[118] Ward, op. cit. ii. 115. Forsyth, op. cit. p. 173.
[119] Vasishtha, xxiii. 14 sq.
[120] Ibid. xxiii. 18 sqq.
[121] Hardy, Manual of Budhism, p. 479.
[122] Crooke, Popular Religion and Folk-Lore of Northern India, i. 269. Fawcett, ‘Nâyars of Malabar,’ in the Madras Government Museum’s Bulletin, iii. 253.
The Old Testament mentions a few cases of suicide.[123] In none of them is any censure passed on the perpetrator of the deed, nor is there any text which expressly forbids a man to die by his own hand; and of Ahithophel it is said that he was buried in the sepulchre of his father.[124] It seems, however, that according to Jewish custom persons who had killed themselves should be left unburied till sunset,[125] perhaps for fear lest the spirit of the deceased otherwise might find its way back to the old home.[126] Josephus, who mentions this custom, denounces suicide as an act of cowardice, as a crime most remote from the common nature of all animals, as impiety against the Creator; and he maintains that the souls of those who have thus acted madly against themselves will go to the darkest place in Hades.[127] The Talmud considers suicide justifiable, if not meritorious, in the case of the chief of a vanquished army who is sure of disgrace and death at the hands of the exulting conqueror,[128] or when a person has reason to fear being forced to renounce his religion.[129] In all other circumstances the Rabbis consider it criminal for a person to shorten his own life, even when he is undergoing tortures which must soon end his earthly career;[130] and they forbid all marks of mourning for a self-murderer, such as wearing sombre apparel and eulogising him.[131] Islam prohibits suicide, as an act which interferes with the decrees of God.[132] Muhammedans say that it is a greater sin for a person to kill himself than to kill a fellow-man;[133] and, as a matter of fact, suicide is very rare in the Moslem world.[134]
[123] 1 Samuel, xxxi. 4 sq. 2 Samuel, xvii. 23. 1 Kings, xvi. 18. 2 Maccabees, xiv. 4 sqq.
[124] 2 Samuel, xvii. 23.
[125] Josephus, De bello Judaico, iii. 8. 5.
[126] Cf. Frazer, ‘Burial Customs as illustrative of the Primitive Theory of the Soul,’ in Jour. Anthr. Inst. xv. 72.