Why Jain billionaires choose monkhood at the peak of their lives

A recent viral video shows a young Jain couple coursing 4 km through Himmatnagar, a town in Sabarkantha in north Gujarat, on an elaborate carriage on wheels, dressed in wedding finery and showering currency notes on crowds. This is a customary rally taken out before a person is initiated into ‘diksha’, the life of an ascetic Jain monk, wherein they leave behind all worldly belongings and emotional attachments to pursue a life of renunciation. 

This weekend, it was Bhavesh Bhandari and his wife who made news for giving away Rs 200 crore of their wealth in a ceremony in February. Later this month, they will take their vows and commence their monastic life.

Bhandari is a realtor by profession. In 2022, their 19-year-old daughter and 16-year-old son had taken diksha.Â

There are any number of stories of wealthy diamond businessmen and textile traders giving up their worldly possessions, children as young as eight years being initiated into this life through a rather popular process called Bal Diksha, and educated professionals, spunky teens and young mothers taking diksha to live like a monk. As a Jain monk, they break all family ties, do not wear stitched clothes or footwear, cannot use vehicles and electricity, individually pluck out every strand of hair from their head, live in spartan temporary community dwellings called Upashray and humbly seek every meal as alms from Jain houses daily.

The essential idea of taking diksha is to seek salvation for the soul or spiritual cleansing. It is believed that renunciation of the material world and desires will rescue the spirit from the cycle of rebirth.Â

Every year, thousands of people from all classes of the society are believed to be taking diksha across the country, but it is only the stark contrast created by the wealthier ones that makes headlines. In December last year, 24 people collectively took diksha in Surat—the youngest 20 years old and the oldest 72.

In January 2023, in Surat, nine-year-old Devanshi Sanghvi, elder daughter of a multi-millionaire diamond baron, took diksha, and in August, another wealthy diamond merchant Dipesh and Pika Shah, aged 51 and 46 respectively, ascended into a life of monkhood, riding a Jaguar in their farewell ceremony. Five years ago, their 12-year-old son rode to his diksha in a Ferrari. Similarly, in December in Dahanu, Maharashtra, 13-year-old Keli Punamiya took diksha, becoming the 19th member in her extended family to do so.Â

A researcher on Jainism requesting anonymity, as he is not authorised to speak to the media, says: “The life of a Jain monk is a well-documented scientifically researched process. As people get worldly success, they get entangled in an endless spiral of disappointment, dissatisfaction, envy and greed. This life of renunciation makes one realise that the happiness we chase is only within,” he says.Â

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