A three-year-old girl suffering from brain tumour died after her parents initiated her into the Jain religious practice of fasting unto death as advised by a spiritual leader in Madhya Pradesh's Indore.

The girl, Viyana Jain, who was their only child, breathed her last on March 21, her parents said.

Santhara, also known as Sallekhana, is a Jain ritual of voluntarily fasting unto death. As per this practice, a person gradually reduces his or her intake of food and water until death as a means of achieving spiritual purification and detachment from the world.

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