Paryushana and the Day of Forgiveness

Paryushana is the most sacred and most intensely observed period in the Jain year. Its name is commonly taken to mean abiding and coming together. Some teachers also explain it as the burning away of karma from every side. It falls in the month of Bhadrapada, usually in August or September. It is not a single day of celebration. It is an extended pause from ordinary life, given to listening, fasting, self-examination and the renewal of the five great vows of non-violence, truth, non-stealing, chastity and non-attachment.

A companion article, Paryushan Parva: The Jain Festival of Forgiveness, looks closely at the ten virtues and at the words of forgiveness. This article looks at the season as a whole, from its setting in the rains to the closing day of reconciliation.

Paryushana belongs to the rainy season, when Jain monks and nuns do not travel. The rains bring countless tiny beings to the surface of the earth, and walking from village to village would crush them. Jain mendicants therefore settle in one place for the monsoon months. Laypeople use the same time to draw close to them, to hear their teaching and to take on vows they could not keep in busier seasons. In this way a rule born of non-violence becomes a season of spiritual nearness.

Among the Svetambara Jains the central scripture of these days is the Kalpa Sutra, traditionally ascribed to Acharya Bhadrabahu. It contains the lives of the Tirthankaras, above all Parshvanatha and Mahavira, together with the lineages of the teachers who followed them. In Svetambara practice the reading begins on the fourth day and the account of Mahavira's birth is recited on the fifth. Some groups read the Antagada Sutra in its place. That text tells of ninety people who attained liberation.

Tradition holds that even to hear the words of the Kalpa Sutra, without grasping their meaning, can transform the listener. The oldest surviving copies date from the fourteenth century, and many were illustrated with fine miniature paintings in western India. The community listens together, and the recitation is felt to be an act of worship as much as instruction.

The two major Jain traditions keep the season in different forms. The Svetambaras observe eight days, ending with Samvatsari. The Digambaras observe ten days known as Das Lakshana Parva, beginning on Bhadrapada Shukla Panchami. On each day they reflect on one of the ten virtues listed in the Tattvartha Sutra 9.6. These are forgiveness, humility, straightforwardness, purity, truthfulness, restraint, austerity, renunciation, non-attachment and chastity.

Both paths share the same aim. They ask the layperson to treat the days as a rehearsal of the monastic life, with less food, less speech, less business and more attention to the soul.

Fasting in Paryushana covers a wide range of discipline. Many lay Jains keep to boiled water taken between sunrise and sunset, and some fast for many days in a row. Others take a single meal each day, or the plain Ayambil meal without oil, spices or salt. Nobody is judged by the length of the fast. Each person sets a measure that their health allows.

The year-long Varshitap fast is a different discipline and is not part of Paryushana. It is described in its own article on this site.

Each evening brings Pratikramana, a formal review of the day's thoughts, words and deeds in which faults are named and released. Days are filled with scripture reading, meditation, temple worship and charity. Households simplify their meals and put aside trade, entertainment and display.

The season closes with forgiveness. The Svetambaras observe Samvatsari on Bhadrapada Shukla Chaturthi, the last day of their eight days. Samvatsari means the annual day. On this day a Pratikramana is made for the sins of the entire year. The Digambaras keep Kshamavani on the first day of the following fortnight, after their ten days are complete.

In the Pratikramana, the worshipper recites the Prakrit verse that begins "khamemi savve jive". It means, "I forgive all beings, may all beings forgive me, I have friendship with all and enmity with none." People then turn to one another with the words Micchami Dukkadam, which ask that any wrong done, knowingly or unknowingly, be made fruitless. The words are offered by the young to the old and by the old to the young. They are offered to friends, relatives and strangers, in person and by letter or message. The festival teaches that real non-violence begins with a heart cleared of grudges.