Ritual suicide

Ritual suicide is the act of suicide motivated by a religious, spiritual, or traditional ritual.

An extreme interpretation of Hindu custom historically practiced, mostly in the 2nd millennium, was self-immolation by a widow as an assurance that she will be with her husband for the next life. Other rituals of self-immolation or self-starvation were used by Hindu, Jain and Buddhist monks for religious or philosophical purposes, or as a form of extreme non-violent protest. In China, some groups would practice suicide for similar reasons. In Japan, rituals of suicide like seppuku were practiced.

See also

* Cleopatra VII
* Cult suicide
* Heaven's Gate
* Immolation
* Martyrdom
* Order of the Solar Temple
* Peoples Temple
* Sallekhana
* Seppuku (Hara-kiri)
* Suicide bomber

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