Sallekhana (ritual fast unto death under strict conditions)
E872370
Sallekhana is a Jain religious vow of voluntarily embracing a gradual, disciplined fast unto death, undertaken under strict ethical and spiritual conditions to purify the soul and detach from worldly ties.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Sallekhana (ritual fast unto death under strict conditions) canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T10576060 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Sallekhana (ritual fast unto death under strict conditions) Context triple: [Digambara Jains, ritualPractice, Sallekhana (ritual fast unto death under strict conditions)]
-
A.
Biathanatos
Biathanatos is a controversial prose work by John Donne that offers an unusual and paradoxical theological defense of suicide.
-
B.
Mrityukshuda
Mrityukshuda is a Bengali novel by Kazi Nazrul Islam that explores themes of poverty, social injustice, and revolutionary struggle in early 20th-century Bengal.
-
C.
Vipassana
Vipassana is a Buddhist meditation technique focused on cultivating insight into the true nature of reality through mindful observation of thoughts, sensations, and phenomena.
-
D.
Sollatikāram
Sollatikāram is the section of the ancient Tamil grammatical work Tolkāppiyam that deals specifically with the grammar and structure of words.
-
E.
Samskara
Samskara is a landmark Kannada novel by U. R. Ananthamurthy that critically explores caste, tradition, and moral decay in a conservative Brahmin community.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Sallekhana (ritual fast unto death under strict conditions) Target entity description: Sallekhana is a Jain religious vow of voluntarily embracing a gradual, disciplined fast unto death, undertaken under strict ethical and spiritual conditions to purify the soul and detach from worldly ties.
-
A.
Biathanatos
Biathanatos is a controversial prose work by John Donne that offers an unusual and paradoxical theological defense of suicide.
-
B.
Mrityukshuda
Mrityukshuda is a Bengali novel by Kazi Nazrul Islam that explores themes of poverty, social injustice, and revolutionary struggle in early 20th-century Bengal.
-
C.
Vipassana
Vipassana is a Buddhist meditation technique focused on cultivating insight into the true nature of reality through mindful observation of thoughts, sensations, and phenomena.
-
D.
Sollatikāram
Sollatikāram is the section of the ancient Tamil grammatical work Tolkāppiyam that deals specifically with the grammar and structure of words.
-
E.
Samskara
Samskara is a landmark Kannada novel by U. R. Ananthamurthy that critically explores caste, tradition, and moral decay in a conservative Brahmin community.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (52)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Jain religious vow
ⓘ
ritual fast unto death ⓘ |
| appliesWhen |
old age with incurable disease
ⓘ
severe physical incapacity that hinders spiritual practice ⓘ terminal illness ⓘ |
| associatedConcept |
ahimsa
ⓘ
aparigraha ⓘ karmic shedding ⓘ samyak darshan ⓘ spiritual austerity ⓘ vairagya ⓘ |
| culturalRegion | primarily practiced in India ⓘ |
| ethicalCondition |
must be based on full awareness and consent
ⓘ
must be free from external coercion ⓘ must be undertaken with spiritual intent rather than despair ⓘ must be undertaken without passion or aversion ⓘ must be voluntary ⓘ should be approved or guided by a spiritual teacher ⓘ should be undertaken when death is imminent or body is no longer capable of spiritual practice ⓘ should not be motivated by desire for fame or recognition ⓘ should not be used to escape worldly responsibilities improperly ⓘ |
| goal |
attainment of spiritual equanimity at death
ⓘ
detachment from worldly ties ⓘ purification of the soul ⓘ |
| hasAlternativeName |
Isth Maran
ⓘ
Panchapada ⓘ Samadhi-marana ⓘ Santhara ⓘ |
| historicalPractice | recorded among both Digambara and Svetambara Jains ⓘ |
| legalStatusDebate |
compared with euthanasia in public discourse
ⓘ
subject of legal and ethical controversy in modern India ⓘ |
| practicedBy |
Jain laymen
ⓘ
Jain laywomen ⓘ Jain monks ⓘ Jain nuns ⓘ |
| process |
accompanied by confession and repentance
ⓘ
accompanied by forgiveness of all beings ⓘ accompanied by meditation and prayer ⓘ accompanied by recitation of scriptures or mantras ⓘ accompanied by seeking forgiveness from others ⓘ gradual reduction of food intake ⓘ gradual reduction of water intake ⓘ progressive renunciation of bodily needs ⓘ |
| religion | Jainism ⓘ |
| requires |
long-term preparation in vows and discipline
ⓘ
mental stability and clarity ⓘ renunciation of attachment to body and possessions ⓘ |
| textualSource |
discussed in Jain Agamas
ⓘ
discussed in later Jain commentaries ⓘ |
| viewedAsByJains |
culmination of a disciplined spiritual life
ⓘ
distinct from suicide ⓘ non-violent death ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Sallekhana (ritual fast unto death under strict conditions) Description of subject: Sallekhana is a Jain religious vow of voluntarily embracing a gradual, disciplined fast unto death, undertaken under strict ethical and spiritual conditions to purify the soul and detach from worldly ties.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.