title: The Emergency (India)

text: The final decision to impose an emergency was proposed by Indira Gandhi, agreed upon by the President of India, and ratified by the Cabinet and the Parliament from July to August 1975. It was based on the rationale that there were imminent internal and external threats to the Indian state.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: Between 1967 and 1971, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi came to obtain near-absolute control over the government and the Indian National Congress party, as well as a huge majority in Parliament. The first was achieved by concentrating the central government's power within the Prime Minister's Secretariat, rather than the Cabinet, whose elected members she saw as a threat and distrusted. For this, she relied on her principal secretary, P. N. Haksar, a central figure in Indira's inner circle of advisors. Further, Haksar promoted the idea of a "committed bureaucracy" that required hitherto-impartial government officials to be "committed" to the ideology of the ruling party of the day.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: Within the Congress, Indira ruthlessly outmaneuvered her rivals, forcing the party to split in 1969—into the Congress (O) (comprising the old-guard known as the "Syndicate") and her Congress (R). A majority of the All-India Congress Committee and Congress MPs sided with the prime minister. Indira's party was of a different breed from the Congress of old, which had been a robust institution with traditions of internal democracy. In the Congress (R), on the other hand, members quickly realized that their progress within the ranks depended solely on their loyalty to Indira Gandhi and her family, and ostentatious displays of sycophancy became routine. In the coming years, Indira's influence was such that she could install hand-picked loyalists as chief ministers of states, rather than their being elected by the Congress legislative party.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: Indira's ascent was backed by her charismatic appeal among the masses that was aided by her government's near-radical leftward turns. These included the July 1969 nationalization of several major banks and the September 1970 abolition of the privy purse; these changes were often done suddenly, via ordinance, to the shock of her opponents. She had strong support in the disadvantaged sections—the poor, Dalits, women and minorities. Indira was seen as "standing for socialism in economics and secularism in matters of religion, as being pro-poor and for the development of the nation as a whole."


title: The Emergency (India)

text: In the 1971 general elections, the people rallied behind Indira's populist slogan of "Garibi Hatao!" (abolish poverty!) to award her a huge majority (352 seats out of 518). "By the margin of its victory," historian Ramachandra Guha later wrote, Congress (R) came to be known as the real Congress, "requiring no qualifying suffix." In December 1971, under her proactive war leadership, India routed arch-enemy Pakistan in a war that led to the independence of Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan. Awarded the Bharat Ratna the next month, she was at her greatest peak; for her biographer Inder Malhotra, ""The Economist"s description of her as the 'Empress of India' seemed apt." Even opposition leaders, who routinely accused her of being a dictator and of fostering a personality cult, referred to her as "Durga", a Hindu goddess.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: In 1967's " Golaknath" case, the Supreme Court said that the Constitution could not be amended by Parliament if the changes affect basic issues such as fundamental rights. To nullify this judgement, Parliament dominated by the Indira Gandhi Congress, passed the 24th Amendment in 1971. Similarly, after the government lost a Supreme Court case for withdrawing the privy purse given to erstwhile princes, Parliament passed the 26th Amendment. This gave constitutional validity to the government's abolition of the privy purse and nullified the Supreme Court's order.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: This judiciary–executive battle would continue in the landmark " Kesavananda Bharati" Case, where the 24th Amendment was called into question. With a wafer-thin majority of 7 to 6, the bench of the Supreme Court restricted Parliament's amendment power by stating it could not be used to alter the "basic structure" of the Constitution. Subsequently, Prime Minister Gandhi made A. N. Ray—the senior-most judge amongst those in the minority in "Kesavananda Bharati"—Chief Justice of India. Ray superseded three judges more senior to him—J. M. Shelat, K. S. Hegde and Grover—all members of the majority in "Kesavananda Bharati". Indira Gandhi's tendency to control the judiciary met with severe criticism, both from the press and political opponents such as Jayaprakash Narayan ("JP").


title: The Emergency (India)

text: This led some Congress party leaders to demand a move towards a presidential system emergency declaration with a more powerful directly elected executive. The most significant of the initial such movement was the Nav Nirman movement in Gujarat, between December 1973 and March 1974. Student unrest against the state's education minister ultimately forced the central government to dissolve the state legislature, leading to the resignation of the chief minister, Chimanbhai Patel, and the imposition of President's rule. Meanwhile, there were assassination attempts on public leaders as well as the assassination of the railway minister Lalit Narayan Mishra by a bomb. All of these indicated a growing law and order problem in the entire country, which Mrs. Gandhi's advisors warned her of for months.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: In March–April 1974, a student agitation by the Bihar Chatra Sangharsh Samiti received the support of Gandhian socialist Jayaprakash Narayan, referred to as "JP", against the Bihar government. In April 1974, in Patna, JP called for "total revolution," asking students, peasants, and labor unions to non-violently transform Indian society. He also demanded the dissolution of the state government, but this was not accepted by the center. A month later, the railway-employees union, the largest union in the country, went on a nationwide railways strike. This strike was led by the firebrand trade union leader George Fernandes who was the President of the All India Railwaymen's Federation. He was also the President of the Socialist Party. The strike was brutally suppressed by the Indira Gandhi government, which arrested thousands of employees and drove their families out of their quarters.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: Raj Narain, who had been defeated in the 1971 parliamentary election by Indira Gandhi, lodged cases of election fraud and use of state machinery for election purposes against her in the Allahabad High Court. Shanti Bhushan fought the case for Narain (Nani Palkhivala fought the case for Indira). Indira Gandhi was also cross-examined in the High Court which was the first such instance for an Indian Prime Minister (Indira Gandhi had to present herself for 5 hours in front of judge).


title: The Emergency (India)

text: On 12 June 1975, Justice Jagmohanlal Sinha of the Allahabad High Court found the prime minister guilty on the charge of misuse of government machinery for her election campaign. The court declared her election null and void and unseated her from her seat in the Lok Sabha. The court also banned her from contesting any election for an additional six years. Serious charges such as bribing voters and election malpractices were dropped and she was held responsible for misusing government machinery and found guilty on charges such as using the state police to build a dais, availing herself of the services of a government officer, Yashpal Kapoor, during the elections before he had resigned from his position, and use of electricity from the state electricity department.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: Because the court unseated her on comparatively frivolous charges, while she was acquitted on more serious charges, "The Times" described it as "firing the Prime Minister for a traffic ticket". Her supporters organised mass pro-Indira demonstrations in the streets of Delhi close to the Prime Minister's residence. The persistent efforts of Narain were praised worldwide as it took over four years for Justice Sinha to pass judgement against the prime minister.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: Indira Gandhi challenged the High Court's decision in the Supreme Court. Justice V. R. Krishna Iyer, on 24 June 1975, upheld the High Court judgement and ordered all privileges Gandhi received as an MP be stopped, and that she be debarred from voting. However, she was allowed to continue as Prime Minister pending the resolution of her appeal. Jayaprakash Narayan and Morarji Desai called for daily anti-government protests. The next day, Jayaprakash Narayan organised a large rally in Delhi, where he said that a police officer must reject the orders of government if the order is immoral and unethical as this was Mahatma Gandhi's motto during the freedom struggle. Such a statement was taken as a sign of inciting rebellion in the country. Later that day, Indira Gandhi requested a compliant President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed to proclaim a state of emergency. Within three hours, the electricity to all major newspapers was cut and the political opposition arrested. The proposal was sent without discussion with the Union Cabinet, who only learnt of it and ratified it the next morning.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: Before the emergency, the Indira Gandhi government passed draconian laws which would be used to arrest political opponents before and during emergency. One of these was the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA), 1971, which was passed in May 1971 despite criticism from prominent opposition figures across partisan lines such as CPI(M)'s Jyotirmoy Basu, Jana Sangh's Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and the Anglo-Indian nominated MP Frank Anthony. The Indira government also renewed the Defence of India rules, which was withdrawn in 1967, Defence of India rules were given an expanded mandate 5 days into the emergency and renamed as Defence and Internal Security of India Rules. Another law, Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act (COFEPOSA) passed in December 1974, was also frequently used to target political opponents.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: The Government cited threats to national security, as a war with Pakistan had recently been concluded. Due to the war and additional challenges of drought and the 1973 oil crisis, the economy was in poor condition. The Government claimed that the strikes and protests had paralysed the government and hurt the economy of the country greatly. In the face of massive political opposition, desertion and disorder across the country and the party, Gandhi stuck to the advice of a few loyalists and her younger son Sanjay Gandhi, whose own power had grown considerably over the last few years to become an "extra-constitutional authority". Siddhartha Shankar Ray, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, proposed to the prime minister to impose an "internal emergency". He drafted a letter for the President to issue the proclamation based on information Indira had received that "there is an imminent danger to the security of India being threatened by internal disturbances". He showed how democratic freedom could be suspended while remaining within the ambit of the Constitution.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: After resolving a procedural matter, President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed declared a state of internal emergency upon the prime minister's advice on the night of 25 June 1975, just a few minutes before the clock struck midnight.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: As the constitution requires, Mrs. Gandhi advised and President Ahmed approved the continuation of Emergency over every six months until she decided to hold elections in 1977. In 1976, Parliament voted to delay elections, something it could only do with the Constitution suspended by the Emergency.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: Indira Gandhi devised a '20-point' economic programme to increase agricultural and industrial production, improve public services and fight poverty and illiteracy, through "the discipline of the graveyard". In addition to the official twenty points, Sanjay Gandhi declared his five-point programme promoting literacy, family planning, tree planting, the eradication of casteism and the abolition of dowry. Later during the Emergency, the two projects merged into a twenty-five-point programme.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: Invoking articles 352 and 356 of the Indian Constitution, Indira Gandhi granted herself extraordinary powers and launched a massive crackdown on civil rights and political opposition. The Government used police forces across the country to place thousands of protestors and strike leaders under preventive detention. Vijayaraje Scindia, Jayaprakash Narayan, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Raj Narain, Morarji Desai, Charan Singh, Jivatram Kripalani, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Lal Krishna Advani, Arun Jaitley, Jai Kishan Gupta Satyendra Narayan Sinha, Gayatri Devi, the dowager queen of Jaipur, and other protest leaders were immediately arrested. Organisations like the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Jamaat-e-Islami, along with some political parties, were banned. CPI(M) leaders V.S. Achuthanandan and Jyotirmoy Basu were arrested along with many others involved with their party. Congress leaders who dissented against the Emergency declaration and amendment to the constitution, such as Mohan Dharia and Chandra Shekhar, resigned their government and party positions and were thereafter arrested and placed under detention. Members of regional opposition parties such as DMK also found themselves arrested.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: Most of these arrests happened under laws such as MISA, DISIR, and COFEPOSA. During the emergency 34,988 people were arrested under MISA, and 75,818 people were arrested under DISIR. This included both political prisoners and ordinary criminals. Most states classified those arrested under MISA into multiple categories. For instance in Andhra Pradesh they were classified into three categories- Class A, Class B, and Class C. Class A prisoners included prominent political leaders, members of parliament, and members of the legislative assembly. Class B prisoners included less prominent political prisoners. Class C included those detained for "economic offences" and other offences. Class A and B prisoners were treated better and received better amenities in prison than other categories of prisoners. Those arrested under COFEPOSA and DISR, depending on the state, found themselves detained with ordinary criminals, as Class C prisoners, or their own separate category.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: Cases like the Baroda dynamite case and the Rajan case became exceptional examples of atrocities committed against civilians in independent India.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: Elections for the Parliament and state governments were postponed. Gandhi and her parliamentary majorities could rewrite the nation's laws since her Congress party had the required mandate to do so – a two-thirds majority in the Parliament. And when she felt the existing laws were 'too slow', she got the President to issue 'Ordinances' – a law-making power in times of urgency, invoked sparingly – completely bypassing the Parliament, allowing her to rule by decree. Also, she had little trouble amending the Constitution that exonerated her from any culpability in her election-fraud case, imposing President's Rule in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, where anti-Indira parties ruled (state legislatures were thereby dissolved and suspended indefinitely), and jailing thousands of opponents. The 42nd Amendment, which brought about extensive changes to the letter and spirit of the Constitution, is one of the lasting legacies of the Emergency. In the conclusion of his "Making of India's Constitution", Justice Khanna writes:


title: The Emergency (India)

text: If the Indian constitution is our heritage bequeathed to us by our founding fathers, no less are we, the people of India, the trustees, and custodians of the values which pulsate within its provisions! A constitution is not a parchment of paper, it is a way of life and has to be lived up to. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty and in the final analysis, its only keepers are the people. The imbecility of men, history teaches us, always invites the impudence of power.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: A fallout of the Emergency era was the Supreme Court laid down that, although the Constitution is amenable to amendments (as abused by Indira Gandhi), changes that tinker with its "basic structure" cannot be made by the Parliament. (see "Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala")


title: The Emergency (India)

text: In the " Rajan" case, P. Rajan of the Regional Engineering College, Calicut, was arrested by the police in Kerala on 1 March 1976, tortured in custody until he died and then his body was disposed of and was never recovered. The facts of this incident came out owing to a "habeas corpus" suit filed in the Kerala High Court.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: Many cases where teens were arrested and imprisoned have come to light, one such example is of Dilip Sharma who aged 16 was arrested and imprisoned for over 11 months. He was released based on Patna High Court's judgment on 29 July 1976.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: Christophe Jaffrelot considers the economic policy of the emergency regime to be corporatist, five programs in the 20 point program were aimed at benefiting the middle classes and industrialists, these included- liberalizing investment procedures, introducing new schemes for workers' associations in the industry, implementing a national permit scheme for road transport, tax breaks to the middle class by exempting anyone earning under Rs. 8,000 from income taxes, and an austerity program to reduce public spending.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: The emergency regime cracked down on trade unionism, banned strikes, imposed wage freezes, and phased out wage bonuses. The largest trade unions in the country at the time such as the Congress' INTUC, CPI's AITUC, and Socialist affiliated HMS were made to comply with the new regime, while the CPI(M)'s CITU continued its opposition for which it had 20 of its leaders arrested. State governments were asked to form bipartite councils composed of representatives of the workers and the management for firms having more than 500 employees, similar apex bipartite committees were formed by the Centre for major public sector industries, while a National Apex Board was set up for the private industries. These were meant to give a veneer of worker participation in decision making but were in reality stacked in favor of the management, and tasked with increasing "productivity" by cutting holidays (including Sundays), bonuses, agreeing to wage freeze, and allowing layoffs.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: Worker demonstrations during the emergency were subject to heavy state repression, such as when the AITUC organized a one-day strike to protest the slashing of bonuses in January 1976, to which the state responded by arresting 30,000-40,000 workers. In another such instance, the 8,000 workers of the Indian Telephone Industries (a Bangalore-based state-owned company) took part in a peaceful sit-in protest in response to the management reneging its promise of a 20% bonus to just 8%, they found themselves lathi-charged by the police who also arrested a few hundred of them.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: Coal miners were forced to work in abysmal conditions with irregular pay, collieries were made to run for all seven days a week, and complaints of workers and unions about the abysmal and dangerous working conditions were ignored and met with state repression. These terrible workplace conditions led to the deadliest mining disaster in Indian history on 27 December 1975, at Chasnala coal mine near Dhanbad which claimed the lives of 375 miners due to more than 100 million gallons of water flooding the mine. This was the 2nd such accident that year, the previous incidents having claimed 288 lives.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: The emergency government enjoyed a degree of popular support due to lower prices of goods and services at least during 1975. This was due to many reasons such as RBI's policy of putting in place a 6 percent ceiling on annual money supply growth months before the emergency, record monsoon in the year of 1975 leading to record harvest of foodgrains which led to food prices declining, increased import of grains, and reduced demand due to cutting of worker's wages and bonuses. In addition to this half of the dearness allowance of workers was withheld as part of the Wage Freeze act as compulsory deposits to combat inflation. However, these reduced prices only lasted till March 1976 when the prices of commodities started to go up again, on account of foodgrain production declining by 7.9%. Between 1 April and 6 October 1976 the wholesale price index rose by 10%, in which the price of rice rose by 8.3%, groundnut oil rose by 48%, while the prices of industrial raw materials as a group rose by 29.3%.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: The emergency regime exempted those earning between Rs 6,000-8,000 from taxation, provided tax breaks for those earning between Rs 8,000-15,000 in the range of Rs 45-264. There were only 3.8 million (38 lakh) taxpayers in the country at the time. Wealth taxes were also cut from 8% to 2.5% while the income taxes on those earning more than Rs 100,000 were reduced from 77% to 66%. This was expected to lower the government's revenue by Rs 3.08-3.25 billion. To compensate for this indirect taxes grew, the ratio of indirect taxes to direct taxes was at 5.31 in 1976. Despite this there was a loss in revenue of Rs 400 million (40 crores), to compensate for this the Indira Gandhi government decided to cut spending in education and social welfare.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: In September 1976, Sanjay Gandhi initiated a widespread compulsory sterilization program to limit population growth. The exact extent of Sanjay Gandhi's role in the implementation of the program is disputed, with some writers holding Gandhi directly responsible for his authoritarianism, and other writers blaming the officials who implemented the programme rather than Gandhi himself. It is clear that international pressure from the United States, United Nations, and World Bank played a role in the implementation of these population control measures. Rukhsana Sultana was a socialite known for being one of Sanjay Gandhi's close associates and she gained a lot of notoriety in leading Sanjay Gandhi's sterilization campaign in Muslim areas of old Delhi.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: The campaign primarily involved getting males to undergo vasectomy. Quotas were set up that enthusiastic supporters and government officials worked hard to achieve. There were allegations of coercion of unwilling candidates too. In 1976–1977, the program led to 8.3 million sterilizations, most of them forced, up from 2.7 million the previous year. The bad publicity led many 1977 governments to stress that family planning is entirely voluntary.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: Delhi served as the epicenter of Sanjay Gandhi's "urban renewal" program, aided in large part by DDA vice president Jagmohan Malhotra who himself had a desire to "beautify" the city. During the emergency Jagmohan emerged as the single most powerful person in the DDA, and went to extraordinary lengths to do the bidding of Sanjay Gandhi, as the Shah commission notes- "Shri Jagmohan during the emergency, became a law unto himself and went about doing the biddings of Shri Sanjay Gandhi without care or concern for the miseries of the people affected thereby"In total, 700,000 people in Delhi were displaced due to the demolitions carried out in Delhi.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: During the Emergency, various state governments also carried out demolitions to clear "encroachments", undertaken to please Sanjay Gandhi. In many of these cases, residents were given very short notices, state governments like those of Bihar and Haryana avoided giving official notices to the residents of "encroachments" to avoid a case in a civil court, instead, they notified them through public channels, or in the case of Haryana through drum beats, and in some cases gave no prior information. States passed various laws to aid them in this process such as Maharashtra Vacant Land Act 1975, Bihar Public Encroachment Act 1975, and Madhya Pradesh Land Revenue Code (Amendment) Act. These demolitions were often accompanied by the police to threaten the residents with arrest under MISA or DIR. In Maharashtra, Mumbai alone saw demolitions of 12,000 huts, while Pune saw demolitions of 1285 huts and 29 shops.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: Shortly after the declaration of the Emergency, the Sikh leadership convened meetings in Amritsar where they resolved to oppose the "fascist tendency of the Congress". The first mass protest in the country, known as the "Campaign to Save Democracy" was organised by the Akali Dal and launched in Amritsar, 9 July. A statement to the press recalled the historic Sikh struggle for independence under the Mughals, then under the British, and voiced concern that what had been fought for and achieved was being lost. The police were out in force for the demonstration and arrested the protestors, including the Shiromani Akali Dal and Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) leaders.The question before us is not whether Indira Gandhi should continue to be prime minister or not. The point is whether democracy in this country is to survive or not.They protested for two years fighting against policemen and curfew was declared in the entire Malwa region. During Emergency SGPC offices used to be flooded with Anti-Emergency activists from RSS and BJP who had taken shelter to escape the government. According to Amnesty International, 140,000 people had been arrested without trial during the twenty months of Gandhi's Emergency. Jasjit Singh Grewal estimates that 43,000 of them came from India's two per cent Sikh minority.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: In the end it was due to Jathedar Santa Singh's challenge and threat of declaring war in January 1977 that made the Emergency end. He had come to Delhi with around a thousand caravans armed with .303 Lee-Enfield Rifles and met Sanjay Gandhi where he was asked to surrender of fight the Indian Army. That was when he replied, threatening armed revolt and the Emergency ended around a month afterwards.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, which was seen close to opposition leaders, was also banned. Police clamped down on the organisation and thousands of its workers were imprisoned.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: The RSS defied the ban and thousands participated in Satyagraha (peaceful protests) against the ban and the curtailment of fundamental rights. Literature that was censored in the media was clandestinely published and distributed on a large scale and funds were collected for the movement. Networks were established between leaders of different political parties in the jail and outside for the coordination of the movement.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: The attitude of senior RSS leaders about the Emergency was divided: several opposed it staunchly, others apologised and were released, and several senior leaders, notably Balasaheb Deoras sought an accommodation with Sanjay and Indira Gandhi. Nanaji Deshmukh and Madan Lal Khurana managed to escape the police and led the RSS resistance to the Emergency. As did Subramanian Swamy and the current Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who was in poor health, quickly reached an agreement with Indira Gandhi, and spent most of the Emergency under parole at his residence. Zonal RSS leaders also authorized Eknath Ramakrishna Ranade to quietly enter into a dialogue with Indira Gandhi.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: Indira Gandhi had helped Ranade, who had been second to Golwalkar in the RSS hierarchy, in numerous projects to commemorate Vivekananda. She had nominated Ranade to the governing council of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, and the two used ICCR as a facade to conduct secret one-on-one negotiations. Arun Jaitley, Student leader and head of the RSS affiliated ABVP (Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad) in Delhi, was among the first to be arrested, and he spent the entire Emergency in jail. However, other ABVP leaders such as Balbir Punj and Prabhu Chawla pledged allegiance to Indira Gandhi's Twenty Point Programme and Sanjay Gandhi's Five Point Programme, in return for staying out of jail.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: On 10 August 1976, Subramanian Swamy walked into the parliament and when obituary references were concluding, Swamy raised a point of order that Democracy has also died and Rajya Sabha Chairman has not included it in recent list of deaths. As a result, Swamy was expelled from parliament. In November 1976, over 30 leaders of the RSS, led by Madhavrao Muley, Dattopant Thengadi, and Moropant Pingle, wrote to Indira Gandhi, promising support to the Emergency if all RSS workers were released from prison. Their 'Document of Surrender, to take effect from January 1977, was processed by H.Y. Sharada Prasad.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: On his return from his meeting with Om Mehta, Vajpayee ordered the cadres of the ABVP to apologise unconditionally to Indira Gandhi. The ABVP students refused. The RSS 'Document of Surrender, was also confirmed by Subramanian Swamy in his article: “...I must add that not all in the RSS were in a surrender mode...But a tearful Muley told me in early November 1976 and I had better escape abroad again since the RSS had finalized the Document of Surrender to be signed in end of January 1977, and that on Mr. Vajpayee's insistence I would be sacrificed to appease an irate Indira and a fulminating Sanjay...”.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: Members of CPI(M) were identified and arrested all over India. Raids were conducted in houses suspected to be sympathetic of CPI(M) or the opposition to the emergency.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: Those jailed during the Emergency include the current general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Sitaram Yechury, and his predecessor, Prakash Karat. Both were then leaders of the Students Federation of India, the party's student wing.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: Other Communist Party of India (Marxist) members to be jailed included the current Chief Minister of Kerala Pinarayi Vijayan, then a young MLA. He was taken into custody during the Emergency and subjected to third-degree methods. On his release, Pinarayi reached the Assembly and made an impassionate speech holding up the blood-stained shirt he wore when in police custody, causing serious embarrassment to the then C. Achutha Menon government.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: Hundreds of Communists, whether from the Communist Party of India (Marxist), other Marxist parties, or the Naxalites, were arrested during the Emergency. Some were tortured or, as in the case of the Kerala student P Rajan, killed.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: On 18 January 1977, Gandhi called fresh elections for March and released several opposition leaders; however, many others remained in prison even after she left office, despite the Emergency officially ending on 21 March 1977. The opposition Janata movement's campaign warned Indians that the elections might be their last chance to choose between "democracy and dictatorship."


title: The Emergency (India)

text: The Indian general election of 1977 was held from 16–20 March, and resulted in a landslide victory for the Janata Party and the CFD, securing 298 seats in the Lok Sabha whereas the ruling Indian National Congress only managed to win 154—a decrease of 198 as compared to the previous election. Indira Gandhi herself was voted out of office in the Rae Bareli constituency, losing to electoral rival Raj Narain by a margin of over 55,000 votes. INC candidates failed to win a single seat in the constituencies of several northern states, such as Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. The Janata Party's 298 seats were further augmented by an additional 47 seats won by its various political allies, thereby giving them a two-thirds supermajority. Morarji Desai became the first non-Congress Prime Minister of India.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: Voters in the electorally largest state of Uttar Pradesh, historically a Congress stronghold, turned against Gandhi and her party failed to win a single seat in the state. Dhanagare says the structural reasons behind the discontent against the Government included the emergence of the strong and united opposition, disunity and weariness inside Congress, an effective underground opposition, and the ineffectiveness of Gandhi's control of the mass media, which had lost much credibility. The structural factors allowed voters to express their grievances, notably their resentment of the emergency and its authoritarian and repressive policies. One grievance often mentioned was the 'nasbandi' (vasectomy) campaign in rural areas. The middle classes also emphasized the curbing of freedom throughout the state and India. Meanwhile, Congress hit an all-time low in West Bengal because of the poor discipline and factionalism among Congress activists as well as the numerous defections that weakened the party. Opponents emphasized the issues of corruption in Congress and appealed to a deep desire by the voters for fresh leadership.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: The efforts of the Janata administration to get government officials and Congress politicians tried for Emergency-era abuses and crimes were largely unsuccessful due to a disorganized, over-complex, and politically motivated process of litigation. The Thirty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution of India, put in place shortly after the outset of the Emergency and which among other things prohibited judicial reviews of states of emergencies and actions taken during them, also likely played a role in this lack of success. Although special tribunals were organized and scores of senior Congress Party and government officials arrested and charged, including Mrs. Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi, police were unable to submit sufficient evidence for most cases, and only a few low-level officials were convicted of any abuses.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: The Emergency lasted 21 months, and its legacy remains intensely controversial. A few days after the Emergency was imposed, the Bombay edition of "The Times of India" carried an obituary that read


title: The Emergency (India)

text: A few days later censorship was imposed on newspapers. The Delhi edition of the "Indian Express" on 28 June, carried a blank editorial, while the "Financial Express" reproduced in large type Rabindranath Tagore's poem "Where the mind is without fear".


title: The Emergency (India)

text: However, the Emergency also received support from several sections. It was endorsed by social reformer Vinoba Bhave (who called it "Anushasan Parva", a time for discipline), industrialist J. R. D. Tata, writer Khushwant Singh, and Indira Gandhi's close friend and Odisha Chief Minister Nandini Satpathy. However, Tata and Satpathy later regretted that they spoke in favour of the Emergency.


title: The Emergency (India)

text: In the book "JP Movement and the Emergency", historian, Bipan Chandra wrote, "Sanjay Gandhi and his cronies like Bansi Lal, Minister of Defence at the time, were keen on postponing elections and prolonging the emergency by several years. In October – November 1976, an effort was made to change the basic civil libertarian structure of the Indian Constitution through the 42nd amendment to it. ... The most important changes were designed to strengthen the executive at the cost of the judiciary, and thus disturb the carefully crafted system of Constitutional checks and balance between the three organs of the government."


title: Asceticism

text: Asceticism (; from the ) is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from sensual pleasures, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Ascetics may withdraw from the world for their practices or continue to be part of their society, but typically adopt a frugal lifestyle, characterised by the renunciation of material possessions and physical pleasures, and also spend time fasting while concentrating on the practice of religion or reflection upon spiritual matters. Various individuals have also attempted an ascetic lifestyle to free themselves from addictions, some of them particular to modern life, such as money, alcohol, tobacco, drugs, entertainment, sex, food, etc.


title: Asceticism

text: Asceticism has been historically observed in many religious traditions, including Buddhism, Jainism, Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Stoicism and Pythagoreanism and contemporary practices continue amongst some religious followers.


title: Asceticism

text: Practitioners abandon sensual pleasures and lead an abstinent lifestyle, in the pursuit of redemption, salvation, or spirituality. Many ascetics believe the action of purifying the body helps to purify the soul, and thus obtain a greater connection with the Divine or find inner peace. This may take the form of rituals, the renunciation of pleasure, or self-mortification. However, ascetics maintain that self-imposed constraints bring them greater freedom in various areas of their lives, such as increased clarity of thought and the ability to resist potentially destructive temptations. Asceticism is seen in the ancient theologies as a journey towards spiritual transformation, where the simple is sufficient, the bliss is within, the frugal is plenty. Inversely, several ancient religious traditions, such as Zoroastrianism, Ancient Egyptian religion, and the Dionysian Mysteries, "vamachara", and the modern Western occult left-hand path traditions, openly reject ascetic practices and either focus on various types of hedonism or on the importance of family life, both rejecting celibacy.


title: Asceticism

text: The adjective "ascetic" derives from the ancient Greek term , which means "training" or "exercise". The original usage did not refer to self-denial, but to the physical training required for athletic events. Its usage later extended to rigorous practices used in many major religious traditions, in varying degrees, to attain redemption and higher spirituality.


title: Asceticism

text: Self-discipline and abstinence in some form and degree are parts of religious practice within many religious and spiritual traditions. Ascetic lifestyle is associated particularly with monks, nuns, and fakirs in Abrahamic religions, and bhikkhus, munis, sannyasis, vairagis, goswamis, and yogis in Indian religions.


title: Asceticism

text: In the Baháʼí Faith, according to Shoghi Effendi, the maintenance of a high standard of moral conduct is neither to be associated or confused with any form of extreme asceticism, nor of excessive and bigoted puritanism. The religious standard set by Baháʼu'lláh, founder of the Baháʼí Faith, seeks under no circumstances to deny anyone the legitimate right and privilege to derive the fullest advantage and benefit from the manifold joys, beauties, and pleasures with which the world has been so plentifully enriched by God, which Baháʼís regard as an all-loving creator.


title: Asceticism

text: Notable Christian authors of Late Antiquity such as Origen, St Jerome, John Chrysostom, and Augustine of Hippo, interpreted meanings of the Biblical texts within a highly asceticized religious environment. Scriptural examples of asceticism could be found in the lives of John the Baptist, Jesus Christ, the twelve apostles, and Paul the Apostle. The Dead Sea Scrolls revealed ascetic practices of the ancient Jewish sect of Essenes who took vows of abstinence to prepare for a holy war. An emphasis on an ascetic religious life was evident in both early Christian writings ("see": Philokalia) and practices ("see": Hesychasm). Other Christian practitioners of asceticism include saints such as Paul the Hermit, Simeon Stylites, David of Wales, John of Damascus, and Francis of Assisi.


title: Asceticism

text: According to Richard Finn, much of early Christian asceticism has been traced to Judaism, but not to traditions within Greek asceticism. Some of the ascetic thoughts in Christianity nevertheless, Finn states, have roots in Greek moral thought. Virtuous living is not possible when an individual is craving bodily pleasures with desire and passion. Morality is not seen in the ancient theology as a balancing act between right and wrong, but a form of spiritual transformation, where the simple is sufficient, the bliss is within, the frugal is plenty.


title: Asceticism

text: The deserts of the Middle East were at one time inhabited by thousands of male and female Christian ascetics, hermits and anchorites, including St. Anthony the Great (otherwise known as St. Anthony of the Desert), St. Mary of Egypt, and St. Simeon Stylites, collectively known as the Desert Fathers and Desert Mothers. In 963 an association of monasteries called "Lavra" was formed on Mount Athos, in Eastern Orthodox tradition. This became the most important center of orthodox Christian ascetic groups in the centuries that followed. In the modern era, Mount Athos and Meteora have remained a significant center.


title: Asceticism

text: Sexual abstinence such as those of the Encratites sect of Christians was only one aspect of ascetic renunciation, and both natural and unnatural asceticism have been part of Christian asceticism. The natural ascetic practices have included simple living, begging, fasting and ethical practices such as humility, compassion, meditation, patience and prayer. Evidence of extreme asceticism in Christianity appear in second century texts and thereafter, in both Eastern Orthodox Christian and Western Christian traditions, such as the practice of chaining the body to rocks, eating only grass, praying seated on a pillar in the elements for decades such as by the monk Simeon Stylites, solitary confinement inside a cell, abandoning personal hygiene and adopting lifestyle of a beast, self-inflicted pain and voluntary suffering. Such ascetic practices were linked to the Christian concepts of sin and redemption.


title: Asceticism

text: Evagrius Ponticus, also called Evagrius the Solitary (345–399 AD), was a highly educated monastic teacher who produced a large theological body of work, mainly ascetic, including the "Gnostikos" (, "gnōstikos", "learned", from γνῶσις, "gnōsis", "knowledge"), also known as "The Gnostic: To the One Made Worthy of Gnosis". The "Gnostikos" is the second volume of a trilogy containing the "Praktikos", intended for young monks to achieve "apatheia", i.e., "a state of calm which is the prerequisite for love and knowledge", in order to purify their intellect and make it impassible, to reveal the truth hidden in every being. The third book, "Kephalaia Gnostika", was meant for meditation by advanced monks. Those writings made him one of the most recognized ascetic teachers and scriptural interpreters of his time, which include Clement of Alexandria and Origen.


title: Asceticism

text: The ascetic literature of early Christianity was influenced by pre-Christian Greek philosophical traditions, especially Plato and Aristotle, looking for the perfect spiritual way of life. According to Clement of Alexandria, philosophy and Scriptures can be seen as "double expressions of one pattern of knowledge". According to Evagrius, "body and the soul are there to help the intellect and not to hinder it".


title: Asceticism

text: The Arabic term for "asceticism" is "zuhd". The Islamic prophet Muhammad and his followers practiced asceticism. However, contemporary mainstream Islam has not had a tradition of asceticism, but its Sufi groups have cherished their own ascetic tradition for several centuries. Islamic literary sources and historians report that during the early Muslim conquests of the Middle East and North Africa (7th–10th centuries), some of the Muslim warriors guarding the frontier settlements were also ascetics; numerous historical accounts also report of many Christian monks that apostatized from Christianity, converted to Islam, and joined the "jihad", as well as of some Muslim warriors that repudiated Islam, converted to Christianity, and became Christian monks. Monasticism is forbidden in Islam. Scholars in the field of Islamic studies have argued that asceticism ("zuhd") served as a precursor to the later doctrinal formations of Sufis that began to emerge in the tenth century through the works of individuals such as al-Junayd, al-Qushayrī, al-Sarrāj, al-Hujwīrī and others.


title: Asceticism

text: Sufism emerged and grew as a mystical, somewhat hidden tradition in the mainstream Sunni and Shia denominations of Islam, state Eric Hanson and Karen Armstrong, likely in reaction to "the growing worldliness of Umayyad and Abbasid societies". Acceptance of asceticism emerged in Sufism slowly because it was contrary to the "sunnah", states Nile Green, and early Sufis condemned "ascetic practices as unnecessary public displays of what amounted to false piety". The ascetic Sufis were hunted and persecuted both by Sunni and Shia rulers, in various centuries. Sufis were highly influential and greatly successful in spreading Islam between the 10th and 19th centuries, particularly to the furthest outposts of the Muslim world in the Middle East and North Africa, the Balkans and Caucasus, the Indian subcontinent, and finally Central, Eastern and Southeast Asia. Some scholars have argued that Sufi Muslim ascetics and mystics played a decisive role in converting the Turkic peoples to Islam between the 10th and 12th centuries and Mongol invaders in Persia during the 13th and 14th centuries, mainly because of the similarities between the extreme, ascetic Sufis (fakirs and dervishes) and the Shamans of the traditional Turco-Mongol religion.


title: Asceticism

text: Sufism was adopted and then grew particularly in the frontier areas of Islamic states, where the asceticism of its fakirs and dervishes appealed to populations already used to the monastic traditions of Hinduism, Buddhism and Christianity. Ascetic practices of Sufi fakirs have included celibacy, fasting and self-mortification. Sufi ascetics also participated in mobilizing Muslim warriors for holy wars, helping travelers, dispensing blessings through their perceived magical powers, and in helping settle disputes. Ritual ascetic practices, such as self-flagellation ("Tatbir"), have been practiced by Shia Muslims annually at the Mourning of Muharram.


title: Asceticism

text: Asceticism has not been a dominant theme within Judaism, but minor to significant ascetic traditions have been a part of Jewish spirituality. The history of Jewish asceticism is traceable to first millennium BC era with the references of the Nazirite (or Nazorean, Nazarene, Naziruta, Nazir), whose rules of practice are found in Book of Numbers 6:1–21. The ascetic practices included not cutting the hair, abstaining from eating meat or grapes, abstention from wine, or fasting and hermit style living conditions for a period of time. Literary evidence suggests that this tradition continued for a long time, well into the common era, and both Jewish men and women could follow the ascetic path, with examples such as the ascetic practices for fourteen years by Queen Helena of Adiabene, and by Miriam of Tadmor. After the Jews returned from the Babylonian exile and the Mosaic institution was done away with, a different form of asceticism arose when Antiochus IV Epiphanes threatened the Jewish religion in 167 BC. The Hasidaean-Essene tradition of the second Temple period is described as one of the movements within historic Jewish asceticism between second century BC and first century AD.


title: Asceticism

text: Ascetic Jewish sects existed in ancient and medieval era times, most notably the Essenes and Ebionites. According to Allan Nadler, two most significant examples of medieval Jewish asceticism have been Havoth ha-Levavoth and Hasidei Ashkenaz. Pious self-deprivation was a part of the dualism and mysticism in these ascetic groups. This voluntary separation from the world was called "Perishuth", and the Jewish society widely accepted this tradition in late medieval era. Extreme forms of ascetic practices have been opposed or controversial in the Hasidic movement.


title: Asceticism

text: The Ashkenazi Hasidim (, "Chassidei Ashkenaz") were a Jewish mystical, ascetic movement in the German Rhineland whose practices are documented in the texts of the 12th and 13th centuries. Peter Meister states that this Jewish asceticism emerged in the tenth century, grew much wider with prevalence in southern Europe and the Middle East through the Jewish pietistic movement. According to Shimon Shokek, these ascetic practices were the result of an influence of medieval Christianity on Ashkenazi Hasidism. The Jewish faithful of this Hasidic tradition practiced the punishment of body, self-torture by starvation, sitting in the open in freezing snow, or in the sun with fleas in summer, all with the goal of purifying the soul and turning one's attention away from the body unto the soul.


title: Asceticism

text: Another significant school of Jewish asceticism appeared in the 16th century led from Safed. These mystics engaged in radical material abstentions and self-mortification with the belief that this helps them transcend the created material world, reach and exist in the mystical spiritual world. A studied example of this group was Hayyim ben Joseph Vital, and their rules of ascetic lifestyle ("Hanhagoth") are documented.


title: Asceticism

text: Asceticism is found in both non-theistic and theistic traditions within Indian religions. The origins of the practice are ancient and a heritage shared by major Indian religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism. These probably developed from a syncretism of Vedic and Sramanic influences.


title: Asceticism

text: Asceticism in Indian religions includes a spectrum of diverse practices, ranging from the mild self-discipline, self-imposed poverty and simple living typical of Buddhism and Hinduism, to more severe austerities and self-mortification practices of monks in Jainism and now extinct Ajivikas in the pursuit of salvation. Some ascetics live as hermits relying on whatever food they can find in the forests, then sleep and meditate in caves; others travel from one holy site to another while sustaining their body by begging for food; yet others live in monasteries as monks or nuns. Some ascetics live like priests and preachers, other ascetics are armed and militant, to resist any persecution—a phenomenon that emerged after the arrival of Islam in India. Self-torture is relatively uncommon practice but one that attracts public attention. In Indian traditions such as Buddhism and Hinduism, self-mortification is typically criticized. However, Indian mythologies also describe numerous ascetic gods or demons who pursued harsh austerities for decades or centuries that helped each gain special powers.


title: Asceticism

text: The historical Siddhartha Gautama adopted an extreme ascetic life in search of enlightenment. However, after enlightenment he rejected extreme asceticism in favour of a more moderated version.


title: Asceticism

text: According to Hajime Nakamura and other scholars, some early Buddhist texts suggest that asceticism was a part of Buddhist practice in its early days. Further, in practice, records from about the start of the common era through the 19th century suggest that asceticism has been a part of Buddhism, both in Theravada and Mahayana traditions.


title: Asceticism

text: Textual evidence suggests that ascetic practices were a part of the Buddhist tradition in Sri Lanka by the third century BC, and this tradition continued through the medieval era in parallel to "sangha" style monastic tradition.


title: Asceticism

text: In the Theravada tradition of Thailand, medieval texts report of ascetic monks who wander and dwell in the forest or crematory alone, do austere practices, and these came to be known as . Ascetic Buddhist monks have been and continue to be found in Myanmar, and as in Thailand, they are known to pursue their own version of Buddhism, resisting the hierarchical institutionalized structure of monasteries in Buddhism.


title: Asceticism

text: In the Mahayana tradition asceticism with esoteric and mystical meanings became an accepted practice, such as in the Tendai and Shingon schools of Japanese Buddhism. These Japanese practices included penance, austerities, ablutions under a waterfall, and rituals to purify oneself. Japanese records from the 12th century record stories of monks undertaking severe asceticism, while records suggest that 19th century Nichiren Buddhist monks woke up at midnight or 2:00 AM daily, and performed ascetic water purification rituals under cold waterfalls. Other practices include the extreme ascetic practices of eating only pine needles, resins, seeds and ultimately self-mummification, while alive, or "Sokushinbutsu" ("miira") in Japan.


title: Asceticism

text: In Chinese Buddhism self-mummification ascetic practices were less common but recorded in the "Ch'an" (Zen Buddhism) tradition there. More ancient Chinese Buddhist asceticism, somewhat similar to "Sokushinbutsu" are also known, such as the public self-immolation (self cremation, as shaoshen 燒身 or zifen 自焚) practice, aimed at abandoning the impermanent body. The earliest-documented ascetic Buddhist monk biography is of Fayu (法羽) in 396 CE, followed by more than fifty documented cases in the centuries that followed including that of monk Daodu (道度). This was considered as evidence of a renunciant bodhisattva, and may have been inspired by the Jataka tales wherein the Buddha in his earlier lives immolates himself to assist other living beings, or by the Bhaiṣajyaguruvaiḍūryaprabhārāja-related teachings in the "Lotus Sutra". Historical records suggest that the self-immolation practices were observed by nuns in Chinese Buddhism as well.


title: Asceticism

text: The Chinese Buddhist asceticism practices, states James Benn, were not an adaptation or import of Indian ascetic practices, but an invention of Chinese Buddhists, based on their unique interpretations of "Saddharmapuṇḍarīka" or "Lotus Sūtra". It may be an adoption of more ancient pre-Buddhist Chinese practices, or from Taoism. It is unclear if self-immolation was limited primarily to Chinese asceticism tradition, and strong evidence of it being a part of a large scale, comprehensive ascetic program among Chinese Buddhists is lacking.


title: Asceticism

text: Renunciation from the worldly life, and a pursuit of spiritual life either as a part of monastic community or a hermit, has been a historic tradition of Hinduism since ancient times. The renunciation tradition is called Sannyasa, and this is not the same as asceticism—which typically connotes severe self-denial and self-mortification. "Sannyasa" often involved a simple life, one with minimal or no material possessions, study, meditation and ethical living. Those who undertook this lifestyle were called "Sannyasi", "Sadhu", "Yati", "Bhiksu", "Pravrajita/Pravrajitā" and Parivrajaka in Hindu texts. The term with a meaning closer to asceticism in Hindu texts is Tapas, but it too spans a spectrum of meanings ranging from inner heat, to self-mortification and penance with austerities, to meditation and self-discipline.


title: Asceticism

text: Asceticism-like practices are hinted in the Vedas, but these hymns have been variously interpreted as referring to early Yogis and loner renouncers. One such mention is in the Kesin hymn of the Rigveda, where Keśins ("long-haired" ascetics) and Munis ("silent ones") are described. These Kesins of the Vedic era, are described as follows by Karel Werner:


title: Asceticism

text: The Vedic and Upanishadic texts of Hinduism, states Mariasusai Dhavamony, do not discuss self-inflicted pain, but do discuss self-restraint and self-control. The monastic tradition of Hinduism is evidenced in first millennium BC, particularly in its Advaita Vedanta tradition. This is evidenced by the oldest Sannyasa Upanishads, because all of them have a strong Advaita Vedanta outlook. Most of the Sannyasa Upanishads present a Yoga and nondualism (Advaita) Vedanta philosophy. The 12th-century "Shatyayaniya Upanishad" is a significant exception, which presents qualified dualistic and Vaishnavism (Vishishtadvaita Vedanta) philosophy. These texts mention a simple, ethical lifestyle but do not mention self-torture or body mortification. For example,


title: Asceticism

text: Similarly, the Nirvana Upanishad asserts that the Hindu ascetic should hold, according to Patrick Olivelle, that "the sky is his belief, his knowledge is of the absolute, union is his initiation, compassion alone is his pastime, bliss is his garland, the cave of solitude is his fellowship", and so on, as he proceeds in his effort to gain self-knowledge (or soul-knowledge) and its identity with the Hindu metaphysical concept of Brahman. Other behavioral characteristics of the "Sannyasi" include: ahimsa (non-violence), akrodha (not become angry even if you are abused by others), disarmament (no weapons), chastity, bachelorhood (no marriage), avyati (non-desirous), amati (poverty), self-restraint, truthfulness, sarvabhutahita (kindness to all creatures), asteya (non-stealing), aparigraha (non-acceptance of gifts, non-possessiveness) and shaucha (purity of body speech and mind).


title: Asceticism

text: The 11th century literary work "Yatidharmasamuccaya" is a Vaishnava text that summarizes ascetic practices in Vaishnavism tradition of Hinduism. In Hindu traditions, as with other Indian religions, both men and women have historically participated in a diverse spectrum of ascetic practices.


title: Asceticism

text: Asceticism in one of its most intense forms can be found in one of the oldest religions, Jainism. Ascetic life may include nakedness symbolizing non-possession of even clothes, fasting, body mortification, penance and other austerities, in order to burn away past karma and stop producing new karma, both of which are believed in Jainism to be essential for reaching "siddha" and "moksha" (liberation from rebirths, salvation). In Jainism, the ultimate goal of life is to achieve the liberation of soul from endless cycle of rebirths (moksha from samsara), which requires ethical living and asceticism. Most of the austerities and ascetic practices can be traced back to Vardhaman Mahavira, the twenty-fourth "fordmaker" or Tirthankara who practiced 12 years of asceticism before reaching enlightenment.


title: Asceticism

text: Jain texts such as "Tattvartha Sutra" and "Uttaradhyayana Sutra" discuss ascetic austerities to great lengths and formulations. Six outer and six inner practices are most common, and oft repeated in later Jain texts. According to John Cort, outer austerities include complete fasting, eating limited amounts, eating restricted items, abstaining from tasty foods, mortifying the flesh and guarding the flesh (avoiding anything that is a source of temptation). Inner austerities include expiation, confession, respecting and assisting mendicants, studying, meditation and ignoring bodily wants in order to abandon the body.


title: Asceticism

text: The Jain text of "Kalpa Sūtra" describes Mahavira's asceticism in detail, whose life is a source of guidance on most of the ascetic practices in Jainism:


title: Asceticism

text: Both Mahavira and his ancient Jaina followers are described in Jainism texts as practicing body mortification and being abused by animals as well as people, but never retaliating and never initiating harm or injury (ahimsa) to any other being. With such ascetic practices, he burnt off his past Karma, gained spiritual knowledge, and became a Jina. These austere practices are part of the monastic path in Jainism. The practice of body mortification is called "kaya klesha" in Jainism, and is found in verse 9.19 of the "Tattvartha Sutra" by Umaswati, the most authoritative oldest surviving Jaina philosophical text.


title: Asceticism

text: In Jain monastic practice, the monks and nuns take ascetic vows, after renouncing all relations and possessions. The vows include a complete commitment to nonviolence ("Ahimsa"). They travel from city to city, often crossing forests and deserts, and always barefoot. Jain ascetics do not stay in a single place for more than two months to prevent attachment to any place. However, during the four months of monsoon (rainy season) known as "chaturmaas", they stay at a single place to avoid killing life forms that thrive during the rains. Jain monks and nuns practice complete celibacy. They do not touch or share a sitting platform with a person of the opposite sex.


title: Asceticism

text: Jain ascetics follow a strict vegetarian diet without root vegetables. Prof. Pushpendra K. Jain explains:


title: Asceticism

text: Clearly enough, to procure such vegetables and fruits, one must pull out the plant from the root, thus destroying the entire plant, and with it all the other micro organisms around the root. Fresh fruits and vegetables should be plucked only when ripe and ready to fall off, or ideally after they have fallen off the plant. In case they are plucked from the plants, only as much as required should be procured and consumed without waste.


title: Asceticism

text: The monks of Shvetambara sub-tradition within Jainism do not cook food, but solicit alms from householders. Digambara monks have only a single meal a day. Neither group will beg for food, but a Jain ascetic may accept a meal from a householder, provided that the latter is pure of mind and body, and offers the food of his own volition and in the prescribed manner. During such an encounter, the monk remains standing and eats only a measured amount. A routine feature of Jain asceticism are fasting periods, where adherents abstain from consuming food, and sometimes water, only during daylight hours, for up to 30 days. Some monks avoid (or limit) medicine and/or hospitalization out of disregard for the physical body.


title: Asceticism

text: Śvētāmbara monks and nuns wear only unstitched white robes (an upper and lower garment), and own one bowl they use for eating and collecting alms. Male Digambara sect monks do not wear any clothes, carry nothing with them except a soft broom made of shed peacock feathers ("pinchi") to gently remove any insect or living creature in their way or bowl, and they eat with their hands. They sleep on the floor without blankets, and sit on wooden platforms. Other austerities include meditation in seated or standing posture near river banks in the cold wind, or meditation atop hills and mountains, especially at noon when the sun is at its fiercest. Such austerities are undertaken according to the physical and mental limits of the individual ascetic.


title: Asceticism

text: When death is imminent from an advanced age or terminal disease, many Jain ascetics take a final vow of Santhara or Sallekhana, a fast to peaceful and detached death, by first reducing intake of and then ultimately abandoning all medicines, food, and water. Scholars state that this ascetic practice is not a suicide, but a form of natural death, done without passion or turmoil or suddenness, and because it is done without active violence to the body.


title: Asceticism

text: While Sikhism treats lust as a vice, it has at the same time unmistakingly pointed out that man must share the moral responsibility by leading the life of a householder. What is important is to be God-centred. According to Sikhism, ascetics are certainly not on the right path. When Guru Nanak visited Gorakhmata, he discussed the true meaning of asceticism with some yogis.


title: Asceticism

text: In Inca religion of medieval South America, asceticism was practiced. The high priests of the Inca people lived an ascetic life, which included fasting, chastity and eating simple food. The Jesuit records report Christian missionaries encountering ascetic Inca hermits in the Andean mountains.


title: Asceticism

text: Historical evidence suggest that the monastic tradition in Taoism practiced asceticism, and the most common ascetic practices included fasting, complete sexual abstinence, self-imposed poverty, sleep deprivation, and secluding oneself in the wilderness. More extreme and unnatural ascetic Taoist practices have included public self-drowning and self-cremation. The goal of these spectrum of practices, like other religions, was to reach the divine and get past the mortal body. According to Stephen Eskildsen, asceticism continues to be a part of modern Taoism.


title: Asceticism

text: In Zoroastrianism, active participation in life through good thoughts, good words and good deeds is necessary to ensure happiness and to keep the chaos at bay. This "active" participation is a central element in Zoroaster's concept of free will. In the "Avesta", the sacred scriptures of Zoroastrianism, fasting and mortification are forbidden.


title: Asceticism

text: Early 20th century German sociologist Max Weber made a distinction between "innerweltliche" and "ausserweltliche" asceticism, which means (roughly) "inside the world" and "outside the world", respectively. Talcott Parsons translated these as "worldly" and "otherworldly"—however, some translators use "inner-worldly", and this is more in line with inner world explorations of mysticism, a common purpose of asceticism. "Inner- or Other-worldly" asceticism is practised by people who withdraw from the world to live an ascetic life (this includes monks who live communally in monasteries, as well as hermits who live alone). "Worldly" asceticism refers to people who live ascetic lives but do not withdraw from the world.


title: Asceticism

text: Weber claimed this distinction originated in the Protestant Reformation, but later became secularized, so the concept can be applied to both religious and secular ascetics.


title: Asceticism

text: The 20th century American psychological theorist David McClelland suggested worldly asceticism is specifically targeting worldly pleasures that "distract" people from their calling and may accept worldly pleasures that are not distracting. As an example, he pointed out Quakers have historically objected to bright-coloured clothing, but wealthy Quakers often made their drab clothing out of expensive materials. The color was considered distracting, but the materials were not. Amish groups use similar criteria to make decisions about which modern technologies to use and which to avoid.


title: Asceticism

text: In the third essay ("") from his 1887 book "On the Genealogy of Morals", Friedrich Nietzsche discusses what he terms the "ascetic ideal" and its role in the formulation of morality along with the history of the will. In the essay, Nietzsche describes how such a paradoxical action as asceticism might serve the interests of life: through asceticism one can overcome one's desire to perish from pain and despair and attain mastery over oneself. In this way one can express both ressentiment and the will to power. Nietzsche describes the morality of the ascetic priest as characterized by Christianity as one where, finding oneself in pain or despair and desiring to perish from it, the will to live causes one to place oneself in a state of hibernation and denial of the material world in order to minimize that pain and thus preserve life, a technique which Nietzsche locates at the very origin of secular science as well as of religion. He associated the "ascetic ideal" with Christian decadence.


title: Asceticism

text: Asceticism isn't always life-denying or pleasure-denying. Some ascetic practices have actually been carried out as disciplines of pleasure. Epicurus taught a philosophy of pleasure, but he also engaged in ascetic practices like fasting. This may have been done in the service of testing the limits of nature, of desires, of pleasure, and of his own body. In the eighth of his Principal Doctrines, Epicurus says that we sometimes choose pains if a greater pleasures ensue from them, or avoid pleasures if greater pain ensues, and in the "autarchy" portion of his Letter to Menoeceus, he teaches that living frugally can help us to better enjoy luxuries when we have them.


title: 86 (novel series)

text: A manga adaptation illustrated by Motoki Yoshihara was serialized in Square Enix's "seinen" manga magazine "Young Gangan" from February 2018 to June 2021, with two spin-off manga series—"86: Operation High School" by Suzume Somemiya and "86: Fragmental Neoteny"—being serialized in Media Factory's "seinen" manga magazine "Monthly Comic Alive" from June 2020 to August 2021 and from April 2021 to October 2022, respectively. An anime television series adaptation by A-1 Pictures aired from April 2021 to March 2022.


title: 86 (novel series)

text: The Republic of San Magnolia has been at war with the Empire of Giad for nine years. Though it initially suffered devastating losses to the Empire's autonomous mechanized Legions, the Republic has since developed its own autonomous units, called Juggernauts, which are directed remotely by a Handler. While on the surface, the public believes the war is being fought between machines, in reality, the Juggernauts are being piloted by humans, all of whom are "86"—the designation given to the Colorata minority of San Magnolia. The 86 originally had equal rights, but were persecuted and scapegoated by the dominant Alba race and the Alba-supremacist Republic government to the point where Colorata were both officially designated and popularly considered subhuman. The 86 were not permitted to have personal names and were immured in internment camps in the 86th District (their namesake), all the while being forced to fight in the Republic's war with the Empire to receive better treatment.


title: 86 (novel series)

text: Major Vladilena "Lena" Milizé, an Alba noble and military officer in the San Magnolian military, is an outspoken activist against the grave mistreatment of the nation's Colorata minority, and the willful deception of the general public by the Republic government. She is assigned as the Handler of the Spearhead Squadron of the Eastern Front: an elite unit composed entirely of 86 veterans who have earned names. Led by their squad leader, Shinei "The Undertaker" Nouzen, the Spearhead Squadron is infamous among military officials. Its notoriety stems from the state in which its commanding officers are left: Handlers presiding over the squad have descended into insanity and some have gone as far as committing suicide. Lena, an avowed 86 sympathizer, gets to know the Spearhead Squadron in her time as head of the contingent. At the same time, Lena and Shinei learn a dark secret: the Republic and the war with the Empire are not what they seem.


title: 86 (novel series)

text: One of the inspirations for the series was drone warfare, and the novel explores the logistics and ethics around this form of combat. Another major inspiration was the 2007 film "The Mist". As she came up with the fictional ideas of the story, Asato started working on the light novel. Asato had been working on the novel since 2014 and it was only in 2017 that it was published. The setting of the story took a while for the author to come up with. She wanted the story to take place within a fortressed city. However, she switched the idea and finalized the current setting for the series. She usually spend about 6–8 hours a day writing.


title: 86 (novel series)

text: The light novel is written by Asato Asato and is illustrated by Shirabii, with mechanical design by I-IV. ASCII Media Works has published eleven volumes since February 2017 under their Dengeki Bunko imprint. The light novels are licensed in North America by Yen Press, which has published nine volumes of the series. The English version was translated by Roman Lempert.


title: 86 (novel series)

text: A manga adaptation by Motoki Yoshihara was serialized in Square Enix's "seinen" manga magazine "Young Gangan" from February 16, 2018 to June 2021. It has been collected in three "tankōbon" volumes. The manga adaptation is also licensed in North America by Yen Press. On July 6, 2022, it was announced the manga was cancelled due to Yoshihara's health issues.


title: 86 (novel series)

text: A spin-off manga series titled "86: Operation High School" by Suzume Somemiya was serialized in Media Factory's "seinen" manga magazine "Monthly Comic Alive" from June 27, 2020, to August 27, 2021.


title: 86 (novel series)

text: A third manga titled "86: Run Through the Battlefront" by Hakuya Yamasaki was serialized in Square Enix's "Manga UP!" app from January 24, 2021 to September 2021. On July 6, 2022, it was announced the manga was cancelled due to Yamasaki's health issues.


title: 86 (novel series)

text: A prequel manga series titled "86: Fragmental Neoteny" was serialized in "Monthly Comic Alive" from April 26, 2021, to October 27, 2022. It was collected in three volumes, with the third volume being released as an ebook only.


title: 86 (novel series)

text: An anime television series adaptation was announced in a livestream commemorating the first anniversary of Kadokawa's "Kimirano" light novel website on March 15, 2020. It is produced by A-1 Pictures and directed by Toshimasa Ishii, with Toshiya Ōno writing the scripts, Tetsuya Kawakami designing the characters, and Hiroyuki Sawano and Kohta Yamamoto composing the music. The CGI will be developed by Shirogumi. The series was originally scheduled to air in 2020, but it was indefinitely delayed. The series is a split-cour anime, with the first half airing on Tokyo MX and other stations from April 11 to June 20, 2021. On March 28, 2021, Tokyo MX broadcast a special program commemorating the start of the series starring main cast members Shōya Chiba and Ikumi Hasegawa, producer Nobuhiro Nakayama and music composer Hiroyuki Sawano. The second half aired from October 3, 2021 to March 19, 2022. Crunchyroll licensed the series outside of Asia for an English simulcast and simuldub. Muse Communication licensed the series in Southeast Asia and is streaming it on iQIYI, Bilibili and Netflix. The first opening theme is "3-pun 29-byō" (, "San-pun Nijūkyū-byō"; "3 Minutes 29 Seconds") by Hitorie, while the first ending theme is "Avid" by SawanoHiroyuki[nZk]:mizuki and the second theme is "Hands Up to the Sky" by SawanoHiroyuki[nZk]:Laco. The second opening theme is "Kyōkaisen" (; "Boundary Line") by amazarashi, while the third ending theme is "Alchemilla" (, ) by Regal Lily and the fourth ending theme is "LilaS" by SawanoHiroyuki[nZk]:Takahashi Honoka.


title: 86 (novel series)

text: The light novel won the Grand Prize at the 23rd Dengeki Novel Prize award in 2016. The light novel also ranked second in 2018 in Takarajimasha's annual light novel guide book "Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi!", in the "bunkobon" category. It ranked fifth in 2019.


title: 86 (novel series)

text: Joe Ballard of "Comic Book Resources" noted the light novel's critical acclaim and called it "a movingly honest portrayal of war, drama, the supernatural, and the shockingly discriminatory views of a nation's general public, "86-Eighty-Six" is anything but your standard light novel series." "UK Anime News" praised the first volume of the light novel, calling it thought-provoking, emotional and incredibly difficult to put down." "The Fandom Post" found the first volume "not particularly groundbreaking", but was impressed by the subversion of the "bloodless war" theme and found the development of the plot and characters "quite solid."


title: 86 (novel series)

text: "IGN" listed the show as one of the best anime of 2021. Multiple writers from Anime News Network listed the anime's first season as one of their favorite series from spring 2021, with Steve Jones also naming the second season as his most anticipated for fall 2021.


title: 86 (novel series)

text: "The Fandom Post" gave the show an A−, noting that although the first episode felt stiff and full of "technobabble", the show found its footing by episode two. At the close of season one, the site praised the show's stellar production value, solid animation and music, and beautiful conveyance of its themes. Callum May's review for Anime News Network also noted the series' improvement by episode two, describing the first few episodes as "surprisingly gripping", and offered specific praise to the show's directing, storyboarding, and animation.


title: 86 (novel series)

text: The anime received four nominations at the 6th Crunchyroll Anime Awards in the categories: Anime of the Year, Best Drama, Best Girl, and Best Score.


title: 1080i

text: 1080i (also known as Full HD or BT.709) is a combination of frame resolution and scan type. 1080i is used in high-definition television (HDTV) and high-definition video. The number "1080" refers to the number of horizontal lines on the screen. The "i" is an abbreviation for "interlaced"; this indicates that only the even lines, then the odd lines of each frame (each image called a video field) are drawn alternately, so that only half the number of actual image frames are used to produce video. A related display resolution is 1080p, which also has 1080 lines of resolution; the "p" refers to progressive scan, which indicates that the lines of resolution for each frame are "drawn" on the screen in sequence.


title: 1080i

text: The term assumes a widescreen aspect ratio of (a rectangular TV that is wider than it is tall), so the 1080 lines of vertical resolution implies 1920 columns of horizontal resolution, or 1920 pixels × 1080 lines. A 1920 pixels × 1080 lines screen has a total of 2.1 megapixels (2.1 million pixels) and a temporal resolution of 50 or 60 interlaced fields per second. This format is used in the SMPTE 292M standard.


title: 1080i

text: Within the designation "1080i", the "i" stands for interlaced scan. A frame of 1080i video consists of two sequential fields of 1920 horizontal and 540 vertical pixels. The first field consists of all even-numbered TV lines and the second all odd numbered lines. Consequently, the horizontal lines of pixels in each field are captured and displayed with a one-line vertical gap between them, so the lines of the next field can be interlaced between them, resulting in 1080 total lines.


title: 1080i

text: 1080i differs from 1080p, where the "p" stands for progressive scan, where all lines in a frame are captured at the same time. In "native" or "pure" 1080i, the two fields of a frame correspond to different instants (points in time), so motion portrayal is good (50 or 60 motion phases/second). This is true for interlaced video in general and can be easily observed in still images taken of fast motion scenes. However, when 1080p material is captured at 25 or 30 "frames"/second, it is converted to 1080i at 50 or 60 "fields"/second, respectively, for processing or broadcasting. In this situation both fields in a frame do correspond to the same instant. The field-to-instant relation is somewhat more complex for the case of 1080p at 24 "frames"/second converted to 1080i at 60 "fields"/second; see telecine.


title: 1080i

text: The field rate of 1080i is typically 60 Hz (i.e., 60 fields per second) for countries that use or used System M (NTSC and Brazilian PAL-M) as analog television system with 60 fields/sec (such as United States, Canada, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Philippines), or 50 Hz for regions that use or used 625-lines (PAL or SECAM) television system with 50 fields/sec (such as most of Europe, most of Africa, China, India, Australia, New Zealand, Middle East, and others). Both field rates can be carried by major digital television broadcast formats such as ATSC, DVB, and ISDB-T International. The frame rate can be implied by the context, while the field rate is generally specified after the letter i, such as "1080i60". In this case 1080i60 refers to 60 fields per second. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) prefers to use the resolution and "frame rate" (not field rate) separated by a slash, as in "1080i/30" and "1080i/25", likewise 480i/30 and 576i/25. Resolutions of 1080i60 or 1080i50 often refers to 1080i/30 or 1080i/25 in EBU notation.


title: 1080i

text: 1080i is directly compatible with some CRT HDTVs on which it can be displayed natively in interlaced form, but for display on progressive-scan—e.g., most new LCD and plasma TVs, it must be deinterlaced. Depending on the television's video processing capabilities, the resulting video quality may vary, but may not necessarily suffer. For example, film material at 25fps may be deinterlaced from 1080i50 to restore a full 1080p resolution at the original frame rate without any loss. Preferably video material with 50 or 60 motion phases/second is to be converted to 50p or 60p before display.


title: 1080i

text: Worldwide, most HD channels on satellite and cable broadcast in 1080i. In the United States, 1080i is the preferred format for most broadcasters, with Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount Global, and Comcast owned networks broadcasting in the format, along with most smaller broadcasters. Only Fox- and Disney-owned television networks, along with MLB Network and a few other cable networks, use 720p as the preferred format for their networks; A+E Networks channels converted from 720p to 1080i sometime in 2013 due to acquired networks already transmitting in the 1080i format. Many ABC affiliates owned by Hearst Television and former Belo Corporation stations owned by TEGNA, along with some individual affiliates of those three networks, air their signals in 1080i and upscale network programming for master control and transmission purposes, as most syndicated programming and advertising is produced and distributed in 1080i/p, removing a downscaling step to 720p. This also allows local newscasts on these ABC affiliates to be produced in the higher resolution (especially for weather forecasting presentation purposes for map clarity) to match the picture quality of their 1080i competitors.


title: 1080i

text: Some cameras and broadcast systems that use 1080 vertical lines per frame do not actually use the full 1920 pixels of a nominal 1080i picture for image capture and encoding. Common subsampling ratios include 3/4 (resulting in 1440x1080i frame resolution) and 1/2 (resulting in 960x1080i frame resolution). Where used, the lower horizontal resolution is scaled to capture or display a full-sized picture. Using half horizontal resolution and only one field of each frame (possibly with added anti-alias filtering or progressive capture) results in the format known as qHD, which has frame resolution 960x540 and 30 or 25 frames per second. Due to the chosen 16x16 pixel size for a compressed video packet known as a "macroblock" as used in ITU H.261 to H.264 video standards, a 1080-line video must be encoded as 1088 lines and cropped to 1080 by the de-compressor. The 720-line video format divides perfectly by 16 and therefore does not require any lines to be wasted.


title: Dominatrix

text: A dominatrix (; ) or femdom is a woman who takes the dominant role in BDSM activities. A dominatrix can be of any sexual orientation, but this does not necessarily limit the genders of her submissive partners. Dominatrices are known for inflicting physical pain on their submissive subjects, but this is not done in every case. In some instances erotic humiliation is used, such as verbal humiliation or the assignment of humiliating tasks. Dominatrices also make use of other forms of servitude. A dominatrix is typically a paid professional ("pro-domme") as the term "dominatrix" is little-used within the non-professional BDSM scene.


title: Dominatrix

text: "Dominatrix" is the feminine form of the Latin "dominator", a ruler or lord, and was originally used in a non-sexual sense. Its use in English dates back to at least 1561. Its earliest recorded use in the prevalent modern sense, as a female dominant in sadomasochism, dates to 1961. It was initially coined to describe a woman who provides punishment-for-pay as one of the case studies within Bruce Roger's pulp paperback "The Bizarre Lovemakers". The term was taken up shortly after by the Myron Kosloff title "Dominatrix" (with art by Eric Stanton) in 1968, and entered more popular mainstream knowledge following the 1976 film "Dominatrix Without Mercy".


title: Dominatrix

text: The term "domme" is likely a coined pseudo-French feminine inflection of the slang "dom" (short for "dominant"). The use of "domme", "dominatrix", "dom", or "dominant" by any woman in a dominant role is chosen mostly by personal preference and the conventions of the local BDSM scene. The term mistress or dominant mistress is sometimes also used. Female dominance (also known as female domination or femdom) is a BDSM activity in which the dominant partner is female. However, while the term "mistress" is often used in the media, members of the BDSM community often avoid it, as it can be confused with "mistress" in the sense of a woman who has an illicit relationship with a married man, a term which has the negative implication of cheating on a partner. Since there is a large overlap between the BDSM and polyamory communities, where ethical conduct is a prime concern, any such relationship is a source of disapproval.


title: Dominatrix

text: Although the term "dominatrix" was not used, the classic example in literature of the female dominant-male submissive relationship is portrayed in the 1870 novella "Venus in Furs" by Austrian writer Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. The term "masochism" was later derived from the author's name by Richard von Krafft-Ebing in the latter's 1886 forensic study "Psychopathia Sexualis".


title: Dominatrix

text: The history of the dominatrix is argued to date back to rituals of the Goddess Inanna (or Ishtar as she was known in Akkadian), in ancient Mesopotamia. Ancient cuneiform texts consisting of "Hymns to Inanna" have been cited as examples of the archetype of powerful, sexual female displaying dominating behaviors and forcing gods and men into submission to her. Archaeologist and historian Anne O. Nomis notes that Inanna's rituals included cross-dressing of cult personnel, and rituals "imbued with pain and ecstasy, bringing about initiation and journeys of altered consciousness; punishment, moaning, ecstasy, lament and song, participants exhausting themselves with weeping and grief."


title: Dominatrix

text: The tale of Phyllis and Aristotle, which became popular and gained numerous versions from the 12th century onwards, tells the story of a dominant woman who seduced and dominated the male intellect of the greatest philosopher. In the story, Phyllis forces Aristotle to kneel on the ground so that she rides on his back while whipping and verbally humiliating him.


title: Dominatrix

text: The profession appears to have originated as a specialization within brothels, before becoming its own unique craft. As far back as the 1590s, flagellation within an erotic setting is recorded. The profession features in erotic prints of the era, such as the British Museum mezzotint "The Cully Flaug'd" (c. 1674–1702), and in accounts of forbidden books which record the flogging schools and the activities practised.


title: Dominatrix

text: Within the 18th century, female "Birch Disciplinarians" advertised their services in a book masked as a collection of lectures or theatrical plays, entitled "Fashionable Lectures" (c. 1761). This included the names of 57 women, some actresses and courtesans, who catered to birch discipline fantasies, keeping a room with rods and cat o' nine tails, and charging their clients a Guinea for a "lecture".


title: Dominatrix

text: The 19th century is characterised by what historian Anne O. Nomis characterises as the "Golden Age of the Governess". No fewer than twenty establishments were documented as having existed by the 1840s, supported entirely by flagellation practices and known as "Houses of Discipline" distinct from brothels. Amongst the well-known "dominatrix governesses" were Mrs Chalmers, Mrs Noyeau, the late Mrs Jones of Hertford Street and London Street, the late Mrs Theresa Berkley, Bessy Burgess of York Square and Mrs Pyree of Burton Cres. The most famous of these Governess "female flagellants" was Theresa Berkley, who operated her establishment on Charlotte Street in the central London district of Marylebone. She is recorded to have used implements such as whips, canes and birches, to chastise and punish her male clients, as well as the Berkley Horse, a specially designed flogging machine, and a pulley suspension system for lifting them off the floor. Such historical use of corporal punishment and suspension, in a setting of domination roleplay, connects very closely to the practices of modern-day professional dominatrices.


title: Dominatrix

text: The "bizarre style" (as it came to be called) of leather catsuits, claws, tail whips, and latex rubber only came about in the 20th century, initially within commercial fetish photography, and taken up by dominatrices. Within the mid-20th century, dominatrices operated in a very discreet and underground manner, which has made them difficult to trace within the historical record. A few photographs still exist of the women who ran their domination businesses in London, New York, The Hague and Hamburg's Herbertstraße, predominantly in sepia and black-and-white photographs, and scans from magazine articles, copied and re-copied. Amongst these were Miss Doreen of London who was acquainted with John Sutcliffe of "AtomAge" fame, whose clients reportedly included Britain's top politicians and businessmen. In New York, the dominatrix Anne Laurence was known within the underground circle of acquaintances during the 1950s, with Monique Von Cleef arriving in the early 1960s, and hitting national headlines when her home was raided by police detectives on 22 December 1965. Von Cleef went on to set up her "House of Pain" in The Hague in the 1970s, which became one of the world capitals for dominatrices, reportedly with visiting lawyers, ambassadors, diplomats and politicians. Domenica Niehoff worked as a dominatrix in Hamburg and appeared on talk shows on German television from the 1970s onwards, campaigning for sex workers' rights. Mistress Raven, founder and manager of Pandora's Box, one of New York's best known BDSM studios, was featured in Nick Broomfield's 1996 documentary film "Fetishes".


title: Dominatrix

text: The term "dominatrix" is mostly used to describe a female professional dominant (or "pro-domme") who is paid to engage in BDSM play with a submissive. Professional dominatrices are not prostitutes, despite the sensual and erotic interactions she has. An appointment or roleplay is referred to as a "session", and is often conducted in a dedicated professional play space which has been set up with specialist equipment, known as a "dungeon". Sessions may also be conducted remotely by letter or telephone, or in the contemporary era of technological connectivity by email, online chat or platforms such as OnlyFans. Most, but not all, clients of female professional dominants are men. Male professional dominants also exist, catering predominantly to the gay male market.


title: Dominatrix

text: Women who engage in female domination typically promote and title themselves under the terms "dominatrix", "mistress", "lady", "madame", "herrin" or "goddess". In a study of German dominatrices, Andrew Wilson said that the trend for dominatrices choosing names aimed at creating and maintaining an atmosphere in which class, femininity and mystery are key elements of their self-constructed identity.


title: Dominatrix

text: Some professional dominatrices set minimum age limits for their clients. Popular requests from clients are for dungeon play including bondage, spanking and cock and ball torture, or for medical play using hoods, gas masks and urethral sounding. Verbal erotic humiliation, such as small penis humiliation, is also popular. There are some professional dominatrices that engage in sexual contact activities such as facesitting, handjobs or fellatio but others disapprove of this. It is not unusual for a dominatrix to consider her profession different from that of an escort and not perform tie and tease or "happy endings". Typically professional dominatrices do not have sexual intercourse with their clients, do not become naked with their clients and do not allow their clients to touch them. The Canadian dominatrix Terri-Jean Bedford, who was one of three women who initiated an application in the Ontario Superior Court seeking invalidation of Canada's laws regarding brothels, sought to differentiate for clarity her occupation as a dominatrix rather than a prostitute to the media, due to frequent misunderstanding and conflation by the public of the two terms.


title: Dominatrix

text: That being said, it is now generally accepted that a professional dominatrix is a sex worker, and many of the acts conducted during a session may be interpreted as equally sexual to the participants.


title: Dominatrix

text: While dominatrices come from many different backgrounds, it has been shown that a considerable number are well-educated. Research into US dominatrices published in 2012 indicated that 39% of the sample studied had received some sort of graduate training.


title: Dominatrix

text: A 1985 study suggested that about 30 percent of participants in BDSM subculture were female. A 1994 report indicated that around a quarter of the women who took part in BDSM subculture did so professionally. In a 1995 study of Internet discussion group messages, the preference for the dominant-initiator role was expressed by 11% of messages by heterosexual women, compared to 71% of messages by heterosexual men.


title: Dominatrix

text: Professional dominatrices can be seen advertising their services online and in print publications which carry erotic services advertising, such as contact magazines and fetish magazines that specialise in female domination. The precise number of women actively offering professional domination services is unknown. Most professional dominatrices practice in large metropolitan cities such as New York, Los Angeles, and London, with as many as 200 women working as dominatrices in Los Angeles.


title: Dominatrix

text: Professional dominatrices may take pride or differentiation in their psychological insight into their clients' fetishes and desires, as well as their technical ability to perform complex BDSM practices, such as Japanese shibari, head-scissoring, and other forms of bondage, suspension, torture roleplay, and corporal punishment, and other such practices which require a high degree of knowledge and competency to safely oversee. From a sociological point of view, Danielle Lindemann has stated the "embattled purity regime" in which many pro-dommes emphasise their specialist knowledge and professional skills, while distancing themselves from economic criteria for success, in a way which is comparable to avant-garde artists.


title: Dominatrix

text: Some dominatrices practice financial domination, or findom, a fetish in which a submissive is aroused by sending money or gifts to a dominatrix at her instruction. In some cases the dominatrix is given control of the submissive's finances or a "blackmail" scenario is acted out. In the majority of cases the dominatrix and the submissive do not physically meet. The interactions are typically performed using the Internet, which is also where such services are advertised. Findom was originally a niche service that a traditional dominatrix would offer, but it has become popular with less-experienced online practitioners.


title: Dominatrix

text: To differentiate women who identify as a dominatrix but do not offer paid services, non-professional dominants are occasionally referred to as a "lifestyle" dominatrix or Mistress. The term "lifestyle" to signify BDSM is occasionally a contention topic in the BDSM community and that some dominatrices may dislike the term. Some professional dominatrices are also "lifestyle" dominatrices—i.e., in addition to paid sessions with submissive clients they engage in unpaid recreational sessions or may incorporate power exchange within their own private lives and relationships. However, the term has fallen out of general usage with respect to women who are dominant in their private relationships, and has taken on more and more, the connotation of "professional".


title: Dominatrix

text: Catherine Robbe-Grillet is a lifestyle dominatrix. Born in Paris on September 24, 1930, she then became France's most famous lifestyle dominatrix. She is also a writer and actress, the widow of nouveau roman pioneer and sadist Alain Robbe-Grillet. She currently lives with Beverly Charpentier, a 51-year-old South African woman who is her submissive companion. Although being such a famous dominatrix, she has never accepted payment for her "ceremonies". She's quoted as saying "If someone pays, then they are in charge. I need to remain free. It is important that everyone involved knows that I do it solely for my pleasure." "Catherine is my secret garden," Charpentier says. "I have given myself to her, body and soul. She does whatever she wants, whenever she wants, with either or both, according to her pleasure—and her pleasure is also my pleasure." Robbe-Grillet has been criticised for writing about S/M stories. She identifies as a "pro-sex feminist" and "the kind of feminist who supports the right of any man or women to work as a prostitute, if it is their free choice."


title: Dominatrix

text: Simone Justice is a BDSM educator who teaches Dommecraft based on her experience as a dominatrix and psychotherapist.


title: Dominatrix

text: Miss Lila Sage is an international dominatrix, hypnotherapist, and immersive experience producer. Sage is the creator and host of Fétische, a live theatrical experience and "BDSM tasting".