Significance
After renouncing his kingdom, Rishabhanatha wandered without food because no one understood how to offer alms correctly to a Jain ascetic. Tradition holds the fast lasted about a year (commonly given as some four hundred days) before it was broken.
At Hastinapur, King Shreyanskumar recognised the proper method of offering, recalling it from a past birth, and offered sugarcane juice. This is honoured as the first ahar-daan of the present era and as the origin of the discipline of offering food to Jain ascetics.
The day is therefore central to the Jain understanding of daan (giving) and of the relationship between the lay community and the mendicant order, rather than to the acquisition of wealth with which the date is popularly associated elsewhere.
It is also the parana (fast-breaking) day for Varshi Tap, the austerity of alternate-day fasting kept for around a year, which practitioners conclude on this tithi, traditionally with sugarcane juice.
How it is observed
- Completion and ceremonial breaking of Varshi Tap, traditionally with sugarcane juice.
- Large parana ceremonies at pilgrimage centres, especially Hastinapur and Shatrunjaya/Palitana, where many Varshi Tap observers gather.
- Special puja and abhishek of Bhagwan Rishabhanatha (Adinath) in temples.
- Emphasis on daan — offering food and alms, and supporting ascetics and charitable causes.
- Discourses recounting the story of Rishabhanatha and Shreyanskumar and the significance of correct offering.
At a Glance
- Lunar date
- Vaishakh Shukla Tritiya
- Tradition
- Observed in both traditions