Beyond Religious “Death with Dignity”: Understanding Jain Meditative Death (Samādhimaraṇa) Through Contextualization of Sallekhaṇā, Śukladhyāna, and Samudghāta

Abstract

In Indian religious traditions, the attainment of death with full conscious awareness has long been idealized, reflecting the deep ontological connection posited between death and liberation (mokṣa). Within this framework, Jainism—grounded in a rigorous soul–matter dualism—developed highly systematized practices that aim to separate consciousness from both the body and karma not only at the moment of death but throughout daily practice, as exemplified by kāyotsarga. Although sallekhaṇā (fasting unto death) has received considerable attention beyond Jain communities in the context of “death with dignity,” its deeper meditative dimensions have remained largely understudied. This article elucidates the meditative techniques of samādhimaraṇa underlying sallekhaṇā by examining classical Jain sources on deathbed meditation, particularly the kevalin’s procedures at the third and fourth stages of pure meditation (śukladhyāna). The analysis also addresses kevali-samudghāta—the uniquely Jain technique of “omniscient soul projection” incorporated into the third stage of śukladhyāna in Hemacandra’s twelfth-century Yogaśāstra—thereby clarifying the broader meditative context of sallekhaṇā. By situating samādhimaraṇa within its doctrinal, meditative, and soteriological contexts—rather than reducing it to suicide or to a religious variant of “death with dignity”—this article contributes to a more precise and contextualized understanding of Jain deathbed meditation. In doing so, it also contributes to the expanding field of death-yoga studies that has so far focused primarily on Hindu and Buddhist traditions, highlighting the distinctive role of Jainism in the landscape of Indian contemplative practice.