Their decision to renounce the world isn’t bizarre, considering they are from Jain community where many practice renunciation. What is unusual is their age and the circumstances. They are in their mid-thirties and have a 3-year-old daughter who they will leave behind along with property worth Rs100-crore as they become monks, according to Khaleej Times.
Sumit Rathore, 35, and his wife Anamika, 34, have decided to take deeksha (renunciation) at Surat in Gujarat on September 23.
Hailing from Neemuch, near Bhopal in India, the two - who currently stay in Surat - had been toying with the idea for some time. It was Sumit who first sought permission from his wife to take deeksha. Anamika not only gave her consent, but also voiced her desire to embrace monkhood, the Hindustan Times reports.
When their families got to know about it, they tried every way to stop them. The couple’s age and the future of their little daughter Ibhya were a big concern. But they had to succumb to the couple’s resoluteness and determination. Anamika’s father, Ashok Chandaliya, a former Neemuch district president of Bharatiya Janata Party, said, “I will take care of my granddaughter.” He was quoted as saying in the report, “We had no counter to their religious arguments and relented.”
Sumit’s father, Rajendra Singh Rathore, who owns a factory that makes sacks for cement companies, has also given his nod to the decision. “We were expecting this, but not so soon,” he said.
The couple has taken a vow of silence till the deeksha. Both are highly educated. Anamika was Neemuch’s first gold medallist in Class 8 board examinations. She did her BE from Modi Engineering College, Laxmangarh (Sikar) in Rajasthan, and worked with Hindustan Zinc before marriage, the report says.
Sumit holds a diploma in import-export management from a college in London, where he stayed and worked for two years before returning to Neemuch to manage the family business, it adds.
(compiled by Rafiqul Islam)