Mahāvīra Jayantī

When it falls

The thirteenth lunar day (trayodaśī) of the bright half of Caitra, in late March or April. It is the most widely kept Jain festival.

The Phala almanac gives the exact day for your own city; the lunar and solar rules above are what it computes from.

The story

Vardhamāna, later called Mahāvīra, the great hero, was born in 599 BCE by the traditional count to King Siddhārtha and Queen Triśalā of the Licchavi clan at Kuṇḍagrāma near Vaiśālī in Bihar. His mother dreamed fourteen (or sixteen, in the Digambara count) auspicious dreams before his birth, and the dreams are the festival's emblems.

At thirty he left home, gave up his clothes and possessions, and spent twelve years in silent austerity before attaining kevala jñāna, complete knowledge. He is the twenty-fourth and last Tīrthaṅkara (ford-maker) of this age, the teacher who set the Jain path in its present form: non-violence (ahiṃsā) to every living being, truth, non-stealing, chastity and non-possession.

How the day is kept

• The image of Mahāvīra is given a ceremonial bath (abhiṣeka) and carried in a chariot procession (rath yātrā) through the town, with the fourteen dreams displayed.
• Temples are decorated with flags; lectures on his teaching and readings from the Kalpa Sūtra, the life of the Tīrthaṅkaras.
• Charity of grain and money, and the freeing of animals from slaughterhouses on the day, which Jain communities pay for.
• Pāvāpurī and Vaiśālī in Bihar, Girnar and Pālitānā in Gujarat, and Śravaṇabeḷagoḷa in Karnataka draw the largest gatherings.

More birthdays of gods, saints and teachers