JainGPT
Das Lakshana Parva
Ten days, ten virtues: the Digambara observance that follows Samvatsari, taken one dharma at a time.
Das Lakshana Parva is the Digambara observance of the same season that Svetambara Jains keep as Paryushan. It runs for ten days rather than eight, and it has a structure the Svetambara observance does not: each day is given to one of the ten lakshanas — the defining characteristics of dharma, taken one at a time.
When it falls
Das Lakshana begins the day after Samvatsari ends Svetambara Paryushan, so the two observances run back to back rather than together. In 2026 it runs from 16 to 25 September, closing on Anant Chaturdashi, with Kshamavani — the Digambara day of forgiveness — on 26 September.
The ten virtues
Each is prefixed uttama, "supreme", to mark that what is meant is the complete form of the quality and not its everyday approximation. The list follows the Tattvartha Sutra.
| Day | Virtue | What it asks |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Uttama Kshama forgiveness |
Not to respond with anger when wronged — a disposition, not a message sent once a year. |
| 2 | Uttama Mardava humility |
The absence of pride in caste, wealth, learning, beauty, power, family or accomplishment. |
| 3 | Uttama Arjava straightforwardness |
Thought, speech and action agreeing with one another. The opposite is not lying but crookedness. |
| 4 | Uttama Shaucha purity, contentment |
Freedom from greed. Purity here is internal — the mind not stained by wanting. |
| 5 | Uttama Satya truth |
Speech that is true, and also beneficial and gentle. A truth spoken to wound fails the test. |
| 6 | Uttama Samyama restraint |
Control of the senses and protection of all six classes of living beings. |
| 7 | Uttama Tapa austerity |
Voluntary discipline of body and mind — external such as fasting, internal such as study and service. |
| 8 | Uttama Tyaga renunciation |
Giving — of food, knowledge, medicine and fearlessness — and letting go of what is held. |
| 9 | Uttama Akinchanya non-attachment |
Owning nothing, inwardly. Not merely possessing little but not identifying with what one has. |
| 10 | Uttama Brahmacharya chastity |
Celibacy for ascetics; fidelity and restraint for householders. Literally, "conduct that dwells in the self". |
Why one virtue a day
The ten-day form is a teaching device. Taking the whole of dharma at once produces agreement and no change; taking humility for a single day, and being asked in the evening discourse where pride showed itself since morning, is harder to evade.
The order is not arbitrary either. Forgiveness comes first because anger is treated in Jain psychology as the first of the four kashayas — the passions of anger, pride, deceit and greed — and the first four days answer to them in sequence: kshama against anger, mardava against pride, arjava against deceit, shaucha against greed.
How the days are kept
The daily pattern centres on temple worship and discourse. Digambara observance places particular weight on abhisheka, the ceremonial bathing of the image, and on puja performed in the morning, followed by scriptural discourse on the day's virtue. Many Digambara communities read from the Tattvartha Sutra across the ten days.
Fasting follows the same graded pattern as in the Svetambara observance — upvas, ekasana and ayambil according to capacity, with chauvihar widely kept. Some undertake the full ten days. The terms are explained here.
Anant Chaturdashi
The tenth and final day is Anant Chaturdashi, marked by the most elaborate puja of the parva. In many places the day includes a procession, and the Ananta Vrata is undertaken by those keeping it.
Kshamavani
The day after is Kshamavani, the Digambara day of forgiveness — the counterpart of Samvatsari. The practice is the same: forgiveness asked and granted, in person, beginning with those closest and those most wronged. The words most used are uttam kshama, though michhami dukkadam is understood everywhere.
Digambara and Svetambara: what differs
| Svetambara | Digambara | |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Paryushan Parva | Das Lakshana Parva |
| Length | 8 days | 10 days |
| 2026 dates | 8–15 September | 16–25 September |
| Central text | Kalpa Sutra, read across the days | Tattvartha Sutra and discourse on the ten virtues |
| Day of forgiveness | Samvatsari, the final day | Kshamavani, the day after the final day |
| Structure | Narrative — the lives of the Tirthankaras | Thematic — one virtue per day |
The differences are of form rather than doctrine. Both traditions treat the season as the year's occasion for fasting, scriptural study and the settling of accounts, and both end it by asking forgiveness of every living being.
Common questions
What are the ten virtues of Das Lakshana?
What is the difference between Paryushan and Das Lakshana?
This guide describes practice as it is commonly observed and notes where Svetambara and Digambara traditions differ. Observance varies between sects, regions and families; where a detail matters for your own practice, your local sangh or guru is the authority, not this page.