A Jain couple from Madhya Pradesh will be leaving behind their three-year-old daughter and renounce their property, which is reportedly worth 100 crores, to attain monkhood, PTI reported.
Sumit Rathore (35) and wife Anamika (34) hail from Neemuch in Madhya Pradesh, where the former took care of their family business and the latter worked as an engineer.
Their families told PTI that both had decided to renounce the material world, and a religious ceremony marking their initiation into Jain monasticism under the Shwetambar sect will take place on September 23 in Surat, Gujarat.
Until then, the couple has taken a vow of silence.
After they take their deeksha, Sumit and Anamika's head will be shaved off and they will have to wear white robes for the rest of their lives.
The report also states that they will have to wear mouth clothes so that they do not swallow any live creature, such as a fly, even by accident.
According to the Hindustan Times, there are less than 50 lakh Jains in India, and they follow a strict lifestyle — including a vegetarian diet.
Ashok Chandaliya, Anamika’s father, has said that he will look after his granddaughter.
Sumit and Anamika's decision did not exactly surprise their families, because the couple had started preparing to get their deekshas when their daughter was just eight months old, the HT report states.
Earlier this year, a 17-year-old boy from Ahmedabad decided to take deeksha just after his class 12 board results were out, where he scored an impressive 99.9 percentile.
Speaking to HT, the teenager's uncle quoted the boy as having said, "The result is as per expectations, but to attain and maintain peace, I think renouncing the world is the only way."