8-Year-Old Diamond Heiress Becomes Jain Nun

Indian Diamond heiress Devanshi Sanghvi, daughter of Dhanesh Sanghvi and Ami Sanghvi, renounced her wealth to become a Jain nun. Dhanesh is the owner of Sanghvi and Sons. The eight-year-old until last week was the heiress to a multi-million dollar diamond business, however, now she has renounced her wealth and turned into a Jain nun.

Devanshi has a four-year-old sister and her family are members of the Jain faith. Jainism is an ancient Indian religion that preaches non-violence, non-attachment, and love of all living beings.

The ceremony took place a few days ago in Surat, a city in Gujarat. Devanshi, in the presence of senior Jain monks, took ‘diksha’ – the vows of renunciation. Devanshi was accompanied by her parents when she arrived for the ceremony wearing the finest of clothes and jewellery including a diamond-studded crown that rested on her head.

After the ceremony, she stood with other nuns, dressed in a white sari, which also covered her shaved head. In photographs, she is seen holding a broom that she will now use to brush away insects from her path to avoid accidentally stepping on them.

Since then, Devanshi has been living in an Upashraya, a monastery where Jain monks and nuns live.

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The Sanghvis belong to the only Jain sect that accepts child monks; the other three admit only adults. Devanshi's parents are known to be "extremely religious" and Indian media has quoted friends of the family as saying that the girl was "inclined towards spiritual life since she was a toddler".

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Is Monkhood At This Tender Age Legit?

When a child renounces the world and the community celebrates, it can all seem like a big party to the young mind but in our opinion, the difficulty the child will go through is extremely arduous and challenging. Also, there is no denying the fact that life as a nun is really difficult. There is also an unease attached to the fact that a child is being separated from her family at such a tender age. While some would believe that the child’s rights have been violated and that she should have been given time until becoming an 18 year old at least to make her own decision, the thing is that it is difficult to comment on this issue since it is religiously sensitive and might hurt beliefs and faith systems across the country. There have been previous instances of child nuns realising they weren’t meant for the ascetic life and they returned back to the material world. There have also been instances of others eloping with their beloveds to escape the shackles of religion thrust upon them early on.

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