Paryushana - Sacred Jain festival of self-control

Paryushana, one of the most important (and under-rated) festivals of the jainis, marks the staying of monks at one place during the rainy season. Originally derived from a parakrit word spelled as "Pajjosavana",Paryushana has more than one meanings, all of which give an essence native to Jain thought and culture. The 'different' meanings are :

1.Pari (All kinds)+ ushana(fire) - This means to sacrifice all kinds of passions and fires within. These fires can relate to the ones manifesting on the outer level (like hunger), or the ones laying deep inside our consciousness, like anger, greed, lies, retaliation, etc.

2. The second meaning of 'ushan' is to stay close, so Pari(all kinds) + ushan(stay close) means to stay close in all possible ways and angles. But stay close with who? The soul. For this, there is an importance of  "swadhyaya" or self-study and meditation.

3. Pari(all kinds) + upshamanä (suppress) means to suppress all kinds of passion within us. 

4. Another meaning as told by some people is "abiding". Most probably abiding to strict rules of tolerance , tolerance both from outer and inner disturbances that do not let us do the soul-searching in our 'normal' life.


Paryushana must be initiated by panchami (the fifth day) of the shukla paksha phase of Bhadra.  Svetämbars[4] (one of the major two Jain sects) celebrate eight days of Paryushan and the last day is called Samvatsari. Digambars[5] celebrate Dash-Lakshanä Parva for ten days starting on the last day of Shvetämbar Paryushan.  Each of the 10 virtues practised are:

1. Kshamä

2. Forgiveness

Märdava

Humility

3. Ärjava

Straightforwardness

4. Shaucha

contentment - absence of greed

5. Satya

Truth

6. Samyam

restraint of all senses

7. Tapa

Austerities

8. Tyäg

Charity

9. Äkinchan

non-possessiveness

10. Brahmacharya

Celibacy

- See more at: http://www.4remedy.com/fast_details.php?id=Paryushan%20and%20Das%20Lakshana%20Parva#sthash.2A75Q0Qm.dpuf

 1. Uttama Kshama (उत्तम क्षमा) - Supreme forgiveness. Jain saints believe that asking for forgiveness is one of the most difficult task, asin this verse:
“Kshamä Viram Bhushanam, Kshamäväni Michchhä Mi Dukkadam” - To ask for forgiveness is a great quality of the brave ones and if I have committed any mistake, knowingly or unknowingly, I ask for your forgiveness. It is this believed that if a monk can humbly ask for forgiveness, then the strength of his soul increases. But here forgiveness includes both forgiving others and asking of forgiveness as is evident in this verse:

Khämemi Savve Jivä, Savve Jivä Khamantu Mi

Mitti Me Savva bhuesu, Veram majjham na Kenai.

Meaning: I forgive all the living beings of the universe, and may all the living-beings forgive me for my faults. I do not have any animosity towards anybody, and I have friendship for all living beings.

 2. Uttama mardava (उत्तम मार्दव) -Supreme humility or the the quality of having a modest or low view of one's importance.)
 3. Uttama aarjava (उत्तम आर्जव) - Supreme straight-forewardness
 4. Uttama Shaucha (Contentment or Purity) - To keep the body, mind and speech pure by discarding greed.
 5. Uttama satya (उत्तम सत्य) - Supreme truthfulness. This includes truth having both inner and outer manifestations, truth with both thought and deed.
 6. Uttama sanyam (उत्तम संयम) - Supreme restraint from all senses and sensual pleasures.
 7. Uttama Tapa (उत्तम तप) - Supreme meditation
 8. Uttama Tyaga (उत्तम त्याग) - Renunciation or sacrifice or giveaway - To give four fold charities - Ahara (food), Abhaya (fearlessness), Aushadha (medicine), and Shastra Dana (distribution of Holy Scriptures), and to patronize social and religious institutions for self and other uplifts.
 9. Uttama Akinchanya (Non-attachment or non-possessiveness) - To enhance faith in the real self as against non-self i.e., material objects; and to discard internal anger and pride and external accumulation of gold, diamonds, and royal treasures. 
10.Uttama Brahmacharya (उत्तम ब्रह्मचर्य) - Chastity or celibacy - To keep oneself away from sexual desires. This also includes abstinance from vulgar fashions, child and old-age marriages, dowry dominated marriages, polygamy, criminal assault on ladies, use of foul and vulgar language, and all other related things.
  The importance of this festival in jain religion can be understood by the fact that there are three kinds of auspicious days in jains: सामान्य (means normal auspicious days), नैमित्तिक (means casual auspicious days like Mahavir Jayanti) and नैसर्गिक (meaning natural auspicious days), and Paryushana comes under the natural auspicious days, meaning that it is something quite natural to the Jain thought. According to the dictionary of Monier Monier-Williams (1819–1899), the most frequent meanings of the term prakṛta, from which the word "prakrit" is derived, are "original, natural, normal" (source). Another proof of paryushan being so important for jainis is the recitation of the 'Kalpa sutra' (one of the most important sacred jain texts) during this period. Though Kalpa sutra itself does not contain much information about this festival, it has specific set of rules that are followed by the monks during the eight days of Paryushana.

One would wonder why would the monks stay at one place during paryushan. Well, this too has roots in the Jain way of living. During the rains, there are too many insects on the ground due to which there is more chance of them being killed under the foot of monks and strict jain peasants, something not tolerable under central jain thought of non-violence practice of not to kill any living creature even by accident. So traveling is avoided, and this gives them chance to come near their soul, to practice abstinence from lust, greed (yes, these two have similar but not same meaning in jain tradition).