Is there any reference to the moons gravity on aatham and chaudhas hence greens should be avoided

The rule itself is written down

This is not a regional or borrowed custom. As per Jain Vrat Vidhi Sangraha by Labdhisuri (1938), eating sachitt food, kachi vigai or lilotri is listed among the lapses that break a shravak's vrat reckoning, and the same work sets aside lilotri — green shaak, ripe fruit and their juice — even in the ekasana of an ordinary posadh. Parv Tithi me Hari Sabji ka Tyag Kyo by Nandighoshvijay (2005) states the rule plainly at the outset: sadhus, sadhvis, shravaks and shravikas give up hari sabji on the parva tithis of each month.

Which days count as parva tithis

Nandighoshvijay gives both reckonings. The fuller one is twelve tithis a month — two bij (dwitiya), two pancham (panchami), two aatham (ashtami), two agiyaras (ekadashi), two chaudas (chaturdashi), plus punam (purnima) and amas (amavasya). The shorter one is five — shukla pancham, both aathams and both chaudas. Beyond the monthly cycle come the six atthais: shukla saptami to purnima in Kartik, Phalgun, Chaitra, Ashadh and Aso, and the eight days of Paryushan.

How many a person keeps is their own niyam. The book says so in as many words — there is no insistence that every shravak observe all twelve, and the count is taken as relative.

The reason the texts give: ahimsa, not astronomy

Green vegetables are sachitt — the plant body is alive, and other jivas live within it. On a day set apart for aradhana one declines to cause that himsa for one's own plate. Dry staples sit on the other side of that line: flour, rice and cooked dals are achitt, and grains are sachitt only for a bounded period. As per Pravachan Saroddhar by Nemichandrasuri (1926), in the dhanyanam-abijatvam dvara, wheat, barley, shalidhan, jowar and bajra sealed well in a kothi stay alive at most three years; til, mung, masur, matar, udad, chaula, kulattha, tuvar and sem at most five; alsi, kapasia, kangu, kodra and sarson at most seven — while the minimum is a single antarmuhurta, about 48 minutes.

The second reason the book gives is asakti. Green vegetables and fruit are the sweeter, more relished food, and a daily habit of them breeds attachment — jyan asakti, tyan utpatti, where the attachment is, there the birth follows.

So is there a reference to the moon's gravity?

No. No Jain granth argues this rule from the moon's gravity, from tides, or from any lunar pull, so that explanation should not be repeated as scripture — it is a modern gloss that grew up around a much older rule. But its absence proves nothing about the rule itself. The rule is scriptural; its stated ground is ahimsa toward sachitt vanaspati and the curbing of asakti.

The health argument, and where it belongs

Nandighoshvijay does add a supporting argument from health, and it is worth knowing precisely because it is often mistaken for the scriptural one. Green vegetables, he writes, are pitta-increasing while dals are vata-causing, so a break every third day keeps vata, pitta and kapha in balance — which is also why a parva tithi falls at roughly three-day intervals, and why the fortnight closes with chaudas and punam, or chaudas and amas, together, giving two days in succession when pitta has built up across the pakh. The atthais, he notes, fall at the sandhikal, the joints between the seasons, when health is most easily disturbed, which is why ayambil tap is kept then.

That is a modern author's supporting argument. Treat it as such — the reason the tradition itself gives is the one above.

From our library

• Parv Tithi me Hari Sabji ka Tyag Kyo — Nandighoshvijay (2005)
• Jain Vrat Vidhi Sangraha — Labdhisuri (1938)
• Pravachan Saroddhar Uttararddh — Nemichandrasuri (1926)
• Abhakshya Anantkay Vichar — Pranlal Mangalji (1942)