11-year-old Hridhan embraced monkhood with his mother Sweety in Surat in January this year.
Credit: Instagram/@prit_shah_photography and namami_nemi_
Just days after a couple from Gujarat donated their wealth worth Rs 200 crore to embrace monkhood, a 30-year-old woman from Karnataka and her 11-year-old son have now abandoned their material lives and have become Jain monks.
The woman is identified as Sweety, wife of a Bengaluru-based businessman Manish. As per a report in the Hindustan Times, Sweety decided to lead the life of a monk when her son Hridhan was in her womb. After he was born, Sweety is said to have imparted the basics of monkhood to her son, with the aim to accept a Jain saint's life with him.
The mother and the son were part of a 'Diksha' ceremony during which they also abandoned their original identities. While Sweety was given the name Bhavshudhi Rekha Shri Ji, her son Hridhan was named Hitashay Ratanavijay Ji. 'Diksha' is part of a ritual wherein a person before accepting monkhood, formally commits to abide by the disciplines and spiritual teachings preached under the Jain culture.
The mother and son underwent the procedures to accept monkhood in January this year in Surat where they now reside.
Last month, a businessman from Gujarat, Bhavesh Bhai Bhandari was in the news after he and his wife were seen showering currency notes in the direction of a crowd from a vehicle decorated as a chariot. The couple along with 33 others, including children, and at least four other couples renounced their material comforts on their path to adopt monkhood in a grand function held in Ahmedabad.
Also, in 2015, business tycoon Bhanwarlal Doshi whose estimated wealth is said to be between Rs 350 crore and Rs 600 crore, renounced everything to become a monk. Doshi is also known as the "plastic king of India". He started his business by selling paraffin from a street cart only to later establish his own company— DR International.