“That is so harsh. Aradhana wanted to take deeksha when she was 11 years old. I did not allow that. I said wait till you are 16. She asked me for permission to do upvaas. We never expected this to happen,” says grandfather Manekchand Samdariya.
“The same people who came and appreciated that your daughter is doing something so great are now saying, you starved her to death,” says Lakshmichand Samdariya, Aradhana’s father.
Manekchand says Aradhana fasted as per Jain rituals during the holy period of chaumasa. This is a severe form of fasting, called upvaas where even drinking water isn’t allowed sipped. Aradhana had done it for shorter periods in the past too. “We did not do it secretly. She completed the 68-day fast and everyone participated in the parna,” he says.
Parna is a ceremony held on the successful completion of fasting. In fact, leading Hindi newspapers had quarter page advertisements, announcing the grand function of completion of 68 days of fasting by ‘baal tapasvi Aradhana’. Political leaders, including Telangana sports minister Padma Rao Goud and Zaheerabad MP BB Patil were announced as chief guests. “No one said it was wrong at that time,” the family points out.
(Sourced from agencies, feature image courtesy:bbc.com)
