Source: The Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-jain-fast-15-sep15,0,745050.story
For more than a month, the only thing Eva Mehta put in her body was water, and never after dark.
At times, the 17-year-old was so weak and nauseated that her parents had to use a wheelchair to bring her from their van to their Jain temple in Bartlett. When the hunger pangs hit hard, she would pinch her ears. But she kept up her fast, even when she went to bed hungry and dreamed of food.
"I would just say in my mind, 'No, it's not real. I just won't eat it. I'm not going to eat this until I'm done fasting,' " she said.
Her fast ended Sept. 3 after 34 days. By then the 5-foot-4 Evanston teen had lost 33 pounds, her weight dropping to 119.
Chicago-area Jains rejoiced at her feat. Members of the ancient Indian religion fast every year in honor of the festival of Paryushan Parva. They regard fasting as a spiritual discipline, a way to remove bad karma and bring blessings to a person strong enough to survive for days or weeks on nothing but water.
Thousands of other local members fasted during this festival, including 44 people who did not eat for periods of 8 to 16 days, according to the Jain Society of Metropolitan Chicago, the Bartlett temple.
But Mehta's fast stands as a temple record, a triumph of discipline and devotion, say Jain leaders, who plan to hold a celebration Saturday at the Bartlett temple for Mehta and others who fasted.