persons. Here the positive
attitude can help him to overcome the hard realities of life.
Recognizing the other in relation to 'self' (psyche) motivates
him to have expectations of his liking, and if he does not get
them fulfilled in time, he may be a man of negative attitudes
that may harm his interests. At this point, one should
respond with cheerful mood to set what goes against him,
and the social relations would save him from untoward
events or the painful happenings.
In the absence of good and friendly social relations, or
adaptation to the family and society, individuals invite
Resolving Approach to Suiczde 163
serious mental disturbances that may destroy the unity of th
I
total personality, that is, the unity of psyche and the physical
body. If one changes to the frustrating experiences or let
mental conflicts persist for a long, it may be very dangerous
to him. The effectiveness of outside good and co-operative
assistance in overcoming personality disturbances or psychic
injuries is depend upon his own desire and determination to
understand and deal with other persons, who are in contact
with him, constructively and brotherly. This is the humanist
approach's key to all efforts to give aid to mentally disturbed
and defiant persons. This is the part of being able to operate
successfully in a family or in a society.
Another feature of the humanist approach to deal with
the growing children, sons or daughters, is to help them in
building their successful images or careers, by providing to
them, the opportunities and tools, of progress and
advancement in life. The parents should not always thrust
upon their sons or daughters their own ambitions and
expectations. The parents and children may overcome'certain
difficulties and disturbances by working together without
conflicting or contradictory moods and relations openly or in
public. In the process, an important role of motion pictures,
television shows, stage plays, and stories, is possible to ease
the conflicting situation. This gives a psychological boost or
satisfaction to both, the parents and the children, that is
overwise somewhat difficult to them. The parents' role in
resolving the anxiety and insecurity of their wards is very
significant, and if left unresolved, this may lead to more
serious forms of personality disorganization and mental
imbalances. The reciprocal trustworthy relations between the
parents and the children can unify wishes, habits and
attitudes into well-balanced personalities of such persons
who would generally enjoy the greatest satisfactions in their
social relationships with others. The result would be a
satisfying positive attitude towards self (psyche = mind) and
others, and a gratifying of self-esteem and social worth
would be increasing in their favour.
In a world of loneliness, anxieties and aspirations,
seeking individual distinction or fame among the crowds of
people, where rules continually translated into economic
calculabilies, wherein extreme situations of shame and
conscience can no longer restrain the most dreadful excesses
of terror, fear or disintegration of personalities, the humanist
approach, based on human concerns and orientation, seems
to us, a forceful, a realistic, device to deal with the adverse
trends, coming up due to the industrialization,
computerization, tough competitive roles and desires for
gaining much more than what an individual, or a family,
requires. The modern life of rushing here and there, gaining
much in a shortest time, to be a hero in minimum time, etc.
have created a very complex social situation which is the
most difficult task for anyone to resolve in the larger interests
of the people.
In the grim situation of hurried life these days, laughter
or smiling is one of the positive human resources to serve
and save the pessimists and depressed individuals from
being self-tortured or being the victims of social conflicts. It is
a fact that laughter makes one relaxed to smile. A single
smile has an inherent worth to bring people together, at
times, for laughter, which can travel fast among the people.
Everyone needs a smile, pass it on to others and realize its
relevance and worth in terms of happiness, amusement,
pleasure, etc. The smile or laughter must be real coming out
from one's sweet heart, and not formal or artificial, if we
wish to enjoy its moments.
The resolving or the humanist approach to deal with the
probable possibilities of incidents of suicides is or can be
decisive device to save the persons likely to commit suicides.
This approach emphasizes that all the human beings are
units of psychologically associated persons through whom
ideas and actions in a society are ultimately carried out. The
essence of the humanist approach is to create an environment
of social relations based on freedom; equality, mutual trust or
faith, co-operative attitude, respect of elders, lovely dealings
with children, rational moral norms or standards; cordial
relationship between husband and wife; tenderly behaviour
towards mentally disturbed persons, respect to the elders;
equal feelings for womenfolk; good neighbourhood relations;
one's friendship with others; positive attitude; educational
opportunities to all; uplift of the weaker sections of society;
using sweet language for others, religious tolerance; social
participation and communication; self-confidence and
determination to achieve desired goals; avoiding
unnecessary disputes and conflicts; resolving the difficult
problems judiciously; adaptation to family situation to fight
against the adverse or hostile things; and many other values
or relations of similar nature, have to be adopted, if we w i ~ h
the suicide incidents to be minimized in human societies.
To come to the main point, the resolving way of
personality disintegration and social conflicts lies in the
nature and functions of a family. The importance that the
family is found to take in the moulding of the individual is
an aspect the sociologist must deal with. It is wrong to say
that the family is the creation of God; it is purely a human
creation to bind some males and females together for their
own good. In fact, the conditions of human infancy prepares
the children as mature members for society by combining
them for a greater cause of mankind. The family is the first or
primary institution that teaches, directs and controls the
children to have the good relations in society by utilizing the
human resources to the benefits of all those who share and
participate in the affairs of family and society as well. The
desire to defend the oppressed, to protect the weak or
inferior in rank may be the outcome of the formation of a
good and liberal family. next to family, are the schools and
colleges which can encourage freer personalities to develop
in order to face confidently the adverse situations in life. All
these institution must act as the engineer of right human
relations by organizing health-care centres, physical
exercises, affectional talks, mutual communication of love
and friendship, etc., in lessening the harmful effects
emerging out due to modern yet dramatic and damaging
forces of egoism, greed and political culture.
Now to assert our point of view, the humanist approach
means to form dynamic personality in which there is no
sense of egoism, no pride or no self-defeatism and as such,
selfishness; or being utterly self-centred, has to be weeded
out from the mind. set of one's personality. So a family
should give freedom to one to deveiop a good and positive
personality. Unhampered by ambition, selfishness, pride,
envy, jealousy, hate, enmity, etc., this kind of personality
derives immense satisfaction, contentment and happiness
from those acts or duties, which help him to maintain
II attitudes of complete humility", to treat everyone as an
Resolving Approach to Silicide 167
equal friend. The formation of personality, based on or
rooted in human resources, helps one to get out of self and
social misery. This type of personality has to be trained and
moulded in family more effectively than government and
force, to minimize the chances of suicide. To be brief, the
resolving approach to suicide emphasizes the need of right
and cordial relations between:
(i) father and son,
(ii) husband and wife,
(iii) brother and brother or sister and sister,
(iv) members of one family and of another family,
(v) citizens and society, and
(vi) the unbiased understanding of each other would
certainly help\ those who are sick and sad due to varied
disputes or hostile conflicts in family, neighbourhood
and society.
Underlying Principle of Suicide
The discovery of an underlying principle of all suicide
incidents is the theme of this chapter, an essential aspect of
our philosophical inquiry, a tedious task to undertake. Here I
admit that much more things, facts or factors may be added
to what I have observed, studied or analyzed, so far
regarding the painful incidents of suicides. Some may agree
with me and some may also differ from my views; it is,
however, upto them as to how they deal with the ticklish and
tremendous problem of suicide deaths. The occurrence of
increasing suicides is a phenomenon, all pervasive in human
societies; at the same time, not being scientifically explored,
besides psychological and sociological studies of suicides,
mine is the philosophical inquiry about the knowledge and
understanding of the phenomenon of suicides, and to the
best of my insight and investigation, I have discovered the
undercurrent behind all the incidents of suicides in terms of
victims'; personality (including both psychic and physical
Underlying Principle of Suicide 169
integrated image, formed over a period of several years)
disorder, extreme injury or damage, and being condemned to
nothingness and worthlessness due to one's right or wrong
doings or other's invectives and atrocities that compel the
victims to adopt the ways of suicides. The undercurrent of all
suicides is closely related to the severe injury, unrepairable
damage, or extremely self-condemnation, of one's
personality, that drives the victim to embrace death.
However, one may still raise the question: What is then,
the totality of personality? The personality is the totality of
habits, attitudes and traits that result from familiarization
and socialization right from a child's birth to the old age, and
it characterizes individuals in their relationships with others
It is the set of unifying principles, or ideas and facts, that
control one's behaviour and his impulses and
actions in his response to *tne world around him. The
formation of personality grows gradually but steadily, and
several thoughts and things become the essential parts of it.
The person, consequently, is a unique one, and so also each
and everyone. This personality becomes an absolute image
which each one wants to keep it intact as far as possible in all
situations. However, life includes many crisis and calamities:
ill-health, a crippled condition, mental disorder, death of a
relative or friend, constant tension and conflicts; and when
such a personality is injured and damaged due to apparent
and immanent causes, continually, that individual becomes
totally frustrated, perturbed and desperate; he, then,
suddenly and quickly, commits suicide to get rid of worldly
anxieties, miseries and maladjustments. This is, thus, the
internal and external decay and destruction of one's
personality to such an extent that he cannot sustain and
survive himself in any situation; and ultimately, he ends his
life by any easily available means of suicide. This is, to the
best of my knowledge and understanding, the undercurrent
of all kinds of suicide.
Now, I ask myself, "What is the undercurrent?", I have
talked of so much; to me, simply speaking, it is a 'feeling',
'influence', or 'trend', especially one that is different from the
most obvious reasons which have been explained earlier, and
it is one of the immanent causes comparatively, the all
pervasive 'force' or an 'extreme shock' to one's psyche, the
totality of personality; I visualize its disorderly working due
to certain obstructive factors necessarily leading one to
commit suicide, suddenly and quickly, without worrying
about its consequences. this undercurrent is flared up when
more than one, probably, a juxtapose of many apparent and
immanent causes becomes the constant eater of the roots of
one's whole of personality, which he regards as 'absolute
one' to be kept intact; but this is not possible for all the time
and when some compelling situation arises, the person has to
be the victim of suicide. This is what a philosophical inquiry
has revealed to me as a result of my serious study and
analysis of the phenomenon of suicides. How far I have been
able to be right by finding out" a philosophy of suicide", i.e.,
the underlying principle in all the cases of suicide, I do not
know exactly; only the enlightened scholars can judge it.
Here quoting some points regarding the recent report of
the World Health Organization about the increasing
percentage of 'mental patients' during the ensuring year of
this century, it is to warn the parents and the p ~ o p l e to be
beware of such a tragedy. This report appeared on the
Internet on 1st August, 2001; and after reading it, Dr. Madan
Mohan Bhojal< and Dr. Ani! Tambi of Mental Hospital
(Jaipur) have noted the main points as follows:
(i) the percentage of mental patients may go up to 25 per
cent;
(ii) the day-by-day increasing number of mental patients
indicate such a possibility;
(iii) from among the incoming patients every fourth one may
be a victim of mental disease or some symptoms of
mental diseases may be detected in them;
(iv) the mental patients include all from the children to the
old p , ~ r s o n s , male and female;
(v) the patients are mentally afflicted due to different
psychological disorders;
(vi) the main cause of the increasing of mental patient is
family clash or conflicts because of the families battering
relationship;
(vii) the children, too, become the victims, because the
present educational system does not encourage the
students to develop their capability to struggle in life;
(viii)since the children are brought up in modern comforts
and luxuries, they turn to be mental patients when some
difficulties or hardships confront them;
(ix) the serious mental patients lose their mental balance and
face personality disorders; and
(x) thus some of the patients become most probably the
victims of suicide.
These are the points which show the increasing graph of
suicides among the youngsters these days, and that is why
the psychiabists and other doctors have been asked in the
WHO's report to be alert and vigilant to identify the mental
patients from among the other patients and provide them
with essential advice and treatment in time lest they should
become the possible victims of suicides in future. This is, in
fact, something alarming to all of us.
No doubt, the report is amazing, yet it gives nothing
new except the data tables and the increasing number of
mental patients among the youngsters, along with very old
persons. What the WHO has emphasized, I have already
explained giving the variety of apparent and immanent
causes. It is, however, to be noted, the impact of drastic
changes in family or society'., structural and functional
aspects due to modern science and technology, industrial
and multi-national business concerns, have created more
new problems than resolving the old ones which afflict and
injure the human personalities to a greater extent responsible
for the increasing cases of suicide. It is, in fact, the
responsibility of the individuals to be satisfied with
level of material abundance rather than pursuing the highly
ambitious desires so as to be mentally perturbed and
disturbed in the modern set-up of family and society as well.
It may save the lives of many of the probable suicide victims.
Whether young or old, boy or girl, employed or
unemployed, each one has to control the most greedy and
selfish interests and ambitions actively but madly seeking
success, wealth, status, fame, etc., in the shortest period. In
fact, such desires and ambitions, when remain, anyhow,
unsatisfied, the persons, especially the youngsters, become
prone to be the mental patients to add to anxieties and
miseries of their families. There is no limit to gain material
Underlying Principle of Suicide
173
pleasures and desires. One has to be contented in life with
what he has earned honestly, and as the Buddha said long
back, "contentment is the greatest wealth" in the life, because
it gives or creates in one's life a feeling of joy and happiness.
To be brief, contentment cap help the man to be man for
man, and this way, the formation of personality would be
balanced, disciplined and altruistic in the interests of the
largest number of people. Contentment is one of the most
essential ingredients of the humanist approach in life as it
encourages one to live in harmony with others.
The philosophical inquiry, as I said earlier, has reached
the point or state where I find the phenomenon, i.e., the
underlying current common in all the kinds of the incidents
of suicides, and that is, the extreme injury, open
condemnation and unrepairable damage to one's total
personality. What is, then, the total personality? It means the
integration of all physical elements and psychic emotions,
feelings or ambitions, buried deep in one's formation process
of total personality. What does injure, condemn and damage
the total personality? This is the juxtapose of apparent
reasons and immanent causes gradually gathered in one's life
due to external forces and internal reactions to the arising
situations; but these gathered ingredients suddenly and
quickly burst in one's total personality, which led him to go
to the road of suicide, being over powered by a flashing light
of self-realization to look at his own worthlessness,
irrelevance and absurdness, to live and survive more than
what requires at this stage. However, this is not a finality or
infallibility on the part of my philosophical analysis. What
the psychologists and the sOciologists l.ave discovered so far,
it is like moving on the border lines of suicides withqut_going
into their depth and width. .
174
Whatever the present philosophical inquiry has detected
as an undercurrent in all types of suicides, is something
deeply inserted inseparably in life, while developing and
building up of one's total personality over a certain period of
life, and everyone tenaciously wants it to be intact, safe and
seCt.red. So long as it moves on smoothly this way, there is
nothing to fear, injure, condemn or damage to one's image;
but anyhow, under the external forces and internal feelings
or anxieties, such image is disturbed and distorted; then, so
battered a one's personality, the person rushes suddenly and
quickly that nobody can prevent or help him from suicide.
Whether it is true or false, I do not wish to put a seal of
validity on it for ever, but at the same time, it should not be
taken as searching a black cat in a dark room, which is not
there. The present philosophic insight, undoubtedly, has
discovered an influence, force or a trend, in terms of 'an
undercurrent' in all suicide happenings, and to judge its
presence is not a task only of mine; in fact, it needs another
philosopher or a psychologist to take up the study of
suicides.
Each and everyone's life is a system of actions or
reactions in terms of joy or happiness strains or conflicts,
within one's life system. From this point of view, an act of
suicide should not be interpreted as motivated or inspired by
a simple wish to die; but what was felt by the actor to be the
least intolerable resolution of an extremely intolerable
afflicting situation, and this is a minimization of relative
deprivation and destruction of one's image in a conflicting or
tensional situation. As I perceive, most of such conflicts,
strains or tensions, are a juxtapose of both external and
internal forces to shatter the total personality; but as an
undercurrent, the action of suicide is similar to that of an
individual who would face certainly death or bring it
suddenly and quickly on himself rather than encounter the
reality of prolonged torture, injury or affliction. The situation
of the suicide is, then to him, desperate and deplorable, to
adjust, fight or to resolve, by his battered, or shattered,
personality, for long in his own family or a society as the
victim realizes hill'.self his inability to carryon well the
functions of one's personality; when such person repents for
his own wrongs, he meets his nemesis in terms of self-
punishment or ruin that is deserved and cannot be avoided
by anyone.
Here the essential point is that the juxtapose of several
causes-apparent and immanent, in an occurrence of suicide
leads us into high levels of complexity. It is quite beyond the
powers of the individual to deal with such complex cognitive
problems in one an orderly way which has a semblance of a
mystery. The social science, like sociology and psychology,
have not yet contributed as much as they are intrinsically
capable of. Here the philosophical inquiry has filled the gap
as it helps to absorb and channelize the apparent and
immanent causes, strains and conflicts, injuries and damages,
to one's total personality into a visible and viable proposition
but not a speculative assumption. Our philosophical inquiry,
I hope, is very much near to the legitimation of the hidden
aspects of suicide, but 'timing' of the acts of suicide is not
possible to know prior to its occurrence. This is why one
cannot help the possible victims of suicide.
The important point to mention is that Nature has given
man almost everything. He may be a genius or a fool, he can
176 A Phzlosophy of Suicide
earn a distinguished name, high social status, brilliance,
intellectual acumen or a stupidity; man makes art a
philosophy and philosophy and art; he can alter the mind of
his own and also that of others provided he goes the right
way and does not overlook or ruin the opportunity he gets in
life. The man, so endowed with mind (psyche) he can do
wonders and can make this world a lovely and friendly
habitat for almost all the men and women. Man always seeks
a new psyche to be more powerful and dominant ego; but a
thousands desires, fair or foul, right or wrong, practical or
speculative, make man mad; he grows careless of the lives of
others, and thus, jumps into a world of his own pleasure and
passions. He no longer remains the captain of his psyche, and
he, being laden with numerous ambitions and anxieties, finds
himself in horrible disgrace, humiliation and contemptible
situation to embrace nothing but, death through suicide. This
is the tragedy of man, and ultimately, he meets his nemesis.
This is, in brief, the result of our philosophical inquiry.
So far my object has been to discover some deeper
essence as an undercurrent or a principle, in all the kinds of
suicide. Here the essence stands for the principle of
individuation, the inmost principle of the possibility of any
particular individual; but existence, on the other hand, is
distinguished from essence by the super induction of reality.
When we speak of the essence and existence. We mean that
these are the properties of the whole of personality. The truth
of this assertion might be demonstrated in all the sorts of
suicide. The psyche only partially knows, from the first to the
last that individuals are the actors, only actors, who are
entangled in different situation, to take things in their own
styles, either to endear or to endanger the facts or -ideas for
their detriment. What echoes commonly in all suicides is
itself a compelling force as the principle or the undercurrent,
i.e., an extreme injury or a dent. Utter self-negation and an
unrepairable damage to one's personality, when a repeated
sound, a flashing light, self-realization of being unworthy or
irrelevant continuity of existence, that is what drives the
victim at certain moments to end his life as suddenly or as
quickly as possible.
This has certain implications for the structure of a role of
'responsibility' in relation to collectivity, chiefly a leadership
role on the part of the head of a family (meant as a
collectivity), which may be said as a role of 'distributive
responsibility' relative to a family. The focus of such
responsibility is always in one sense particularistic because of
the relational involvement. Here the leadership role may be
to maintain one's family in peaceful environment, free of
serious tensions, that may lead the family members to the
achievement of unity and success measured in terms of
freedom and fraternity among the family members, even
between one's family and the neighbours. It is a need to save
persons living in the vicinity of one another from strains and
stresses of serious nature. The goal-oriented leadership must
include the promotion of the welfare of collectivity - family,
neighbourhood and society, to the extent to which it is
possible.
Obviously, the underlying principle in all the suicide
incidents, exists or works in relation to a situation, which is
not immediately visible. The underlying assumption, trend
or force, may not be known to all those who live around the
victims, and it can be the cause of rising rate of suicides. This
clearly forms the basis of an action like an incident of suicide.
The underlying principle is a hidden element that may be
thought or visualized because of its outer influences or
certain behavioural traits and expressions that appear in
some cases, there may be, of course, a few dramatic changes
of overt behaviour. Here the knowledge or identification of
facilitative and obstructive factors is essential on the part of
an individual, or if he is not able to discern, it is the
responsibility of his parents., the relatives or the friends, to
discern these factors in order to enthuse the possible victims
to face and resolve what the situation requires in terms of
various measures - support, understanding, responsibility,
justice, equality, employment, adjustment, co-operation, co-
ordination, leadership-role, and many other measures of
similar nature, if we are actually concerned with the
increasing trends of suicide among the youngsters.
To some social scientists, the induction of our principle
may not be acceptable because of its inferential nature.
Whatever they think, it is their outlook. I cannot help them.
But I have applied a method of logical reasoning that obtains
or discovers general laws from particular facts or the
particular instances of suicide happenings. The underlying
principle behind all the particular incidents of suicide may
have different apparent reasons or immanent causes; but
these do not seem to be common to all the cases of suicide.
My proposition of a general principle, necessarily, works in
all the particular cases of suicide. The ways of suicide are
varied, i.e., self-burning, jumping into a well or before a
running train, consuming celphos tablets of cyanide capsules,
lethal dose of poison, using lethal weapons, jumping down
from the rooftop of a house, etc. Similarly, immanent causes
may also be a juxtapose of both the apparent reasons and the
immanent causes.
To come to the main assertion, the underlying current or
a general principle, common in all the incidents of suicide, in
terms of driving force, strong feeling or a compelling trend or
tendency, works, whether the victim knows it or is unaware
of it, because without it or in the absence of severe injury,
damage or condemnation of one's total personality, one
cannot commit suicide as it is a very painful, sudden and
quick action, on the part of the person, going voluntarily or
willfully to such a way of self-killing. Who wants to die?
None but only those who are forced from within because of
any other person for such an action of the victim; but the fact
is obvious, visibly demonstrated, in the process of the
creation of an unthinkable gruesome situation in which the
victims, because of varied or complicated causes, become
necessarily prone to commit suicides in one way or the other.
Lastly irrespective of what one thinks of our
philosophical inquiry; but that has enabled me to discover
the undercurrent a feeling, influence as trend, essentially to
examine the proposition that I have deduced from the nature
and the functions of the victims' situation and its hard facts
and intense mental imbalances. They may disagree to our
conclusions; but they have to make or understand the
differences between the method (way) of suicide, cause of it
and the general principle or law. The trinity of method, cause
and principle is very important for all to know it. This may
be putforth as follows:
(i) Method: It is a way of doing something; it develops as a
reliable way to complete something; and it may be used
or utilized in many ways of scientific significant to
achieve the desired aims, or to make causes explicit to
understand their effects.
(ii) Cause: It is a factor which produces an effect; a person or
thing that makes something happen; it is a reason for
something, a factor that justifies something in the
completion of an aim. Without a cause nothing can
happen.
(iii) Principle: This is a basic general truth that is the
foundation of something; it is a guiding rule for personal
behaviour; it is general law shown in the way a thing
works; and it works as a single rule without which any
act cannot be completed by a person.
This trinity of method, cause and principle, makes a
suicide necessitated happening. The methods or modes of
suicide .are obviously numerous such as self-burning,
consuming celphos tablets or cyanide capsules, jumping into
a well or before a running train, drinking poisonous liquid,
rude and cruel behaviour of one towards another, shooting
oneself by a gun, jumping down from the rooftop, cutting
one's stomach by a sharp sword; and many other methods
may be noted tt:om the list of apparent reasons as mentioned
earlier. The causes of suicide may be partially physical like
crippling infirmity and cancer and also partially mental like
utter desperation, extreme anxieties, personality disorders.
What is, then, the principle? It is a general rule, a law of
general nature, that is found commonly in all the incidents of
suicide. It is a propelling force that moves, drives or pushes a
person having an injured, damaged or a shattered (battered),
personality in a particular direction, or into a particular
situation wherein a person, so griped and so entangled, is
sure to commit suicide. This is the undercurrent, a principle
or a common law, that works, vehemently and forcefully, in
each and every incident of suicide. Whether one accepts or
rejects my proposition, it is his outlook; but mine is the result
of an intensive philosophical inquiry, which is, as its seems, a
valid principle. Whatever a juxtapose of certain causes,
unless this principle works, there can be no suicide.
The last of many ideas or implications, is to give a name
of the principle of suicide, just to recognize its distinctness
from other theories of suicide, and to me, this may be called
an Undercurrent Theory of Suicide. Why is it to called so? Here
the term 'undercurrent' stands for self-destruction, when the
smooth working of the undercurrent is; anyhow, smitten and
smashed; whereas the term 'theory' means a set of juxtapose
comprising of varied causes - physical and mental,
necessarily based on an inherent force to justify an event or
an act of the victim. When one's undercurrent of the total
personality or image, true or false, pampered so far by a
person, is injured, deprived, depressed, degraded, hated,
neglected, damaged, conditioned, tarnished, terrorized,
dismantled, deprived, and ultimately, battered or shattered,
the person, so afflicted within, inevitably realizes himself that
to survive more would not be worthwhile and meaningful,
and the situation around constantly forces, influences or
driven him, he goes to self-destruction, without sensing the
good or bad consequences of such an end. This is the
underlying principle that is found in all the incidents of
suicide, henceforth called an 'Undercurrent 'Theory of
Suicide', the features of which have been well explained in
one way or the other elsewhere, in this study.
Consequences of Suicide
Any suicide is generally considered to be a serious and sad
event because that affects adversely all those who are related
to the victim in one way or the other. If the event of a suicide
is regarded as unfortunate and unsavoury, or a grim tragey,
then its consequences, too, would be most tragical. A
consequence is a result or an effect of something else, i.e., an
act of suicide manifests itself into many disastrous
consequences, the most heart-breaking and nerve-racking,
first to the parents, if the victim is unmarried boy or girl and
then, to the wife and childrer. in case the victim happens to
be the sole bread-winner in the family; or if the victim
happens to be a married women, her husband would face an
precedent sorrowful situation for bringing up the kids.
Relatives. and friends, too, feel the pinching moments
because of their being close companions, though only for a
certain period. Some of the tragical consequences followed
by a suicide may be summarized as follows:
(i) The absence and the memory of a victim would bring
the parents, wife and the children, into a situation of
extremely mental or physical sufferings, because of his
being a sole bread-winner in the family;
(ii) The victim if being a poor one, without any regular
income, the family may face acute economic hardships
and also many other social odds;
(iii) The aged parents, if dependent on their only son, would
shudder, because of the fear of ensuing poverty, hunger
and starvation, and they may eventually turn to be
beggars of the streets;
(iv) The male victim if leaves nothing behind him except
anxieties and miseries for his wife and children, then the
grown up children would turn to be the child labourers
or domestic servants in order to support and feed the
family members;
(v) There may also be a long legal battle over the huge
properties among the claimants related to the deceased
victim, and enmity, too, may grow among them;
(vi) The fear of social and economic insecurity may also
push the aged parents to the committal of suicides; or
they may turn to be mentally sick, sad and shocked
persons;
(vii) The family members have to face disgrace, depression,
condemnation, etc., if they could not resolve the
problems of the victim;
(viii)In case of the young male victim belongs to the
Brahmanic family his wife would not be allowed to be
remarried; and she has to lead a life of compulsory
widowhood, who may eventually go to self-destruction
to get rid of social disgrace and indignity;
(ix) The stigma of suicide would cause the lowering down of
the social status of the family; and
(x) Thus, the consequences of any suicide would necessarily
be disastrous and deadly to the victims nearest and
dearest ones in one way or the other.
How Do People Look At Suicide?
As explained so far, the incidents of suicide include almost
all the groups of age right from children to that of old age.
An eighteen year old boy, namely, Nandu consumed once a
heavy dose of sleeping tablets; but, anyhow, he could not go
to the lap of suicide. It was his first attempt of suicide and the
apparent cause was his family's taunts regarding Nandu's
studies. He was also afraid of his social environment lest
some may remark against him. Due to timely treatment and
subsequent care, he was luckily saved from committing
suicide. But after two months henceforth Nandu again
attempted to commit suicide by hanging himself to the iron
hook of his room on the night of 23rd September, 2001.
Living in mental tensions was a constant heaa.ache to him,
and this time he died. How far could the family members
take care of him? It was a problem to them to keep
continuing vigil for him.
How Do People Look At Suicide? 185
There are many such males or females, boys or girls, who
attempt to commit suicide for more than once like Nandu. It
was not only Nandu but many others who attempt to die
again and again. According to psychiatrists, at least sixty per
cent persons attempt to suicide twice or more and of these ten
percent succeed in self-killing, and as they emphasize, in such
cases, the victims could be saved by family, medicine and
prayers, provided timely help was available to them.
1
In the opinion of National Crime Record Bureau's report
2001, the maximum number of suicide incidents happen in
India and of these more in West Bengal, Maharashtra,
Karnataka States. Among those who commit suicide, the
number of girls is more than boys. Again as per this report,
the age of these girls was between 14 to 16. In comparison,
the number of girls, who committed suicide, was 1820;
whereas the number of boys was 1754. It is a mystery that
many cases of suicide are not reported in news media,
because the concerned families do not like to publicize such
unfortunate events. In the S.M.S. Hospita1-of Jaipur, at least
ten to twelve cases of suicidal attempts come within a month,
an alarming situation. The persons, passing days or living in
a state of frustration and tensions, are more prone to
undertake self-destructive attempts. As it seems to me, the
modern styles and changing patterns of relationship are
responsible for pushing the victims into the vicious circle of \
suicide.
2
Dr. Shiv Gautam, Head of the Psychiatry Department, S.M.5.
Medical College of Jaipur, was of the view that those who
remain alive after one attempt to suicide, have more
tendency to attempt again to commit suicide. This is
generally the trend these day among the victims. If someone
has attempted to commit suicide in a family others may also
be prone to such and attempt of self-destruction. In Dr.
Gautam's view, among those who attempt to commit suicide
99 per cent of them do not die. There are three kinds of
persons who come forward for self-killing: first, those who
wish to win sympathy in a crisis; second, are those who
constantly remain in doubt or suspense; and third, those who
are determined to die. The persons of the first and the second
categories are more than 85 per cent, and such persons can be
saved by providing help necessarily needed at that time.
Only those persons who do not receive any help and co-
operation from the family members and society, again
attempt to commit suicide.
3
Another Associate Prof. (Dr.) Anil Tambi of the Psychiatry
Department of S.M.S. Medical College, says that those
persons, who may be the future victims of
give some sort of inclinations or indications to some of his
friends, dears or to their family doctors. For example, the
person so prone to suicide starts telling his family members,
"You will no more be in trouble due to me", or seeing
something very dear to him, "Now this is no more of any
avail to me". Dr. Tambi also adds to it that generally such a
person, living in tension and all alone, looks confident and
happy.
The above view of Dr. Tambi, however, seems to me
untenable, because if someone is constantly facing a situation
of tension and loneliness, he can hardly be gay and happy,
because the image of his own, he has pampered so long,
looks to him gradually and steadily erosive due to certain
hostile forces.
As I have explained earlier, one who commits suicide is
not determined to do so, that is, one who firmly decides or
determines to commit suicide can hardly come forward to do
so as he himself avoids such a step for self-killing on one
pretext or the other. The act of suicide is generally found to
be sudden and quick that it needs no pre-determination.
Anyhow, the juxtapose of several apparent and inherent
causes or influence forces the victim to undertake such a
drastic step, that needs no pre-decision. The act of suicide, as
the incidents suggest, involves emotional attempt rather than
pre-determined idea. That is why Dr. Gautam's view of
suicide, based on a firm determination, is also not tenable.
4
In Indian philosophy, yoga -has a very important place
because of its being a way to ease tensions prevailing in
human life. When I met Munishri Rakesh Kumarji, a Jain
'saint (sadhu), who has been teaching the practice and fruits of
the yoga system in Jaipur for the last two months, I asked
him, " How can dharma and yoga give relief to those who are
suffering from various mental and physical ailments?" He
was very kind enough to me and told: If There is a close
relation between dharma and mental or physical body (i.e.
health). Dharma means to perform duties for individual life
and society in order to be virtuous having sympathy and co-
operation for self and social development; these duties aim at
easing hostile relations that are, anyhow, arisen in
everybody's life. Dharma teaches man to be g ~ o d in speech
and actions that may create an atmosphere of peace, and yoga
helps man in controlling the evil effects which arise due to
envy, hatred and anger; yoga tells about as to how to perform
the meditation and how to practice different postures of
body so that individual can be able to be freed from various
tensions."
In fact, meditation and yoga exercises, if performed
correctly, give us several reliefs and comforts that are not
possible otherwise because of present-day life-styles, badly
running after money and fame in shortest time without
doing hard work. But everyone cannot pursue the ways of
dharma and yoga as the modern effects in one's life do not
allow him to get leisure and time. The ideals of dharma and
the practices of yoga postures have no meaning to those who
are entangled in various family tensions and social problems
of poverty, unemployment, hunger competition and
complexities of life. So far as the future victims of suicide are
concerned, there is a need to solve their economic ills and
family conflicts arising out of property disputes. There is no
doubt that dharma and yoga are beneficial to certain persons;
but for the suicide victims, they may not be so effective as to
the elites of society, who are running hither and thither for
satisfying their lust for wealth. Each individual has a unique
image of himself, and what suits or satisfies him in pre-
suicidal attempts, can hardly be solved by dharma and yoga
exercises, since the committal of suicide is sudden and quick,
the possible victim looses all hopes to survive and may not
like to be religious man (dlpzrmik purush) or a yogi to shun the
worldly desires which must be fulfilled before he goes to self-
killing.
I also putforth a pointed question before Munishri
Rakesh Kumarji, "What do you think of the Santhara pledge
firmly taken by some Jain saints to die by not taking foods
and also water at a later stage? Is it not a way of suicide?"
Munishriji, a bit disturbed, said: "It is the authority of the
Jain shastras, which allows a sadhu or a sadhwi to go to the
path of Santhara; when it is felt that the physical body
becomes very weak and the saint is incapable to move from
one place to another to spread the teachings of Jainism.
Though Santhara is voluntary, yet any saint is not forced to
go to-this way of leaving body in order to achieve salvation
of the soul."
Whatever is the authority of the Jain shastras, the pledge
to go to Santhara for self-destruction is the way of suicide,
because it is voluntary on the part of any saint, though it
takes many days or a month to die. It is legally an act of self-
crime in the language of law, for Santhara's sole aim is to die;
otherwise many persons, who are suffering from some
deadly diseases creating mental agony and severe pain
constantly, are not permitted by any court of law to die at his
own will to get ride of self-affliction. Why should, then, the
way of Santhara not be stopped by court? It is because no one
complains against such a sensitive matter of religious nature,
though it.is openly an act of suicide.
5
When I met a friend of mine, Dr. R.c. Trivedi, a former
professor of philosophy to know whether Hinduism allows
one to go to self-killing at his own that is, I asked him, "Is not
the Jal-Samadhi' an act of suicide?" When a Hindu saint feels
that he has achieved a state of moksha (salvation of the soul),
he realizes that to live physically is no more worthwhile and
that is why the saint sits in a running stream of water of the
holy Ganges in a posture of samadhi feeling nothing else
except spiritual salvation. A physical existence is irrelevant;
no pain, no attraction, the saint is lost in an eternal peace, i.e.,
he becomes 'Sachidanand', i.e., one with the Absolute, the
Brahma. Though Dr. Trivedi was hesitant to accept 'Jal-
Samadhi' an act of suicide, yet I argued that nobody, whether
a saint or a grahisth (married person), has a right to take his
life by any means in the eyes of Hindu law. Each and every
Hindu is destined by Ishwar (God) to die only when his life
span is over. Thus, self-killing by any means is a crime;
otherwise, several higher caste widows, not allowed to
remarry; infirms and handicaps, persons afflicted by leprosy
and deadly diseases, would have gone to self-destruction.
6
How does Islam look at suicide?" I asked this question, when
I met a Muslim learned man, Mohammed Rafique Dayama,
also a good friend of mine. He was quite clear in his reply,
when he said, "An act of suicide is regarded as 'Sarzad
Gunah' that is a great crime in Muslim law". Why is it a great
crime? "It is because", as Dayama said, "Allah has given the
gift of life to each Muslim person for a certain period upto
which he or she has to live irrespective of being rich or poor,
normal or sick; but a Muslim has no right to take his life
before the destined period; and anyone who commits suicide
disobeys the dictates of Allah. Hence suicide is a great crime,
that is, 'Sarzad Gunah'."
What does Islam think of the self (It is like a soul in
Hinduism) when a Muslim commits suicide before the
destined period? Suppose, a Muslim has been granted an age
Haw Do People Look At Suicide?
191
of 60 years; by Allah; but he commits suicide at the age of 55
years; then, what will happen to the person for 5 years, the
period for which he had to live? As told to me, he does not
exist in Islam but the victim will be condemned by his
fellows. Islam does not believe in soul like Hinduism and
Jainism. In it two terms are very important, i.e., 'fana' and
'baka'. One who has killed himself is known as fana, that is,
one who will be forgotten soon; but one who lives upto his
natural death, will always be remembered by the people like
Khwaja Saheb of Ajmer and many other saints (fakirs) of
repute. To be brief, in Islam 'fana' is a great crime; whereas
'baka' is appreciated or praised for ever.
7
The same question arises before the religion (dharma) of
Buddha: Which way Buddhism looks at suicide? I discussed
the problem of suicide with some B ~ d d h i s t scholars and I
drew the conclusion that since Buddhism does not believe in
the existence of a permanent soul and the supreme God, it
encourages man to live and face the realties of life as boldly
as possible. Buddhism does not encourage anyone to go to
the way of self-destruction even in the midst of sorrow and
suffering; it takes for granted that the world is impermanent,
changing all the times; and therefore, the physical body of
anyone living in this universe will automatically come to its
natural end with the gradually decaying body as nothing is
eternal in this world. Here the Buddhist view of
momentariness (chhanikvada), i.e., the decaying process of
each and every thing or a human being, comes to assert that
self-destruction is not morally justified as the body itself will
come to its end, though everyone must face such a situation
192
by way of virtuous living, i.e., a man can overcome the
situation of sorrow and suffering by practicing or following
the eightfold path (Ashtangic Marg) of Buddha so that man
does not incline towards the way of suicide.
8
In both Hinduism and Islam, any act of suicide is not allowed
or granted to any person. On the one hand, in I ~ l a m suicide is
the great crime, i.e., 'Gunahe Nazim', whereas the Hindu
shastras believe that each and every jiva (living being) has
been destined to live for a particular period whatever it is 60
years, 75 or 100 years. Whether a Hindu is rich or poor,
strong or weak, Brahmin or Shudra, learned or ignorant, he
has to live in all situations, good, favourable or infavourable;
and has to perform his duties according to varnashram
dharma. If a Hindu commits suicide for whatever reason, dies
in accident or murdered by sOIrteone, it is called an akal
mritiyu (an untimely death). It means that no Hindu has any
right to go to the way of self-destruction at his own. The
period that falls short of the granted years by God, say, one
has been destined to live 75 years; but due to suicide, he dies
at the age of 65 years; a period of 10 years remains in balance.
As the Hindu scholars or authors of shastras believe, the soul,
being a permanent entity, would be roaming hither and
thither in bhut-yoni till the period of 10 years is completed;
and afterwards that soul would take re-birth in one kind of
jiva in accordance with the karmas (action), which were
performed by the concerned person. If he had bad karmas, he
would be born in the lower category of beings (jivas); and in a
similar way if he had done good karmas, he would have the
fate of a man who commits suicide or dies in any other way
How Do People Look Al-$'uicide? 193
before the g r a n ~ d period of life. To be brief, in the Hindu
dharma, suicide means an untimely death (akaI mritiyu) and
the victim is penalized accordingly in his re-birth.
In Buddhism, since there is no eternal soul, and when a
man dies in any way, i.e., by suicide, in an accident or in any
other way, this simply means the disintegration or the
dissolution of the physical and mental personality of the
victim. After death, the physical elements are mingled with
the similar kinds of elements of water, earth, air and fire-jaI,
prithvi, vayu and agni, respectively, and the mental element
(consciousness), too, mingle with consciousness, which are
floating in the universe. As such, there is no transmigration
of soul in Buddhism like Hinduism, because from one body
to the other in accordance with the karmas done by a man in
his former life. The Hindu shastras believe in akaI mritiyu; but
in Buddhism, it is not so as death simply means the
disintegration of human body or personality irrespective it
may be due to any reasons.
9
What is the view of suicide in Christianity? Christianity, too,
does not permit anyone to commit suicide in any condition,
as man is entangled in 'original sin', and to be free from it, is
the greatest duty of a Christian. It is possible only when man
believes in "God, Jesus Christ; the son of God". The main
thing in Christianity is the teaching of the mythical man. God
Jesus Christ who descended from heaven on earth,
underwent suffering and death at the hands of the Jews, and
then, rose from the dead to redeem the people from I original
sin'. Earthly life, as Christianity teaches, is a temporary
abode for man in preparation for eternal life in the other
world, the kingdom (heaven) of God, with the grace of God,
under the guidance of Jesus Christ. So any Christian has to
have unflinching faith in God and also in Jesus Christ, the
son of God; God's grace would be the only way to enter into
the kingdom of heaven. As the man is the original sinner, he
has to worship God and to have faith in the grace of Jesus
Christ. Any act of self-destruction or suicide by a Christian
would be another sin, and that is why only good acts like
faith in and worship of God, unshakeable belief in the son of
God Jesus Christ, doing good to others and loving the
neighbours. In brief, suicide has no place in Christianity,
because it would not be morally justified; and the entry into
the kingdom of heaven would never be possible. It is said
that God had created man in his own image. But man
committed sin himself; and to beg pardon from God, man
has to be guided by 'the rule love'. Love of man to man is the
basic idea of Christian society that needs no immoral act like
suicide.
10
The medical doctors' opinion about the act of suicide is
certainly different from others. Although, they take suicide in
terms of medical analysis a disease of mental disorder or the
disturbance of nervous system. It is, in fact, not purely a
medical, physical or mental problem. To knOVl more about
suicide, I met and discussed it with some prominent doctors
who stressed the 'genetic factors' or 'influences', behind the
act of suicide, and it is a problem of genetics. So it should be
probed to unfold the secret of suicide in the studies of genes.
This view of medical doctors, however, has yet to be
established for its definiteness in the field of medical
sciences. As the incidents of suicide vary from man to man,
each victim of suicide is having a unique personality or
individuality, it seems that the genetic factors are not
universally applicable in all cases; these can hardly be
generally common; and this is the main problem before the
scientists who believe in the genetic theory of suicide. It may
be somewhat valid; but ~ t is not specific and definite in its
discovery of genes that make individuals tend to go to the
way of suicide without taking into consideration the
apparent and inherent causes of suicide.
There is no doubt, genes play very important role in
determining the nature and functions of physical personality
of an individual; but each man's physical body is unique in
itself and to apply genetic hypothesis in each case of suicide
would be undermining the others factors, mainly economic,
mental, social, climatic, psychotic or family structure, in
various incidents of suicide. Therefore, we have to wait till
the genetic theory is well established in future.
11
Now come to what the sociologists say about the suicide. As
we have already mentioned the views of Emile Durkhiem, an
act of suicide, seems to him, an extreme state of desperation
when a particular individual turns towards the way of self-
destruction. The situation of desperation may be due to
egoistic tendency, social conflict, and other mental factors.
Durkheim is right to some extent; but he has not discovered a
general undercurrent behind all the cases of suicide.
Prof. Shyam Lal, a prominent sociologist, who has
refuted the theory of sanskritization of M.N. Srinivasan, has
stressed mainly the social and economic, along w i ~ caste
hoped and the notion of untouchability behind suicide in
Indian perspective. Prof. Shyam Lal has written extensively
on the conditions of sweeper caste, known as the Bhangis, of
Rajasthan State, and claims, when I met him to discuss the
problem of suicide that the most very poor conditions, the
feelings of 'touch-me-not-ism' and doing filthy profession
like scavanzing and carrying on the night-soil on the
shoulders can push anyone of the lower caste of Hindu
society to go to the way of suicide, if after being educated,
does not find suitable job or the means of livelihood of his
choice.
There is some truth in what Prof. Shyam Lal says, yet the
above factors, too, are not universally applicable in all the
cases of suicide, because the individuals other than the
persons of lower castes are also found to commit suicide. The
factors, as mentioned above, are very much important, yet
these are not sufficient to unfold the whole story of suicide
encompassing the persons of all shades as I have already
indicated that suicide does not discriminate or leave Clnyone
on the basis of caste, creed or community. The phenomenon
of suicide is universal in nature, that is, the incidents of
suicide are found in all human societies of the world.
The incidents of suicide are, of course, the problem of
family and social life, and the sociologist deal with such a
mysterious matter, extensively and intensively. But they
move more on the outer aspects of suicide and less on its
inner world. The inner world or some hidden factors are
really more important than what the sociologists endeavour
to discover in the serious cases of suicide. On the other hand,
the psychologists aim at studying the inner or mental aspects
of suicide, which, too, are not sufficient to unfold the real
Hmo Do People Look At Suicide? 197
story of suicide. However, if taken collectively both the
aspects-outer and inner, help us to deal with the problem of
suicide, more effectively.
12
It is now the turn of honourable judges and the advocates or
the lawyers as to how they look at the problem of suicide. As
we are well aware, the judges and the advocates happen to
be the persons who dig the roots of law in connection with a
crime or the violation of law, and as such, they are the insects
of law. So happens in the cases of suicide. When I contacted
some learned judges and"some lawyers of repute, I found
what I have expressed in previous lives. They consider the
happening of any sort of suicide to be a crime in the eyes of
law irrespective of how the suicide was committed by a
victim. According to the articles 309, 305 and 306, all the
cases of suicide are crimes as expressed in these articles of
Indian Penal Code (LP.C.) -" Article 309: Attempt to commit
suicide" - "Whoever attempts to commit suicide and does
any act towards the commission of such offence, shall be
punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may
extend to one year or with fine, or with both." The Article 306
of the LP.C. says, "306-Abatement of Suicide" -"If any
person commits suicide, whoever abets the commission of
such suicide, shall be punished with imprisonment of either
description of a term which may extend to ten years, and
shall also be liable to fine." The I.P.c. also says, "305-
abatement of suicide of child or in some person". "If any
person under eighteen years of age, any some person, any
delirious person, any idiot, or any person in a state of
intoxication, commits suicide, whoever abets the commission
of such suicide, shall be punished with death or
imprisonment of life or imprisonment for a term not
exceeding ten years, and shall also be liable to fine."
All the three articles of Indian Penal Code are very clear
that in the eyes of law, and therefore, in the opinion of the
honourable judges and the lawyers, any act of suicide is an
offence or a crime. The article 309 has specified that an
attempt to suicide is punishable in accordance with law, if
the victim remains alive. If the act of suicide is completed
and the victim dies, there is no punishment to him or her.
The article 306 refers to the abatement of a person to commit
suicide by any person. If it is proved in the court of law that
a person has abated someone else to go to suicide, the
person, who abets, shall be punished, whether the victim dies
or not. Although an in some person, a delirious person, an
idiot, an intoxicated person or a child under eighteen years of
age, can hardly go to suicide at his own, yet anyone, who
abets any of them to the commission of the act of suicide, he
is punishable under law. Such is the language of the
honourable judges and the lawyers in which they speak; they
have no other consideration to look into the real causes of
suicide; and as such, they look at suicide as an offence and
punishment accordingly.
13
The handicap and infirm persons, including the leprosy
patients, have a different view of suicide, they believe that
God has given them such lives because of their bad or
immoral karmas (actions); and whatever the situation,
miserable or even frightening, they have to face and live till
they meet their natural deaths. When I asked some of them,
'How can you take it for granted?", they said, "Sir there is no
other way than the mercy of God to live. As human beings,
we get help from the benevolent persons of society; and it is
also the grace of God that we survive, anyhow, to get
favourable rewards from the supreme courts of God". I was
stunned to see their conditions as to how they face the odds
of life. Their deep faith in God and previous lives is
unshakeable; they have zest to live or gusto to face whatever
comes to them. They, to anyone's amazement, do not
approve of any act of suicide as they believe, it would be
another unwanted act before we meet the natural end. The
mercy of God in terms of human help and social sympathy is
the main thing in their lives, though a few of them did not
agree to what others have said. Yet all of them did not like
the way of suicide.
14
How do women look at suicide? It is an interesting question as
the most of the womenfolk are really the weaker sections of
society; they are afraid of the event of suicide, and they
shudder even at the thought of suicide. As my experience
confirms, the Indian women are very faithful and tolerable
towards their husbands. They believe in the grace of God and
are afraid of doing immoral acts; when I met and talked about
the incidents of suicide, most of the women did not like to die
this way even living in the midst of odds and hardships. They
tolerate many hostile things, even the atrocities of their
husbands upon them. But there days the increasing graph of
suicide among the females seems to be very alarming. Why is
it so that the ladies tend to suicide? According to the views of
women, I have noted, the incident of suicide happens when
an acute situation of desperation, sorrow and suffering,
continues to persist, due to atrocities upon newly Imarried
200
women for insufficient dowry in cash and kind, being at the
verge of hunger or continuing deadly diseases without any
medical treatment. It means that only those women go to the
way of suicide who are instigated and tortured by their in-
laws. It is strange, the women are very tolerable and
adjustable to any bad and hostile situation or when there is
no alternative to live. However, the young women, who are
very sensitive and ambitious and when they feel ignored,
deprived and oppressed, easily become the victims of
suicide. The modernity has influenced the attitudes of young
girls; they feel, they must have all the luxuries of life. They
immediately react to the hostile things and feel very
incapable to adjust in their new families, and may tend to go
to any extreme step in life.
It is, however, the responsibility of parents and if
married, of the in-laws, to create a situation of natural
communication and adjustability in the family. The greed of
more money in marriages or unmatched marriages should be
controlled or minimized. The women of any age, in fact, do
not simply wish to die, but many hostile and sorrowful
things may push them to go to the way of suicide. Therefore
the women should be treated as equal partness to men,
respectable and dignified beings, if we want to help them
move forward freely in all the fields of life.
15
The students, both boys and girls, as we observe, are very
ambitious to have the luxuries of life, even when they are
unemployed, at the cost of their parents. It is a sad situation
that the young boys and girls want sudden achievement of
more money, wide fame and heroship without doing hard
labour. They become impatient and hostile to their family
members, especially their parents, if their desires or wants
are not easily satisfied. It is advised and admonished to go to
sleep and rise early for study, or to do hard work for good
achievements, they feel it otherwise, and may go to any step
either to run away from their families or to go to commit
suicide. When some of the students, both boys and girls,
were asked: "Why do a few of students commit suicide in
case they fail in examination?" The essence of their replies
was: "Sir, as the parents expect them to be excellent or
brilliant ones and the success does not come to their
expectation, a few of students, being very sensitive to their
parents' attitude or assuming their lives are buffered, are
prone to such a step, though it is bad to commit suicide; it is,
of course, a cowardly act."
Here we must have a t:onclusion, though students after
the completion of their want jobs to be independent of their
parents and do not like to be the beast of burden on their
parents. The young boys and girls have their own ambition
and aspirations; but the society and the government, both are
apathetic to them, which has created a situation of pessimism
before them and at the same time the luxurious living of
politicians, bureaucrats or industrialists, the false
impressions of life being depicted in politics and film serials
or films have been certainly vitiaung their minds, for what
these things or shows depict do not represent the realities of
life. As a result, the young generation is early astrayed and it
wants very quick gains without undergoing the odds and
hostilities of the modern world. The expensive modern life-
styles of many richest people, whether they are politicians,
bureaucrats, industrialists or film actors, do not help the
young ones to adjust and face the actual difficulties of life.
The widely spread corruption in all fields of life is, too,
'responsible for creating confused images that adversely
affect the students in their approach to meet the challenges of
modern life. The students, however, must study and find out,
"what is true or what is false?", to be aware of their effects;
they ought to be cautious of false impression; and must be
ready to face and fight what comes to :them in real life.
16
After knowing that I am writing a book, namely, A Philosophy
of Suicide, a publisher came to me and said, "It is quite a
known fact that some persons commit suicide because of
certain hostile and unbearable situation in a family, locality
or a community; but my main question is-Can the change of
place resolve the possible suicide? Or Can it be averted by
meeting the demands of the victim? What do you think of
these questions?" Although the publishers are professionals,
yet show their concern about the unfortunate happenings of
suicide; however, least concerned, who becomes the victim of
suicide. What I said for satisfying the publisher'S query is
that I agree with his proposal for changing the place; it can
help the possible victim to some extent; but one of his family
members, or anyone of his friends; has to visualize the
symptoms or demands of the concerned person, he must also
see that the victims demands are legitimate and must be
fulfilled; only then, the change of place may avert the chances
of suicide. The mere change of place, without resolving the
disputed things, can hardly save the victim from the ensuing
misha ppening.
What I wish to stress is, the disputed and desperate
situation, emerged because of certain family or social
conflicts, has to be changed into a situation of satisfaction for
the possible victim. Unless the causes leading one to go to
suicide are rightly minimized, there are many chances to
save him; if not so done, the continuing mental tension and
frustration may lead the victim to embrace the way of suicide
anywhere. But as I believe, the total elimination of the
incidents of suicide can never be possible by' any device. We
can save a few of the victims, but not all for ever as in this
fast changing world, new stresses and strains, disputes and
conflicts, mental attitudes and physical relations, do arise
from time to time in one way or the other in all the societies
of the world.
17
So far as the leaders and politicians' views are concerned,
they look at suicides not seriously but cleverly or simply the
opportunities of encashing them in the favour of their
respective political interests. This is true in case the leaders
happen. to belong to opposition parties; they eloquently
speak that the government is paying no heed to the suicide
victims starving or dying of acute poverty and hunger, but
they least do anything to them. They hold meetings in
protest and organize big rallies; but they do not collect funds
to help them; on the other hand, the political party or parties
in power, the bureaucrats, and their flunkeys, deny what the
opposition brings into limelight. The government claims that
those who are dying are not the victims of acute poverty and
hunger; rather they have been suffering from seasonal
malaria. In fact, the leaders and the politicians have no
serious concern whether in opposition or in power. They visit
the families of the victims and show their sympathy towards
them without providing any material relief to them. This is
what happens in India.
18
When I met and talked to some family members of the
victims of suicide, I found that they were the most aggrieved
persons who look at such unfortunate happenings from the
viewpoint of losing their sons or daughters. In case, the
victim haFpened to be the sole supporter or a wage-earner
for the entire family, his wife and children, or the aged
parents, feel the real importance of the victim's being alive;
they repent and weep for months till they come to be normal.
The family members are the real sufferers and the most
painful moments are of those parents whose daughters die of
torture and atrocities because of the cruel family members of
the sons-in-law who do so for more and more dowry in cash
and kind. A family's sole bread-earner son, or the only son
of parents, anyhow, commits suicide, leaves behind him, the
weeping aged parents for ever; and if that son is married
having children, his wife becomes widow to suffer most, and
the children face dark future. The relations and the friends,
though feel aggrieved, yet they forget the victims after a few
months. Only the parents, widow ladies and their helpless
children continue to suffer most for years in case no one
comes to their support; the incidents of suicide become the
frightening memories to them; but to those, who are least
concerned about suicide by anyone, these are the simple yet
terrible tales to read and nothing else.
Haw Do People Look At Suicide?
205
19
Among the persons, whom I met and talked to know their
views about suicide, were from almost all the segments of
\
society. The poor, illiterates, labourers, rickshaw-pullers,
infirms, abandoned, handicaps, blind persons, individuals
afflicted from deadly diseases, exploited and oppressed ones;
they were found to have unflinching faith in the grace of God
to fight the odds and sufferings of life, but they did not like to
go to the way of self-destruction at their own as it would be
against the wishes of God who had given to them such lives to
survive. They also believe in the past lives and therefore, to
them, what was destined to reap, they have to face; strangely,
these persons, as they believe, suffer because of their bad
karmas (actions) in previous lives. Thus, they have at least the
will to live as their fate was determined by God.
20
Here we may mention the views of some Sikh learned
persons as to what they think of suicide. As Guru Nanak Dev
asserted, God is the sole supreme power to decide
everybody's fate, and therefore, all the Sikhs are theists who
have to abide by the will of God. What is destined to each
person in view of Guru Nanak, each one should be-prepared
either to be happy or to be suffered according their karmas in
the previous lives. So the way of suicide, as the Sikhs believe,
is against the very teachings of Nanak Dev. An act of suicide
is in no way justified, though the orthodox Sikhs can scarify
their lives for the dignity of Nanak and Guru Granthsaheb.
To the Sikhs, God is the supreme power, who has created the
world of human beings and it is the duty of every Sikh to
serve the needy as it would earn many to the doer of punya
(good). To be brief, as the staunch believer in God, Guru
Nanak advised the Sikhs to serve man as man, for all the
human beings are the creation of God. That is why no Sikh
would like to go to suicide whatever the situation to live
comes before them.
As we have explained earlier, all the theistic, even the
non-theistic religious, believe that the act of suicide can never
be justified in any way, morally or otherwise, because what is
destined would happen either in one's favour or disfavour.
All have to face and fight odds, hostile events, and many
such things in the name of God. But when I met and listened
to the views of the Marxist, they were quite eloquent in
emphasizing that it is neither God nor fate or the past karmas
that exist to decide the course of events in men's lives; To the
Marxists, only the social and economic conditions of society(
or the exploitation and oppression of the poor or of the
labourer by the rich people, are the main cause that can push
anyone of them to go to the way of suicide, if one faces an
acute hostile and sick situation, and there is no alternative
available to the victim except the self-destruction. The
economic structure or the economic condition of a society
plays a very significant role in deciding the mode pf
production relations. If the situation of a society is based on
the capitalistic basis, the miseries of the labour classes grow
day ,by day and some of them may go to the road of suicide;
but the socialistic pattern of society, the nationalization of
industries, the collective agriculture farm, the dictatorship of
the proletariat, etc., can minimize the chances of suicide or of
self-destruction. This is all as to how the Marxists look at the
incidents of suicide; they emphasize the unity of all
labourers; and organize them to fight and remove the evils of
capitalism in order to eliminate the chances of poverty,
exploitation and starvation; and therefore, of the suicidal
ways by the oppressed people.
21
Now to consider and explain, are the views of womenfolk
appear in the newspapers from time to time. In fact, the
Indian women are far behind from the changing progressive
trends that have taken place in western countries, because of
being victims of domestic pressure, tension, harassment,
molestation, or rape; they are ignorant of their own rights
and legal safeguards; and social and family dynamics and
general apathy afflict them. They are really denied equal
footing with men. If anyone of them is raped, burnt alive, she
is blamed for not having acceded to the 'due demands' of her
in-laws, and if she is molested or tortured, it is her character
which is at stake. Whatever the good provisions for their
dignity, freedom and equality, the overall situation is grim to
the Indian womenfolk. Describing such a hostile and
discriminative situation, some of the female officials working
in certain non-governmental organizations (NGOs), whom I
met, lamented over the increasing graph of suicides by
women, mostly married females, due to insufficient dowry in
cash and kind. In their opinion, there is no end or the
minimization of suicides by women until the families in
particular and society in general, are sensitive towards the
gender issues and ways are found to radically change the
psyche to accept women as human beings - the persons in
their own right. In short, the female social activists
vehemently showed their dislike for the suicides by the
womenfolk, and stressed the point that the young girls
married or unmarried, must come forward to face and fight
against the factors responsible for their self-destruction.
22
The next to know and understand is the world of grown-up
children, boys and girls, who are the victims of child-
labourers in roadside hotels and dhawas or as domestic
servants in families. I met and talked to them as to how they
take the incidents of suicide; most of them were found
always working in mental tensions and physical stresses due
to their employers' harsh and rude behaviour, coercive
methods to work without adequate rest, and insufficient
foods. A few of these children frankly expressed their views
to say, "Uncle, we are forced to live merely in animal
existence and nothing more; we work in unhygienic
conditions; and we have to obey the dictates of the
employers in all situations in order to avoid beating and
invectives by them. In fact, we feel, at times, i.e., wish to die;
yet we have to work to help our old parents, younger
brothers or sisters; otherwise, who will like to lead such a
worse life?; and as such, we are destined not to escape but
work right from early morning till late night". I was really
stunned to listen to their woes \or terrible tales of coercion,
beating and abusing, by their Compelling the
children to live in sub-human conditions actually amount to
the taking away of their lives, no't by execution of a death
sentence but by a slow and gradual process by robbing them
of all their human qualities and graces, a process which as
much more cruel than a man to the gallows. In other
words, the children; so overburdened by work and threats, at
times, think of suicide; but they work in the interests of their
families. I, too, encour::ged them to face and fight against the
adverse conditions till they become their own masters in
choosing alternative vocations.
23
Here what I intend to mention is the group of those persons
who were least concerned or interested in the incidents of
suicide. When I met them, at random, at one place or the
other; either walking on the road, selling vegetables or doing
nothing because of unemployment; I found them in varying
moods about the incidents of suicide. In a sense, it was a
limited random survey which included some males or
females of all shades. Many of them did not relish the tragical
happenings, cases or consequences; rather, they said, "If
anyone commits suicide it matters little to them; if one wants
to die, let him go to the hall of suicide, because one day, each
and everyone of us will die; this way at least the
mushrooming growth of the population will be lessened to
some extent, and the victims will be obliging or helping us, in
a sense, to check the fast increasing population. We like
draught, earthquakes, floods, plagues, storms, natural
calamities, etc., because of the wrath of God, Allah or Ishwar,
who punishes the evil doers in one way or the other.
However, the traders and the politicians make the situation
to gain momentary benefits; this is bad. The human history
shows that murder, rape, loot, molestation, exploitation, etc.,
have been the facts of social life, what to think of suic;:ide,
which is not a new thing to wonder and worry. The main
point, as I draw from their talks, is that suicide is not a new
210 A Philosophy of Suiczde
fact and this is simply a part of human life. What is destined,
will certainly happen to anyone. So they will, let things go in
their own ways. In short, any incident of suicide does not
disturb these people except the victim happens a member
their family, and for them, the tragical events are the daily
occurrences in human society. Why should they worry and
suffer?
24
The most interesting to know are the views of another groups
consisting of thieves, looters, decoits, rapists and robbers.
What do these anti-social persons think of suicide? When I
approached them, anyhow, I found that their views about
suicide were utterly of different nature. To them, the
incidents of suicide, are very ordinary happenings, because
their main aim or work is to get money, silver or gold
ornaments to enjoy in life. In the process of achieving their
aim if someone is raped, murdered or killed, it makes no
difference, no remorse or no felony, for without using force,
nothing could be achieved from those who vehemently resist
them, whether male or female. All thieves, thugs or looters
were not afraid of any untoward happening. Why is it so?
When they gaily indulge in looting money and valuable
goods, the incidents of severe injury or killing of someone,
matters little, if they get fulfilled their goal of snatching huge
amount of money. That is why they do not think of suicide,
seriously; if anybody, for any reason, goes to self-destruction,
it is not an amazing event. As they face usually the situations
entangled in theft, loot, decoity, rape, ~ u g e e and so on; the
suicide by anyone does not attract them. If one dies or kills
himself, it carries no weight to them. Obviously, the views of
anti-social f o r ~ e s may be noted, with regard to suicide, as of
no value because of their utter indifference to self-killing,
being killed or murdered by others. In fact, they are
accustomed to witness the untoward incidents in their day-
to-day lives, and as such, they live in the world of violence
and terrorism.
25
What do the prostitutes think of suicide? A prostitute is a
woman who offers herself for sex in return of money to be
given by a male person. There is a group of unfortunate
women who adopt this way to earn money for managing the
home affairs. When some of them were contacted to ask their
views about, they looked very pathetic and in a polite
language, they said, "Who will like to go to the most illegal,
unwanted or disgraceful profession of prostitution? We, too,
hate this profession; but the socio-economic conditions
around us or the worst situation of our family, compel us to
do so. We do not do it simply for sex enjoyment, but for the
cause of a greater need to feed our family members who
cannot be bread-winners like aged parents or the forlorn
children after the death of our guardians. As far as the
incidents of suicide are concerned, we, at times, think of
going to this way; anyhow, we feel helpless and continue to
live a life of disgrace and indignity." In fact, certain adverse
conditions force the womenfolk to go to this profession, and
nobody comes forward to help them. These days some
groups of men and women pick up young poor girls on one
or the other pretext, and force them to go this way or sale
them to the prostitutes for earning money.
26
Another group of persons is that of 'atheists' who do not
believe that the incidents of suicide occur because of past
karmas or due to God's wrath. For them, all the events of
suicide happen when individuals face acute hardships and
continuing situation of 'obstructive factors'. Nobody is
destined to go to the way of suicide as the atheists believe it
is the result of bad structures of society. Some have immense
wealth, whereas the majority of the people live without any
socia-economic security. Only certain empirical factors are
responsible for the incidents of suicide. What they say or
mean, is to stress the conditions of exploitation, poverty,
unemployment, starvation, atrocities, anxieties, etc.,
responsible that force some individuals to go to the painful
way to end their lives. The social, economic or political
factors, and not any God or pre-determined fate, compel us
to go to this way. But we must face and fight the anti-forces,
boldly to change them in our favour.
27
An important segment of people of our society whom I met,
was a group of very old men and women: What do the
persons of this group think of suicide? In case, if the very old
persons -. 'ere wholly dependent on their sons of uneducated
families or in the situation of their being non-pensioners, I
found them in a critical or pitiable condition, for nobody
cares for them as they were not able to do any money-
earning work because of their incapable physiques. They
were extremely neglected by their own kith and kin, and as
such, they, at times, thought to leave their families for the sake
of bread by begging or to go to the way of self-destruction. But
Haw Do People Look At Suicide? 213
they preferred to die a natural death. Whatever the hardships
and miseries to face, because both begging and self-killing
would defame their families. Such is the thinking of the very
old generation.
If the old persons happened to be the pensioners they
were, too, not happy, for when they brought their pension
money in the first week of every month, only then, they got
the attention of the family members, not to be looked after
for their comfort and care but just to elicit money from their
pockets. For the rest of the month, nobody cares for them,
whether they are normal or afflicted by any disease. It is the
most lamentable fact, as I found, that whether the aged
persons are pensioners or non-bread winners, they are to face
the moments of oldage ailment, loneliness, unbridgeable
generation gap, negligence or utter indifference on the part of
their family members. A few of them in the midst of such
prevailing situations, think of suicide and eventually become
the victims; and as far as the generality of aged people is
concerned, they have been passing their days, anyhow; but
those aged persons, who keep themselves busy or are
engaged in some work, politics or in some movement and
mission, they hardly think of suicide and they go on moving
and doing certain welfare activities.
28
The views of journalists and writers about suicide were not
serious, and they did not think of any step to go the way of
self-destruction. Surprisingly, as they told me, their main aim
was to report the incidents of suicide in a dramatic and
flashing language. So was the mood of the writers, or
authors, who were more interested in knowing the details of
any suicide so that they may quote or give a page or two in
their books on sociology and pathology; for example, as I
myself, do. For the whole of the year, 2001, I collected the
different terrible tales of suicide from the reportings of the
journalists in various newspapers, that I have mentioned
earlier. Some of the cases of suicide, came to my memory as I
had seen them or listened to from my friends. For both, the
journalists and the writers, the incidents of suicide, are
simply untoward happenings, not to take as seriously as
causing some mental tension for them; these incidents of
suicide, however, are unfortunate and horrible only to those
who belong to the victims in one way or the other. However,
the journalists or the writers, too, are human beings, and as
such, they have all sympathy and kindness towards the
victims of suicide; but they feel helpless, or unable, for doing
something empirically to them before the committal of
suicides.
29
What do the saints and seers think of suicide? The saints and
seers are considered to be the holy persons who live a life of
renunciation and meditation; they are mostly the mokshasthis
(i.e. the seekers of moksha or salvation); and a few of them
also give sermons on the moral and religious matters to
enlighten ::md emancipate the ordinary people. When I met
some of them to know their views about suicide, they
politely said, "The human life is a gift of God as a result of
one's good acts (shubha karmas) done in the previous life, and
therefore, it is the duty of everyone to have faith in God and
worship Him in o r d ~ r to go to the heaven, the kingdom of
God. Instead of gom:
g
to the way of suicide, an unholy and
evil act, a man must face what is destined to him living in the
midst of miseries so that he could obey the dictates of God."
Hence no one thinks of suicide as the views of saints and
seers clearly emphasize.
30
Among the patients for whom I have a great respect, are
those who suffer from incurable diseases like cancer and
diabetes. I met a few of them either in hospitals or in their
homes. I wondered, they were very enthusiastic to live and
fight against the deadly diseases as they believe, "What is
destined, will happen inevitably; then, there is no way out to
escape; suicide will earn a bad name to their families,
because the neighuours and relatives will be assuming that
the miseries of the concerned person were ignored by his
sons or daughters and the man was left alone to face his
destiny." I agree with the views of such afflicted persons, and
that is why I have openly favoured elsewhere that for those
who are in acute painful conditions, should be given legal
right to end their lives by poisonous injection or by some
other devices. The medical doctors would not do so as it
would be a murder case haunting their conscience. A few of
the patients wish to go to self-killing; but something in their
mind does not allow them to go to suicide, and that
somEthing is probably nothing but God or Allah for them.
Thus, I found, the way of suicide is not so easy as some
people may think of it. In brief, the victims of suicide are not
like Socrates who, when imprisoned and sentenced to death,
drank the cup of poisonous liquid very boldly and happily,
and also willingly in order to show that death is for better
than a disgraceful and condemned life.
31
Here to mention is a group of rags and used polythene bags'
pickers whose main work is to first collect the old pieces of
tom clothes and bags early in the morning and then, to sell
them to those who are engaged in such a trade. This group of
pickers includes poor and illiterate men, women, children,
both boys and girls, usually unclean and unattractive and if
one comes face to face with them, one would feel bad smell
from their clothes and bodies, or say, one would not like to
meet and talk to this unfortunate lot of our society. As a
morning walker, I met and talked to them only to know as
how to they react to the incidents of suicide. Surprisingly, as
illiterate human beings, they were far away from the world
of suicides as dramatically picturized in the media.
I simply asked, "Why do you engage yourself in such a
filthy work? What do you think of suicide?" Their answers
were praiseworthy as I patiently listened to them thus;
"Whatever the ugly or filthy nature of this work, we have to
do it for feeding our parents, or the little dependents, of our
families. We do not have time to think of those who become
the victims of suicide for any reason or situation. Suppose,
we go to the way of suicide, we shall be adding to the acute
miseries to our elders or children, more than when we alive.
We are the bread-winners for our family members, and if we
die, who will look after them? Nither society nor the
government can help us. This compels or encourages us to
earn rather than to die. What is destined, we have to face it."
No wonder such were the views of the poor, or pitiable, bags
and rags' pickers; most of them were unaware of the
incidents of suicide; and all of their words were really full of
hopes to see a bright future. I was so happy to meet and talk
How Do People Look At SUlcide?
217
to them as the pickers had no frustration. No sense of filthy
work, but a brave spirit to move earn and move ahead. They
had no feeling of shame as this work was the only source of
livelihood for their families.
32
A typical group to mention here is the miniature world of
those who have been put into jail (gaol) for various crimes;
some of them are convicted prisoners; and others have been
facing trials in law courts. On one pretext or the other, I have
visited the jail premises inside many times to meet and talk
to some hardened criminals as well as ordinary prisoners for
eliciting their views about suicide. In fact, the jail premises
are clean having small gardens, auditorium, mess, hospital,
etc. When I asked, what do they think of suicide?" Their
answers were pathetic and repentant because of the
realization of their felonies. Some of them, said:
"Sir, looking into the very rude and inoculating
behaviour of the hardened criminals or the acts of our
prisoner colleagues, we really feel to end our lives by any
means. The jail officials, too, beat us for simple wrongs, from
time to time. Though the jail premises are beautiful and clean
that we ourselves maintain; we pass our times in doing such
works in the day-time; but nights are haunting to us when
we thir,k of our family members or kith and kin. The
committal of suicide is not an easy task in jails as we are
flocked together in big halls or rooms. The young prisGi-,cJ ""
at times, become victims of sodomy by long jailed prisoners.
Such is the disgraceful life inside jails; nobody will like to live
in jails; but our crimes have brought us in such a hellish
situation. However, we pass our times with hopes to ever
meet our family members, relatives and friends, after the
period of jail term is over."
Even then, the self-condemned and the most sensitive
prisoners find out certain ways of self-destruction. The views
of various prisoners show the mentality of going to suicide, if
they find favourable opportunities for it. In brief, their views,
anyhow, run over the border lines of suicide.
33
Although the police officials, a few of them, however, rarely,
become the victims of suicide, yet they do not take up such
incidents seriously. When I contacted some of the police
officials or the police constables, I found them insensitive and
unconcerned as they expressed their views about suicide in
these lines. "As you know, we deal with many tragical
happenings-murder, rape, theft, accidental death, robbery
dacoity, heinous acts of torture and mental agony, the
incidents of suicide are not new to us. If anyone commits
suicide, for whatever reasons, it becomes a problem to us to
go to the place where it happens, in order to investigate
whether it !s incident of suicide or a case of murder. It does
not frighten us; but creates headache when we carry the dead
body of the person to the hospital for post-mortem, and then,
prepare panchnama to hand over the same to his relations". A
few of the head constables frankly said, "We do not care who
has committed suicide. What we do really wish and pray is
that no one should commit suicide in the area of our police
station as it requires a lot of physical and mental exercise."
The essence of police officials' views about the incidents
of suicide is callous, no pity; no sympathy towards the
victims or to their families. Surprisingly, the unknown or
unidentified dead persons due to any reason, if found on
roads or somewhere in public places, in the area of a police
station, the dealing head constables use invectives, "Bloody
fool, stupid donkey, you find only this area to die; why do
you not choose any other place to go to hell?" No matter,
whether suicide, accidental deaths or murders, such mis-
happenings were common to police officials, and as I elicited
from their views only the money-getting incidents of any
nature were more important than others that is, "money
makes, or moves the police go happily", has been truly
remarked by a philosopher.
Surprisingly, the views of different persons about
suicide are interesting, and except a few of them, nobody
prefers the commission of any act of suicide in any situation.
Even in the eyes of law, any act of or attempt to suicide, is an
offence, and the religion also dislike to adopt such ways as
this may demoralize the people in facing and fighting against
the difficulties and hardships of life. The suicide, in fact, is
not the right way to solve the painful situation or problems
of life. In any hour of crisis - social, economic, family
disputes, the committal of suicide leaves behind weeping
wife, crying children or the aged ones, helpless, sad and sick.
It is a tragedy that must be discouraged and condemned by
the concerned social reformers and the educationists. Speaking
for myself, I, too, do not like the happenings of suicide,
because these ways hardly resolve the disputes over property
and the like; nor remove the mental tensions; rather, the
incidenUi of suicide aggravate the situation that brings many
220 A Phzlosophy of Suicide
painful moments and days for those who were dependent on
the daily earnings of the victims. However, in a situation of
incurable and deadly diseases, when there are no chances for
the pa$mts'to survive except to face continuing acute pain
and miseries, the last wish of the patient to die must be
respected by the court of law. One may disagree with me; but
as a human being, feeling the mental torture and physical
agony of a patient having no chance to survive, I agree with
the most aggrieved and helpless patients' simple wish to die,
if they opt for it. This should not be taken as a case of suicide
but as the last wish of the dying individual going to the
peaceful passing away for entering the kingdom of eternal
sleep, if it exists somewhere else.
However, it is something bewildering to observe that
each man's or woman's life has been, more or less, found to
be entangled in different moods and experiences, and as
such, each individual takes the incidents of suicide in his
own way defending the 'original self' that has been built up
by him over a long period of struggle, which must for him
remain intact in all situations, and if dismantled, anyhow,
this may meet a tragical end, the suicide. Everyone's life-style
is unique in itself having all sorts of experiences, comfortable
and unpleasant, to recount, and unless one is aware of such
varied experiences undergone by other people, there is no
animation and enrichment in the value of life to live lively. In
order to save the possible victims from untoward or painful
happenings, one has to develop a vivid, i.e., a strong and
enlightened personality.
The Epilogue
To begin with, it may be relevant to the foregoing study to
refer and quote some conclusions of a survey and its analysis
of the incidents of suicide conducted by a team of social
workers and psychiatrists- Dr. Rakesh Kedawat and Dr.
Alok Tyagi, on behalf of a social organization (NGO) of
Jaipur district of Rajasthan State, during the first half of the
year, 2001. To our surprise, the startling facts and figures
were found as follows:
Firstly, the rate of occurrence of suicide cases in the
district was four events a day, taking place in a form of
plague, as the deaths of those who died due to road accidents
was less than those who committed suicides. The maximum
number of suicide deaths occurred mainly in the hottest days
of May and June, by taking celphos tablets and drinking
insecticide drugs in liquid form by almost 60 per cent people.
Other modes of suicide were-10 per cent by jumping before
the running train; due to in-laws' atrocities on newly married
daughter-in-Iaws 80 per cent; and 40 per cent due to some
family tensions or conflicts.
Secondly, of the persons, who committed suicides 55 per
cent were the females and 45 per cent were males. The
percentage of married females was more than the unmarried
ones' in between 50 per cent to 60 per cent suicides were found
among those students, both boys and girls who failed in
examinations and also because of being afraid of their parents
wrath. Another fact was that about 30 per cent female suicides
were due to family tensions. The persons, who went to self-
killing, were over 50 years of age. Among the females, who
committed suicides, were between the age of 25 and 35, and
among the males 80 per cent were between the age of 20 to 40
years. The rate of suicides was higher among the youngsters
because of getting more money or greater social recognition in
shortest period. Another fact of the percentage of suicides in
cities was higher than the villages.
Thirdly, the ways or the causes of suicides, if taken
together, were: consuming poisonous tablets - celphos and
insecticide drugs, economic hardships and the resultant
mental tension; failure in examinations and fear of parents
wrath; family tensions and insufficient dowry money both in
cash and kind; self-burning; afraid of being tortured by
police or police atrocities; frustration or depression among
the youngsters due to unsuccessful love-making and
impracticable high ambitions vis-a-vis this lovely and
luxurious world; failure in career advancement as desired by
the young generation; wide-spread unemployment;
conflicting mental states between the new and the old
generations, and personality disorder or disintegration of
one's total personality.
The Epilogue
223
The factors, which were brought into light, leading to
suicide, were supported by a sociologist, Dr. Rajeev Gupta
and two psychiatrists, Dr. Rakesh Kedawat and Dr. Alok
Tyagi. They have been busy in researches on the ticklis
problem of suicides. However, these researchers have not
been able to find out much more than what I have written so
far. The foregoing survey, study and analysis were
conducted after knowing the details of 50 families wherein
the incidents of suicide took place by male or female,
students, in one way or the other. It is a fact, to be tenable,
that the rate of self-killing has risen to a higher stage in these
days than the earlier times, which I have also pointed out in
my explanation and analysis in the foregoing chapters. There
is nothing new in the studies of what these erudite scholars
have brought about after field surveys.
The study of the phenomenon of suicides, conducted by
sociologists like Emile Durkheim and psychiatrists like
Sigmund Freud, including those ones mentioned earlier,
have not gone into the real roots of suicide phenomenon;
they have simply touched the border lines of suicide cases;
whereas there is something mysterious or immanent in all
the cases of suicides. The problem of suicide is not merely a
subject of psychological or sociological nature; but also a
subject of philosophical inquiry, and as such, it has to be
studied and analyzed with multi-dimensional insight and
investigation.
The calculation of the percentage, or the classification of
suicide cases is important, no doubt, but more important is to
find out the grounds or causes of suicides so that we may
give our humble suggestions to check the frequent
happenings of suicide, though it is very difficult to stop such
cases. One may ask: Is there any remedy to entirely stop the
occurrences of suicide? To me, this is not possible through
any remedy, because since the occurrences of suicide are so
fast and sudden, it can hardly be stopped by government or
social agencies. Only the related persons, friends or family
members, if any of them sensing what would be happening
in a particular situation, can help an iRdividual who is
entrapped in the vicious circle or situation of unbearable
nature, though this discerning of the ensuing event is very
difficult to know or solve. The apparent reasons and the
immanent causes, if juxtaposed in a situation wherein the
probable victims live; are so varied that even the nearest ones
cannot discern as a rvhole.
As we have explained earlier, the constituents of an
image, the total personality, or the psyche of an individual,
has certain mysterious elements, some of which may not be
known even to the person who commits suicide, what to say
of others to know. Taken in this way, I have pointed out
earlier, the psyche, meant only inner self(mind) but not soul,
is a phenomenon that becomes so strong itself that to stop an
individual, driven to commit suicide, cannot be possible
easily. Any case of suicide as an event, is so sudden like a
storm, that to discern its ensuing result is unknown! at the
moments of doing so. Even than, one may ask: How to \stop
the incidents of suicide?
To answer or to suggest a remedy for controlling the
cases of suicide, needs discerning eyes to visualize as to how
a child is growing to form his image or personality, in a
particular family or in a grim situation, on the part of
parents, who can help him to build his psyche in a very
positive way with certain virtues like self-confidence,
The Epilogue 225
courage, determination, so that he can face and fight against
the odds, difficulties or the hardships of any kind - social,
economic, political and personal. The child has to be taught
to be a bold man in terms of humanist psyche, that is, to
behave as a man for himself as well as others. What I wish to
convey, is that only the humanist spirit, anyhow engraved in
one's life right from the childhood upto the growing old, can
help and guide him to save himself from painful act like
suicide or self-destruction.
The formation of personality, image, or say, psyche,
right from the very childhood to the growing age, plays a
decisive role in life, because a man talks and behaves in
consonance with the constituents of his psyche, i.e., mind,
which is the root of all happenings, right or wrong, moral or
immoral, etc. The mind in one's life is the force which
propels a man to go to either way, positively or negatively.
Since it is multi-dimensional in its nature, scope and
activities, only the concerned man can feel its pulses as going
to which direction and how it takes a situation, favourable or
infavourable, courageously or cowardly, etc. If mind directs
oneself to behave and act in a right way, he becomes bold to
face any situation, or if it directs man to go to a bad road, it is
very much prone to suicide. This way one's mind or mental
state in proportion to its physical strength or ability, can help
one to protect or save from going to the very painful
moments of suicide. There is no universal or common
remedy to avoid the incidents of suicide, because each
individual is unique and versatile in his nature and
behaviour patters.
The gruesome and terrible tales of increasing
happenings of suicide have brought forth many a question
before not only me, but also before many others. Why are
individuals felled to this way? Are these incidents emotional
or sentimental? Why are suicides sudden? Whether or not
suicides are justified? Who are responsible for such
happenings? Before I deal with such questions, I clearly
visualize that the problem of suicide should not be taken as
an 'oversimplification' to justify or to condemn in one way or
the other by the sociologists, psychiatrists, for whatever be it,
it has some deeper roots than apparent reasons. Now to
answer the foregoing question: Firstly, the aggregation of
apparent and immanent causes drives an individual to be the
victim of suicide; secondly, these cases of suicide are partly
emotional or sentimental and partly factual; thirdly, these are
sudden happenings because of one's image or personality
being battered by others and from within; fourthly, these
deaths are to be legally and socially justified; and fifthly, the
conditions of an -acute adverse situation may be held
responsible. We cannot specify one or two reasons for suicide
but an assemblage of varied factors, known or unknown.
The family or social control is necessary to the stability,
mainly economic, because of human variability and forces. It
may be surroundings of environmental influences and forces.
It may be achieved by education and training, in which the
aims, values and norms of the family and society become
internalized in the individual personalities; and by well-
guided restraining, in which family and society compel
conformity to certain values of life. To implement both
training and restraining a family or a society apply numerous
techniques of persuasion and dissuasion, and at the same
time, the right and honest application of human resources is
an essentiality to control or minimize the cases of suicide.
The Epilogue 227
The human resources like freedom and equality involve not
only the right to do what one wishes but also the obligation
to see that one does not injure others in one way or the other.
The human relations among the people playa very
important role as it eases the tension and loneliness that are
found more among those who remain aloof from mixing with
others. This also includes communication, or dialogues,
between the persons, which enlightens those who are
uninformed and unmindful with the modern social changes,
and after knowing such things, it is probable, that one may
be cheerful to deal with conflicting situation. We generally
find that memories of adulthood make an individual happy,
and passing through the swages from young man to the old
age, he faces the problems and ailments of being very old.
Besides the experiences, good or bad, in the life, the growing
age begins with weakening of physical and mental
capabilities. If the psychological understanding lacks in such
people, they may be victims of mental diseases that also
affect their physical strength and potentialities, and
therefore, in order to save the oldest ones from going to be
the vietims of mental derangement, it is essential to respect
and regard their wishes as far as possible. To be brief, again
to keep them away from loneliness, depression, irritability,
etc., we must use the human resources like 'time
management' and 'relaxation', and awareness of 'health care'
and timely treatment, if some diseases that afflict them is
surely to save the old ones from being handicap, or the
personality disorder, anxieties, etc.
Now as a result of the study and analysis of the problem
of suicide I have reached, or drawn, some conclusions that
may be interesting, alarming or amazing to many of those
who take and regard the phenomenon of suicide as a serious
and dangerous one. These conclusions are as follows:
1. The incidents of suicide are not confined only to a
particular community, race or a society; instead this
phenomenon is all-pervading in human societies of the
world and embrace all the sections-poor or rich,
educated or illiterate, male or female, boy or girl, normal
or sick, ordinary or great, married or unmarried,
employed or unemployed, i.e., leaving no one from its
gripe and the painful moments.
2. The ways of suicide are ghastly and terrible as the very
thought of it sends shudders up anybody's spine; the
self-burning, cutting one's throat or stomach are the
most painful moments of dying; and probably, only the
brave ones can commit suicide as it needs courage to
face the consequences of its happening, and certainly, no
coward person can go to such a way of self-killing.
3. All the incidents of suicide have apparent reasons such
as unemployment, economic hardship, poverty, family
tension, social clash and conflicts, drug addiction, fear of
being tortured by police, coercion of married girls by
their in-laws for insufficient dowry, property disputes,
immense financial loss, rude and cruel behaviour by
ultra-modern ladies towards their old saas and sasur.
4. The incidents of suicide have some deeper causes called
'immanent' or 'inherent' in one's image, psyche, or the
totality of personality; each incident of suicide is unique
in itself and versatile in its depth; and the mysteries of
suicide are still shrouded in darkness as in every
incident mental states of the individual varies because of
variable constituents of body and mind; and researchers
The Epilogue
229
have to admit that all the mysteries of suicide have not
been discovered and resolved so far.
5. The psychiatrists concentrate their studies about
suicides on the semi-consciousness or sub- I
consciousness; the impressions of what an individual
has done and listened to are stored in one's 'Id' as Freud
emphasized, which flare up in one's mind in an acute
adverse situation, and this leads him to an extreme step
like suicide, if not well adapted to its influence and
forces; but the incidents of suicide are not merely
psychological; these are also sociological as the
sociologists claim.
6. The tragedy of sociologists, however, is that they only
blame the bad structures and disordered functions of a
society, responsible for suicide deaths; they limit their
investigations only to social problems, pressures of
forces, behind the suicide cases; they meet the concerned
families and prepare the graphic tables to bring out
percentage of the incidents of suicide on the basis of
available facts; but they do not go into the very depth of
such cases.
7. The social reformers blame and hold the governments
and the societies responsible for suicides because of their
indifferent attitudes to beneficial social reforms and
economic welfare of the generality of the people; and
under the acute pressure of governmental taxes and the
irrelevant customs or traditions, when turned to be
unbearable, some individuals find their relief in self-
liquidation, though the social reformers endeavour
honestly to bring out the factors and plights in light so
that government and the societies can help the victims of
suicide.
8. The efforts of the psychiatrists, sociologists or the social
reformers should be appreciated, because they highlight
the problems of wide-ranging poverty and hunger,
economic hardships and the lack of employment
opportunities, insufficient health-care centres, etc.; but
they do not go into the exact causes of suicide cases; and
they revolve round the border lines of the suicide
incidents, though, the question-"How to minimize or
control these cases?-is not an easy task for them to
answer, even not possible for the governments and the
societies to check and control the sudden and quick
happenings of suicide.
9. The philosophical inquiry, aimed at gaining knowledge
and understanding of the phenomenon of suicides, has a
significant role to playas it goes much deeper into the
suicide cases; it believes that the self-realization by an
individual of being worthless irrelevant and
meaningless in this absurd and jealous world, and after
being overwhelmed by a flashing of light within, propels
him, suddenly and quickly, to go to self-killing by any
means easily available at the moment; and that is very
difficult for others to know and realize the flashback
mental states or the ideas of desperation of the victims.
10. The philosophical inquiry too, cannot easily reach the
exact points behind the suicide cases, because the
ingredients or the constituents of an individual's image,
psyche or the totality of one's personality, infinitely
become the essential parts of it over a period of many
years; and as such, the suicide incidents remain a matter
of mystery for the psychologists, sociologists and
philosophers; in fact, the incidents of suicide are
The Epilogue 231
complicated, or the multi-dimensional nature of the
happenings suicide.
11. The philosophical inquiry, however, has helped me to
find out that it is the total personality (an image or the
psyche) of an individual, when injured, damaged,
alienated or battered by its own wrong or right doing,
acts or reactions, or by some external factors, apparent
\
or immanent causes, leads him to commit suicide, so
suddenly or quickly, which nobody can stop; the point is
when in one's personality, there develops a juxtapose of
apparent and immanent causes, very close together, then
he goes to self-killing as he cannot sustain and survive
himself.
12. The question: "ls it possible to control and stop the
incidents of suicide? - still remains unanswered because
of our inability to perceive or visualize the possibilities
of one's sudden and quick jumping into the darkened
well of suicide; it is honestly speaking, a mysterious
phenomenon for us to find out its preconditions; had
these been known to somebody, he might have been
probably in a position to save many of the victims;
infact, the apparent and immanent causes are so
juxtaposed in a personality, that may not be easily and
clearly preconceived by anyone; however, if the human
resources properly utilized in one's family and society as
well, the incidents of suicide may be minimized to a
certain extent.
13. The human resources; education, freedom, equality,
respect, :tolerance, leadership frugality, knowledge,
awareness, responsibility, courage, self-confidence,
mutual faith, communication, love, friendship, honour,
232 A Philosophy of SUIcide
laughter positive attitude, morality, accountability,
helping hands, fraternity, public conscience, co-
operation, co-ordination, filial love, right understanding,
patience, reverence dignity of individuality, etc., can
also help us in minimizing the incidents of suicide in
terms of role-saving devices, if properly utilized and
honestly applied in maintaining the good relationships
between the members in family and in society as well.
14. This leads us to understand and apply the humanist
approach at least in suicide cases of dowry deaths
students' suicides due to failure in examinations, and
also who embrace deaths due to utter loneliness and
infirmity. In such cases if the newly married girls,
students of tender sensitivity, very aged individuals, feel
that their 'personalities', have been extremely dented,
disgraced, damaged, diminished or condemned, they
suddenly and quickly, jump into the arena of suicides;
however, had the humanist approach been applied
honestly at the proper time their lives could have been
saved by the concerned or related persons and in-laws.
15. It is, therefore, be noted with regret that the humanist
approach, based on human resources as mentioned
earlier, is mostly ignored or neglected by the relatives
and in-laws; rather, being extremely self-centred, they
severely injure and shatter the totality of personality of
the victims. This is, in fact, involves the responsibility,
understanding or insight on the part of family members
or relatives and also on the tolerance and patience of the
victims themselves as to how they should react to the
forces and factors juxtaposed in a particular situation;
however any indifferent attitude on anybody's part can
The Epilogue
233
never avert the chances of one's going to the way of
suicide.
16. Another conclusion, which looks to me, very
mysteriously amazing, is that the lepers, beggars,
handicaps, infirms, prostitutes, lunatics, dumb and deaf,
etc., hardly commit suicide, and they enthusiastically
face the most afflicting situation in day-to-day life, sleep
in open road-sides; use to beg for their existence; no
shame, no disgrace, they take their lives as the charisma
of God; and thus, move on the path of extreme
hard3hips and hurdles to face what comes to them. The
percentage of suicides among them is very rare in
comparison to normal, healthy and wealthy persons.
They are, in fact, more brave and bold than those who
pamper false notions and ambitions to live for. To be
brief, they have a zest or gusto to live and survive in all
the damaging situations.
17. It may also be amazing to observe that the percentage of
dowry deaths is greater among the females than the
males. Why is it so? It is because the in-laws of the
newly married girls pressurize them to bring more
dowry amount or items, and mostly, their husbands take
or pursue the line of their parents. All this afflicts and
injures the personalities of the brides who come to the
new homes with new dreams to be materialized; but
finding the extremely hostile situations, they seek the
ways of suicide to get rid of all miseries and sorrows and
the most painful fact is that their husbands hardly
oppose their parents.
18. An essential point to minimize the suicide deaths is the
'social control mechanism' in terms of 'support' or
helping hands" to those who seem mentally disturbed
and have physical personality disorders. This is in
relation to anxiety and depression of a male or a female
member, being nearest and dearest one, to a family or a
society. A support or the helping hands may be of
various kinds, but commonly, it must be done in
lessening the severe situation of alienation, and thus, the
frustration of expectations and ambitions be resolved by
way of support or the helping hands necessary in all
situation of desperation.
19. The so-called pious family's honour or prestige, or the
religio-moral institution, as involved in Hara-kiri,
Santhara, lal-Samadhi, Sati and lahar, are not the cases of
suicide in the eyes of those who believe, belong or cling
to such traditions, yet the social reformers, modern
sociologists or the radical philosophers, regard such
events or deadly happenings as nothing but suicides
because of their being voluntarily overwhelmed or
forced for going to the ways of self-dying.
20. Another conclusion may also be deduced here that any
method or way of self-killing is necessarily a case of
suicide because of its being voluntary and willful. When
certain patients, facing extremely painful moments as a
result of cancer or severe agonizing state of mind, seek
and pray the honourable courts of justice to allow them
to die by way of some poisonous injection or drugs, are
not permitted to go this way. Why is it so? Because, if a
doctor does so, it become a case of murder, or if the
patient himself does so, it is called suicide; both the
ways are criminal acts, and therefore, self-killing, in any
way, is a crime in the eyes of law.

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