Not all suicides are the same. Society, while recoiling in fear and guilt from the personal suicide, has always honoured the killing of oneself for a greater principle — in the case of warriors, for example, or women when threatened with dishonour. Organized religion has abhorred the personal suicide from the earliest times, especially the Catholic Church, for according to its philosophy, no one has the right to take the life that god has given. A distinction is made between those who go into grave danger to save others and lose their lives as a result, in fire, perhaps, or by disease, and those who “positively” destroy their own lives. The Catholic Church had always treated the latter with sternness, not allowing their bodies to be brought into the church, and only allowing them to be buried in a corner of the cemetery without religious rites. Yet suicide is also the kind of critical act that can expose the complicated bonds between society and organized religion. Greater popular understanding of states of mind that may lead to suicide would make the religious judgment seem harsh. The Catholic Church in India has now decided to allow bodies of suicides to be brought into the church premises and a “simple burial” with a priest’s blessing in the family vault or a relative’s grave.

The concession is being perceived as humane, especially from the point of view of the bereaved family. The church has opened its doors to those who end their own lives out of “chronic mental illness, depression or [a] sudden emotional outburst”. These are the “non-scandalous” suicides; the “scandalous” ones will still go unblessed. Although it is not quite clear which suicides are “scandalous”, the consideration for a “sudden emotional outburst” holds out hopes for most. The change was first discussed in the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church in Kerala, where the Syro-Malabar community accounts for 50 per cent of Christians, who comprise 23 per cent of the 3.2 crore population. A special service for suicides who the priest thinks deserve the honour of a “simple burial” was announced in 2003, although it is only recently that it is being practised. The weight of social desire behind the change can be easily imagined. Yet that desire only emphasizes the importance of religious approval, underlining a symbiosis that has resulted in giving most suicides a blessed grave at last.