Devanshi, a nine-year-old girl from Gujarat, has embraced Jain monkhood and renounced all material comforts.
The girl is the daughter of wealthy diamond merchant Dhanesh Sanghvi and wife Ami Sanghvi. Dhanesh Sanghvi is the only son of Mohan Sanghvi, who is the founder of Sanghvi and Sons – a nearly three-decade old diamond polishing and export firm in Surat. A family associate revealed that Devanshi took 'diksha' (vow of renunciation) in the presence of Jain monk Acharya Vijay Kirtiyashsuri and hundreds of other people in Surat. 'Diksha' marks the initiation into ascetic life.
The Sanghvis have two daughters -- Devanshi is the elder one and she has a four-year-old sister, according to family friend Nirav Shah. "Devanshi showed religious inclination since she was a toddler. She has followed ascetic life since a very young age," he said.
She had even walked about 700 km with other monks and embraced their life before formally being initiated into monkhood, the family friend added.
“Devanshi never watched TV, or movies and never went to restaurants or attended marriages. She has participated in 367 diksha events so far,” said a family friend of the Sanghvis, as per reports.
As per reports, Devanshi is a trained singer and she has learnt Bharatanatyam too. She knows five languages – Hindi, Gujarati, Sanskrit, English and Marwari.
On Tuesday, a day before Devanshi took 'diksha,' a religious procession was taken out with fanfare in the city, Shah said. The grand procession witnessed many camels, elephants, and horses.
A similar procession was also taken out in Belgium, he added.
Many young people of India's Jain community have begun renouncing the material world to become monks. After embracing monkhood, they always walk barefoot, eat only what they receive as alms, never bathe and neither do they use modern technology. The idea is to remove oneself from the material world and focus on your soul and spirituality.
(With inputs from PTI)