Significance
The festival venerates jnana itself — right knowledge being one of the three jewels of Jainism alongside right faith and right conduct — and by extension the scriptures that carry Mahavira's teaching, and those who preserved and transmitted them.
Jain teaching enumerates five kinds of knowledge, and worship on this day is traditionally structured around them; the day is also honoured as a remedy for the karma that obstructs knowledge (jnanavaraniya karma).
The distinctive practice is the care of the gyan bhandar: manuscripts and printed scriptures are taken out, dusted, wrapped afresh, arranged and displayed for the community to see and revere. The day is also known as Saubhagya Panchami or Labh Panchami.
The corresponding Digambar observance of scripture is Shruta Panchami, kept on Jyeshtha Shukla Panchami, commemorating the writing down of the Shatkhandagama. Gyan Panchami in Kartik is a Shwetambar observance, and the two should not be conflated.
How it is observed
- Cleaning, arranging and ceremonial display and worship of scriptures and manuscripts in temple and upashray libraries.
- Fasting by many observers, and the keeping of paushadh.
- Devavandan, jap and pratikraman performed with a specific focus on knowledge.
- Donation towards the preservation, copying and printing of scriptures and support of gyan bhandars.
- Renewed commitment to swadhyay — regular study of Jain texts — often begun on this day.
At a Glance
- Lunar date
- Kartik Shukla Panchami (five days after Diwali)
- Tradition
- Shwetambar tradition