The petition
Explantory Notes
We in Western countries should find a way out to resolve the confusion and different sects celebrating Paryushan on different dates. We need a radical approach.
Paryushan should start on the last Saturday of August and end on the first Saturday of September. There are two advantages. (a) It is a holiday period (b) Mahavir Jayanti can be celebrated on second day which is Sunday. Parna (breaking of fast) would fall on Sunday as well. If we all agrees there will be no dispute on loss or extra tithi.
After all there is no specific monsoon season here and there are no monks here who would count the days of their monsoon sojourn. Stahankvasis and Deravasis would perform on same dates irrespective of Hindu/Jain calendar.
This approach would not apply to Digambar sect.
Explanatory Notes from Dr VINOD KAPASHI
The views portrayed are my personal views but we do need to think hard to end the confusion for our future generation for the Pajushyran ritual . The article attempts to simplify the complex Hindu/Jain calendar and explains reasons behind the different tithis (dates).
If we want to end the confusion for once and all some radical decisions will have to be made. But let me explain the background of our Paryushan celebration and dates.
We do have a proper Jain Agamic calendar (Jain Panchang) but it is not being used now because the vast majority in India use Hinu Panchang and therefore we have also adopted Hindu Panchang with some Jain modifications.
Hindu Panchang is based on Lunar movement. It is based on the position of the Moon (Moon phase) at the time of Sunrise. The cities on different latitudes will have different Sunrise time and hence different Moon phases. So the Hindus do not have one unique Lunisolar calendar among all Hindus through out India or through out the world but different cities have different Hindu Lunisolar calendars. However, this was not practical for the Jains to have different Jain calendars for different cities of India. Hence, probably around 1500 years ago, the Jain Ächäryas decided to use the Hindu calendar of the city of Jodhapur (Candasucand calendar), Rajasthan (India), as a basis to create a new Jain calendar.
In the Hindu calendar the day begins at Sunrise. Several times in a year a condition occurs that the same Tithi or ‘date’ (Moon phase does not change more than 12 degree) may exist between two consecutive Sunrises. This is called Vriddhi (double or extra added) Tithi. Similarly a situation occurs that one Tithi does not touch any Sunrise at all. This is known as Kshaya (loss, omitted Tithi. This happens because the duration of each Tithi varies between 22 hours and 26 hours and the duration between the two consecutive Sunrises is about 24 hours.
Changes made to the Hindu Calendar:
Parva Tithis (Pious Days)
Jain Ächäryas have defined Tithis; 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, and 15 as pious or Parva Tithis (days) in both bright half and dark half of the Moon cycles of every month. People take special vows and perform various penances (Ärädhanä) on these days. To fulfill their Ärädhanä without any interruptions of Kshaya (omitted) extra) or Vriddhi (added) Tithi, the ancient Jain literature has made their own rules so that any of the above pious tithis would not come as kshaya tithi or vriddhi tithi.
(1) In case of Kshaya (omitted) Tithi, previous Tithi should be considered as Parva Tithi
(2) In case of Vriddhi (added) Tithi, the 2nd Tithi should be considered as Parva Tithi.
Paryushan Parva and Samvatsari Day
According to Jain Ägam literature, the history of Paryushan Parva is more than 2000 years old. However there is no clear indication of the actual number of Paryushan Parva days and the exact Tithi of Samvatsari day. According to Kalpa sutra only a day of Samvatsari is called Paryushan.
The Jain tradition indicates that monks can not stay at one place for more than 30 days. However during the four months of the rainy season, from Ashadha Sud 15 to Kärtik Sud 15, they must stay at one place to minimize violence that would occur in traveling during the rainy season.
The monks are required to find a suitable place to stay at one place for the rainy season by Ashädh Sud 15 (which is the last day of the Jain Ägamic calendar year and also before the beginning of the rainy season), perform annual Samvatsari Pratikraman. If the monks can not find the suitable place by Ashädh Sud 15 then they may continue to travel to find the suitable place for and up to 50 days (grace period). They must find a place and settle during this time period and then do Samvatsari Pratikraman. Even if they do not find the suitable place during these 50 days, they must still do the Samvatsari Pratikraman under a tree on the 50th day but not to violate the 50 day limit for Samvatsari Pratikraman. The 50th day from Ashädh Sud 15 falls on Bhadarva Sud 5.
Since Bhädarvä Sud 5 was the last day for Samvatsari Pratikraman, it seems that to keep Jain community united and properly organized, probably around the 7th to 10th century time period Jain Ächäryas may have decided to do Samvatsari Pratikraman only on Bhadarva Sud 5. Before that one may conclude from the ancient literature that monks may be doing Samvatsari Pratikraman any time between Ashädh Sud 15 and Bhadarva Sud 5 and the common people joined with the monks for the Samvatsari Pratikraman.
Change of Samvatsari Day from Bhadarva Sud 5 to 4:
The Ächärya Kalkasoori changed the day and brought it a day earlier because the king of the town could only attend the ceremony on 4th day. So to accommodate the king’s request he changed the Samvatsari Pratikraman Tithi to Bhadarva Sud 4 (one day earlier) for that year and the King agreed. Why that day is still followed is not clear but Jains may have thought that to make sure that 50 day period is not violated, it was advisable to do a day earlier.
This gave rise to a new problem. The clear solution is not defined in the Jain literature. Also these types of the problems were not visible in old times because people at various towns may have been doing Samvatsari Pratikraman anytime between Ashädh Sud 15 and Bhadarva Sud 4 or 5 (when monks decide to stay during the rainy season).
However the first time the problem surfaced was in the year 1896 (Hindu year 1952). A Kshaya Tithi of Bhadarva Sud 5 occurred in Jodhapur Hindu calendar. Jain Ächäryas did not agree with the change based on the Jodhapur Hindu calendar. They insisted that we should observe Samvatsari as per our own interpretation. ie two separate days depending on whose interpretation you follow.
For the past 110 years, since 1896 (Hindu year 1952) to 2005 (Hindu year 2061), twelve times Bhadarva Sud 5 was either Kshaya Tithi or Vriddhi Tithi in the Hindu calendar.
In all of the above years, the Shvetämbar Jain Murtipujak community was divided in India and performed Samvatsari Pratikraman on two separate days. To resolve this problem, Jain Ächäryas, other learned monks and/or laymen had about 9 major conferences from 1920 to 1988 (Hindu year 1976 to 2044). The matter was not resolved.
Samvatsari Day in Sthänakaväsi and Teräpanthi Jain sects:
The Sthänakaväsi Jain sect was established around 14th century and the Teräpanthi sect was separated from Sthänakaväsi sect around 16th century. Both the sects probably follow the same process for their Jain calendar as used by the Shvetämbar Murtipujaks. They have continued to use Jodhapur Hindu calendar as their base. However with regards to Paryushan and Samvatsari day celebration, they follow the following rules. Hence they print their calendar as follows:
They decided to do Samvatsari on the 50th day from Ashadha Sud 15 as defined in the Jain Ägam literature. Hence in a normal year (no Vriddhi months of Shrävan or Bhädarvä) they celebrate Samvatsari on Bhädarvä Sud 5 which is one day later than the Murtipujak sect and hence they start Paryushan one day later.
If a particular leap year has either Shrävan or Bhädarvä month as a Vriddhi month then Samvatsari is celebrated one month earlier because they decided not to violate the 50 day limit from Ashädh Sud 15 as defined in the scriptures.
Kshamäväni (Forgiveness) Day in Digambar Jain sect:
Digambar Jains celebrate Paryushan / Das Laxan Parva for 10 days starting from Bhadarva Sud 5. They celebrate one virtue on each day. The first day is dedicated to forgiveness (Kshamäväni) and it is the most important day of their religious ceremony.
Summary
From the Jain literature survey one can conclude that in the ancient time - Bhadarva Sud 5, the last day for Samvatsari Pratikraman was the most pious day for both Shvetämbar as well as Digambar sects. The Jains of all sects were celebrating it forgiveness day and this day was dedicated as a day of Ahimsa (Nonviolence). Later the Shvetämbar Murtipujak (Tapa-gachchha) sect changed this day after Ächärya Kälak’s time.
It is the desire of every Jain person to see that all Jains celebrate Samvatsari / Forgiveness on the same day avoiding confusion and projecting unity. This way we can collectively start the movement to stop slaughtering animals on Samvatsari day and other similar movements for compassion and non-violence.
It seems that Jains in India find it difficult to compromise on this issue. Shvetämbar Murtipujak Jains have tried 9 times over the past 110 years period and have not been able to resolve the problem among themselves, which is not a real problem to begin with (Tithis in the present Jain calendar are derived from Hindu calendar of Jodhapur or Mumbai area based on the Sunrise time).
Recommendations:-
We in Western countries should find a way out to resolve the confusion and different sects celebrating Paryushan on different dates.
We can consider one of the following three points:
(1) Let us be radical in our approach. After all there is no specific monsoon season here and there are no monks here who would count the days of their monsoon sojourn. One idea, I put forward long time ago is this:- Paryushan to start on the last Saturday of August and end on the first Saturday of September. There are two advantages. (a) It is a holiday period (b) Mahavir Jayanti can be celebrated on second day which is Sunday. Parna (breaking of fast) would fall on Sunday as well. If all agrees there will be no dispute on loss or extra tithi. Stahankvasis and Deravasis would perform on same dates irrespective of Hindu/Jain calendar.
(2) We in Western countries can celebrate alternately every year as per Sthanakvasi or Deravasi dates. This may cause some problems to ‘Deravasi’ only organisations like Oshwal Association and they may not agree. Those who serve both Sthanakvasis and Deravasis may not mind to this proposal. In fact some organisations are already following this pattern.
(3) Do nothing and carry on with India’s dates. This way we will have problems with different dates from time to time. There may be some misunderstandings between people and between organisations too. When Deravasis do Parna ( break the fast), Sthanakvasis would do last day’s pratikraman. Some organisations have members from both Stahanakvasi and Deravasi community. Navnat Vanik Association and Jain Samaj Europe do both Sthanakvasi and Deravasi Pratikraman and therefore they follow alternate dates. Oshwals, Navyug Pragati Mandal and Mahavir Foundation do only Deravasi Pratikraman and majority of their members wish to follow Deravasi dates only.
There is no clear, 100% satisfactory solution to any of the problems. However we all can meet early next year and try to find a way out.
Micchami Dukkadam
(My thanks to Pravinbhai Shah of JAINA for providing some info.)
VINOD Kapashi
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