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A Philosophy of Suicide

D.R. Jatava M.A. (Phil., Pol. Sc.), LL.B., Ph.D., D. Liti.

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ABD PUBLISHERS JAIPUR

INDIA

ABO PUBLISHERS, B-46, Natraj Nagar, Imliwala Phatak, Jaipur - 302 005 (Rajasthan) INDIA Phone: 0141-2594705,Fax:0141-2597527 e-mail: [email protected] website: www.abdpublishers.com

© Publisher

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information, storage and retrieval systemwithout permission in writing from the publishers. ebook EDITION :2010

ISBN : 978-81-85771-46-5

Contents

Preface /

Introduction 1. Terrible Tales of Suicide 2. Apparent Reasons for Suicide

1 9 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

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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.

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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 (18441900), 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

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A Philosophy of Suicide

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

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A Philosophy of Suicide

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 selfpity 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,

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A Philosophy of Suicide

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.

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A Philosophy of Suicide

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

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Terrible Tales of Suicide

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,

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A Philosophy of Suicide

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. "'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

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Terrible Tales of Suicide

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

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A Philosophy of Suicide

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 heartbreaking ones. Could these suicides be prevented? To me, it seems very difficult. The tales may be cited as follows:

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Terrible Tales of Suicide

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 adamant refusal' to say on the part of the woman and man's stubborn attitude' to force her agree with him. The next day, the neighbours, after seeing the deceased one, informed the police, which arrested I

I

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A Philosophy of Suicide

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

Terrible Tales of Suicide

17

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.

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A Philosophy of Suicide

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

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Terrible Tales of Suicide

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 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. I

Whatever the inside story, an apparent reason of the suicide, as seems to me, was a 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. I

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

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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. 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

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Terrible Tales of Suicide

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 heartbreaking 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 selfconfidence 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.

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A Philosophy of Suicide

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 circuithouse 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

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Terrible Tales of Suicide

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-inlaw, 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.

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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 mafiagroup 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.

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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 warriordaughter 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.

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A Philosophy of Suicide

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.

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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 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.

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A Philosophy of Suicide

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

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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 crownprince 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 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-inlaw, 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. I

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

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A Philosophy of Suicide

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, Jagdamba 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,

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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 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)

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A Philosophy of Suicide

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

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Terrible Tales of Suicide

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