In short
Pratikraman means "turning back" — a structured review in which a Jain recalls and repents faults of thought, speech and action. It comprises six essential duties: Samayik, Chauvisantho, Vandana, Pratikraman, Kayotsarga and Pratyakhyan.
Pratikraman means to turn back — to return from where one has strayed. It is a structured review in which faults of thought, speech and action are recalled specifically, repented, and answered with a resolve for what follows.
The six essential duties
Pratikraman is built from six avashyaks, essential duties, performed in this order. The order matters: each prepares the one after it.
1. Samayik (सामायिक)
A state of total equanimity
To settle into balance — neither drawn towards what pleases nor pushed from what displeases. Everything that follows is performed from this state, which is why it comes first.
2. Chauvisantho (चतुर्विंशतिस्तव)
Worshipping the twenty-four Tirthankaras
To praise the twenty-four Tirthankaras — not to request favour, since a liberated soul grants none, but to hold before the mind what a perfected soul looks like.
3. Vandana (वंदना)
Salutations to sadhus and sadhvis
To offer respect to living ascetics — those presently walking the path. Reverence directed at the living keeps the practice from becoming merely historical.
4. Pratikraman (प्रतिक्रमण)
Recognising and repenting what was done wrong
To turn back. Faults of thought, speech and action are recalled specifically and repented — not vaguely regretted. This is the heart of the sequence and gives it its name.
5. Kayotsarga (कायोत्सर्ग)
Meditation of the soul
To set the body down. Standing or seated in stillness, attention is withdrawn from the body entirely and rested on the soul.
6. Pratyakhyan (प्रत्याख्यान)
Renunciation
To resolve for the time ahead. Having repented the past, one takes a vow for the future — a specific renunciation, however small, so that repentance becomes change.
When it is performed
Pratikraman is performed twice daily by the devout — morning and evening — and at longer intervals by others: fortnightly, four-monthly, and annually. The annual observance, Samvatsari Pratikraman, falls on the final day of Shwetambar Paryushan and reviews the whole year.
Why the sixth duty matters most
Repentance without resolve dissolves by morning. Pratyakhyan — the sixth duty — is what turns the review into change: a specific renunciation taken for the time ahead. It need not be large. It needs to be exact, and kept.