Adverse health risks to religious groups during heatwaves

The boreal summer of 2024 has unusually affected the health of people in India. The number of cases of heat stroke rose across the nation and stakeholders issued warnings to prevent health problems and deaths from the heat. The effect was felt more in those states that usually have higher temperatures and dry weathers, such as Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. Normally, government and non-government stakeholders target interventions towards marginalized populations and economically weaker sections (a category of people in India who have an annual family income of less than 800,000 rupees) to reduce the health impact of heat. In 2024, a group of individuals including Jain monks were affected by the heatwaves in the western states of India.

Jainism is one of the world’s oldest religions, more than 2,500 years old, with a small following mainly in India. The Jain monks live a spartan life surviving on basic necessities, and keep travelling from village to village throughout their lives. They follow certain religious restrictions that make them vulnerable to heat-related illnesses. Summer is the time when the monks move across the states on foot to reach a specific place where they will spend the next four months of monsoon. They start walking barefoot in the early morning, aiming to reach a nearby resting place by midday. They plan their travel to reach a pre-decided religious site by March before the peak summer starts. But at times it is difficult if the journey is to another state where they have to travel hundreds of kilometres on foot. Jain monks do not use vehicles, footwear, electricity or electronic gadgets. Efforts are made to avoid wheelchairs unless they are extremely weak. The monks collect food from different homes following specific preconditions, including no mobile phone use. These conditions lead to visiting higher numbers of homes for food and water. During the summer, when the need for water increases, monks must go out barefoot to collect water more often than usual.