Jain festivals
Jain festivals occur on designated days of the year. Jain festivals are either related to life events of Tirthankara or they are performed with intention of purification of soul.
Festivals
There are many religious festivals in Jainism. Some of them are associated with five auspicious life events of Tirthankara known as Panch Kalyanaka. Jains celebrate many annual festivals. Many of the major festivals in Jainism fall in and around the chaomasa period of the calendar. It is the four-month monsoon period when the Jain ascetics are mandated to remain in residence at one place in the Jain tradition, rather than be traveling or going around Indian villages and towns and never staying in one place for more than a month. The chomasa period allows the four orders of the Jain community to be together and participate in the festive remembrances.Paryushana
Paryushana Parva is one of the most important festival for Jains. Paryusana is formed by two words meaning 'a year' and 'a coming back'. This festival comes in the months of Shravana and Bhadra. Śvetāmbara Jains celebrate it for eight-days while Digambara Jains celebrate it for ten days and their first day coincides with the eight day of Svetambara Jains. Digambara Paryushana Parva is commonly known as Das Lakshana Parva. It is a festival of repentance and forgiveness. Many Jains fast and carry out different religious activities. Jain monks stop walking during chaturmas and reside at one place where they lecture on various religious subjects during paryushana. This festival is believed to remove accumulated karma of the previous year and develop control over new accumulating new karma, by following Jain austerities and other rituals. There are regular rituals at the Jain temples. Discourses of Kalpa Sutra are given by monks. Kalpa Sutra describes life of Mahavira and other Tirthankaras. On the third day, procession of Kalpa Sutra is carried out. On the fifth day, auspicious dreams of Trishala, mother of Mahavira are demonstrated and after that birth of Mahavira is celebrated. The tenth day of festival is called Anant Chaturdashi. Anant Chaturdashi is the day when Lord Vasupujya attained moksha. Usually, a procession is taken out by Jains on this day. Kshamavani is generally observed a day after Anant Chaturdashi by digambaras, while the shwetambaras observe it after the 8th ie the last day of their paryushan.On Kshamavani, Jains ask for forgiveness from everybody for any acts during the previous year which may have hurt them.
Janma kalayanak
Mahavira was born on the thirteenth day of the bright half of the Jain calendar month of Chaitra, probably 599 BCE. It falls in March or April. This festival marks the birth of lord Mahavira. Procession is carried out and lectures on the message of Mahavira are presented. The idols of Mahavira are ceremonially bathed and rocked in a cradle. Events related to birth are also recited from sacred texts by monks.Akshaya Tritiya
In Jainism, Akshaya Tritiya is an important festival as it commemorates the first Tirthankara, Rishabhanatha, ending his 400-day-long fast by consuming sugarcane juice poured into his cupped hands. Śvetāmbara Jains perform a similar fast that lasts 400 days. This practice is popularly known as Varshitapa. Rishabhanatha renounced worldly pleasures and turned into a monk. Thereafter, he fasted for 400 days or six months. He did not accept food from lay followers as every time he was given food, it was not 'free of faults' as it should be for a Jain monk to accept. The 42 faults that food given to a Jain monk may have are discussed at length in the ancient Śvetāmbara text Ācārāṅga Sūtra.Ashtahnika Parv
This is a Jain festival celebrated for eight days three times a year in the months of Kartik, Falgun and Ashdah. It is celebrated from eighth day of Shukla Paksh till Purnima/Guru Purnima every year.Nandishwar Ashtahnika
The Nandishwara island is surrounded by three mountain ranges called the Anjana mountain, the Dadhimukha mountain, and the Ratikara mountain. Since human beings are unable to go to Nandishwar dweep they worship in temples. Jains Perform Special Pooja, SiddhChakra Vidhan, Nandishwar Vidhan and Mandal Vidhan..The word Ashta meaning eight and Aanika meaning every day. When the festival falls in the months of Aashad and Phalguna, then the ritual is known as Nandishwar Ashtahnika. This ritual helps to gain greater spiritual insight, and wisdom. The observance of this ritual brings wish fulfilment for the devotees.