Articles & Blog
35 articles
Paryushana Parva: Eight Days of the Soul
The most important festival for Svetambara Jains, Paryushana is an eight-day season of fasting, forgiveness and self-reflection that culmina...
Das Lakshana Parva and the Ten Virtues
For ten days the Digambara community contemplates the ten supreme virtues of the soul, one each day, in the festival that parallels Paryusha...
Samvatsari and the Grace of Michhami Dukkadam
On the concluding day of Paryushana, Jains everywhere perform annual confession and ask forgiveness of all beings with the words Michhami Du...
Mahavir Jayanti: Celebrating the Last Tirthankara
Mahavir Jayanti marks the birth of Lord Mahavira, the twenty-fourth Tirthankara, and is the most widely celebrated public festival of the Ja...
Diwali as Mahavira's Nirvana and the Jain New Year
For Jains, Diwali marks the final liberation of Lord Mahavira, and the following day of Bestu Varas opens a new year in his memory.
Kartik Purnima and the Pilgrimage Season
The full moon of Kartika closes the four-month monastic retreat and opens the pilgrimage season, drawing devotees to sacred hills such as Pa...
Jnan Panchami: The Festival of Knowledge
Also called Gyan Panchami, this day honours right knowledge, the scriptures that preserve it, and the duty to study and safeguard sacred lea...
Maun Ekadashi: The Vow of Silence
On this day devotees keep silence and fasting, honouring a great cluster of auspicious events in the lives of the Tirthankaras across the ag...
Akshaya Tritiya and the Breaking of Varshi Tap
This auspicious spring day recalls Rishabhanatha's first alms of sugarcane juice and is when observers of the year-long Varshi Tap break the...
Varshi Tap: The Year-Long Austerity
Varshi Tap is a demanding fast maintained for more than a year in imitation of Rishabhanatha, a supreme test of devotion and self-mastery.
Navpad Oli: Nine Days of the Siddhachakra
Twice each year Jains observe nine days of Ayambil fasting in honour of the nine supreme entities represented in the Siddhachakra.
Chaturmas: The Four-Month Monastic Retreat
During the rainy season Jain monks and nuns halt their wandering and settle in one place, a period of intensified teaching and lay devotion.