An eight-year-old Indian girl gave up a million-dollar inheritance and entered a strict religious order of the Jain faith this week.
Source: AFP
Devanshi Sanghvi was to inherit the Sanghvi and Sons jewelry business, in Surat, known locally as the “Diamond City” for its importance in the world trade in precious stones.
The family this week announced the vocation of Devanshi, who was feted in a four-day ceremony until en Wednesday he arrived in an elephant-drawn carriage at the temple where he changed his luxurious clothing for a simple white cotton garment.
The girl, known among members of the Jain community for her piety, “never watched TV, movies or been to shopping malls and restaurants,” indicated, a close friend of the family.
He is one of the youngest people to have performed the “diksha” ceremony to abandon his material possessions and enter Jain monasticism.
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His family business, founded in 1981, has a net worth of about 60 million dollars, according to ICRA, an Indian credit rating agency.
Her parents stated that she was in a hurry to become a nun, according to local media.
His family is a member of the Jain faith, religion founded in India in the sixth century before the Christian era, which advocates non-violence, asceticism, strict vegetarianism and love for all creatures.
Jainism has more than four million adherents in India, many of whom are engaged in commerce.
This religion has been criticized for some of its ritual practices, like extreme fasting.
A 13-year-old girl died in 2016 in Hyderabad (center) because of two months of fasting that she practiced as penance and could only drink hot water twice a day.
