Rethinking Theorization(s) of Jain Ritual from the Domestic Dying Space

Because of the Durkheimian idea of ritual space set apart, the domestic has been largely excluded or described in limited terms as a space of ritual possibility. This raises questions about gendered participation in ritual innovation. Formative schematic theorizations of Jain ritual emphasize practices such as puja that are sited in the temple. Sallekhanā, the voluntary Jain fast until death, is a continuation of renunciation of food and effacement of the embodied self that begins in a plethora of small quotidian acts within the domestic space, making the seemingly dramatic withdrawal from life a conceptual continuity with everyday ritualization. Ritual dispersal in everyday life entails vulnerability which is differently embodied and distributed across age and gender within family and household. This paper proposes that gendered norms of ritualization and ritual pedagogy in the domestic sphere, exemplified in the practice of sallekhanā, demand a rethinking of the boundaries of Jain ritual.