Ritual suicide is the act of suicide motivated by a religious, spiritual, or traditional ritual.

An extreme interpretation of Hindu custom historically practiced, mostly in the 2nd millennium, was self-immolation by a widow as an assurance that she will be with her husband for the next life. Other rituals of self-immolation or self-starvation were used by Hindu, Jain and Buddhist monks for religious or philosophical purposes, or as a form of extreme non-violent protest. In China, some groups would practice suicide for similar reasons. In Japan, rituals of suicide like seppuku were practiced.

See also

• Cleopatra VII
• Cult suicide
• Heaven's Gate
• Immolation
• Martyrdom
• Order of the Solar Temple
• Peoples Temple
• Sallekhana
• Seppuku (Hara-kiri)
• Suicide bomber

Suicide