Shwetambar
Paryushan Parva
Daily pravachan and meditation, and a simplified diet — many drop potatoes, onions, garlic and all green vegetables, and some live on grains, pulses and dairy. From the fourth day the Kalpa Sutra is taken up and read through, ending with the Barsa Sutra recited unbroken on the last day. On the fifth day comes Svapna Darshan: models of the fourteen auspicious dreams are suspended from the ceiling, the Janma Vanchan is read, arati is performed, and boli — auctions — are held, the most expensive being the right to take the infant-Mahavir cradle home for the last three days. Fasts range from attham, three days, to atthai, all eight on boiled water. The parana is ceremonial: those who have fasted do not touch food themselves but are fed by friends and family. It ends with the Samvatsari Pratikraman.
- Shwetambar
- kept by
- Eight days
- how long
- 8–15 September 2026
- when it falls
Which traditions keep it
Kept by all three Shwetambar branches — Murtipujak, Sthanakavasi and Terapanth. Digambars do not keep Paryushan; their annual parva is Das Lakshan, which begins the day Paryushan ends. The two are separate observances, not two names for one.
What is done
Daily pravachan and meditation, and a simplified diet — many drop potatoes, onions, garlic and all green vegetables, and some live on grains, pulses and dairy. From the fourth day the Kalpa Sutra is taken up and read through, ending with the Barsa Sutra recited unbroken on the last day. On the fifth day comes Svapna Darshan: models of the fourteen auspicious dreams are suspended from the ceiling, the Janma Vanchan is read, arati is performed, and boli — auctions — are held, the most expensive being the right to take the infant-Mahavir cradle home for the last three days. Fasts range from attham, three days, to atthai, all eight on boiled water. The parana is ceremonial: those who have fasted do not touch food themselves but are fed by friends and family. It ends with the Samvatsari Pratikraman.
What we could not verify
Listed rather than left out. On a page about religious practice, a confident sentence we cannot support does more harm than a stated gap.
- Terapanth dates for 2026
- We could not find them published by a Terapanth body. Please take them from abtyp.org or your own sabha rather than from us.
- Chaityaparipati on a fixed Paryushan day
- The temple circuit is widely kept during Paryushan, but we could not confirm from an institutional source that it is fixed to a particular day, so we do not say which.
Tell us if this is wrong
We have shown our sources and said where they disagree. If you know this to be wrong, or you have a printed vidhi or a panchang that settles it, please tell us — we will correct it and credit you.
AboutTerapanth dates for 2026
Sources
Where this came from
Graded, so you can weigh a claim rather than take it on trust.
- JAINpedia — ParyusanInstitutional or scholarly
- Harvard Pluralism Project — Paryushana and the Festival of ForgivenessInstitutional or scholarly
- Melbourne Shwetambar Jain SanghCommunity source
Three sites that rank highly for Jain festival and ritual searches — jainknowledge.com, jaingpt.org and grokipedia — are AI-generated. Nothing on this site is sourced from them, and nothing should be.
