Is there any evidence that the practice similar to Jauhar existed in places other than India? It seems like a pretty effective way, however brutal it may be, to escape slavery, rapes and imprisonment at the hands of invading armies. It would seem natural to assume that the practice might have been in place in other cultures too, and yet I have been unable to find any other record of it.
Add a comment
|
1 Answer
Yes. Off the top of my head, jauhar is reminiscent of the Siege of Masada. Looking at the wikipedia entry for jauhar (which you linked), I see also a reference to Balinese puputan. Finally, here is a list of historical mass suicides, a number of which fit the jauhar pattern (women of a defeated group suiciding to avoid capture or slavery). In some cases, men are part of the suiciding group but not always.
-
2Being non English speaker, the term "mass-suicide" never occurred to me; it would have saved much time if that would have been my search keyword from start. Thanks– strNOcatCommented Dec 8, 2014 at 12:31
-
Yeah it mostly happened before the certain defeat from a believed undisciplined or brutal enemy. Commented Dec 8, 2014 at 18:25
-
Even in recent history there have been several examples of religious sects committing mass-suicide when the authorities were about to close in on the sect-leader(s). Obviously it is questionable how "voluntary" those suicides where considering the level of brain-washing in such a sect.– TonnyCommented Dec 8, 2014 at 19:57