Samvatsari and Michhami Dukkadam

On one day each year, Jains ask every living being to forgive them. That day is Samvatsari, the eighth and final day of Paryushan, and the phrase used to ask is Michhami Dukkadam. Most people now meet the phrase as a message forwarded on the day. It is worth knowing what it actually says.

What Michhami Dukkadam means

The phrase is Prakrit, not Sanskrit or Hindi: micchami dukkadam, from micchā (fruitless, void, in vain) and dukkaḍa (a badly done deed, a transgression). Together: may my wrongdoing be fruitless — may the harm I have done come to nothing, bear no consequence, leave no residue.

That is a stronger and stranger request than "sorry". The speaker is not mainly asking to be excused. They are asking that the karmic consequence of what they did be undone, and in the same breath undertaking not to do it again — because in Jain understanding an apology offered while intending to repeat the act simply binds fresh karma.

The full traditional formula makes the conditions explicit. It asks forgiveness for offences committed by thought, word and deed, whether done oneself, caused to be done by another, or approved of when done by another. That ninefold structure closes the gap most apologies leave open: the person who arranged the harm, and the person who was pleased it happened, are not innocent of it.

Who it is said to

To every living being, without exception. Not only to people you know, not only for faults you can remember, and not only to humans. The Samvatsari verse addresses all beings in every state of existence — including the one-sensed life in water, air, fire, earth and plants that a person destroys simply by living.

khamemi savve jiva, savve jiva khamantu me
metti me savva bhuesu, veram majjham na kenai
— I forgive all living beings, may all living beings forgive me; I am friend to all, I bear enmity toward none.

Note the order. Forgiving comes first, and the verse ends not with a request but with a declaration: I bear enmity toward none. A person who asks for pardon while still holding a grievance has done only half the rite.

The two halves nobody skips and everybody should

Two failures are named repeatedly in Jain discourse on Samvatsari, because both are so easy.

The first is the broadcast apology — sending the phrase to two hundred contacts and none of the three people you actually wronged. The general formula exists to cover what you cannot recall or reach, not to substitute for what you can.

The second is asking without granting. Kshama — forgiveness — is listed among the ten supreme virtues as uttama kshama, and it is defined as the capacity to not react with anger when wronged, which is a disposition rather than a message. Being asked for pardon and withholding it, or granting it while keeping the account open, leaves the person who was asked carrying the karma.

When Samvatsari falls

Digambara Jains keep the same practice under a different name and on a different day: Kshamavani, the day after Anant Chaturdashi closes Das Lakshana Parva. The words used are often uttam kshama rather than michhami dukkadam, but the act is identical.

What happens on the day

The day is built around Samvatsari Pratikraman, the annual form of the rite of repentance. It takes several hours — commonly starting in the afternoon and running into the evening — and works through the vows in sequence, naming the ways each may have been broken over the past year and repenting them one by one.

It is deliberately long and deliberately specific. The length is the point: the rite does not let a person get to the forgiveness at the end without first sitting through an itemised account of the year. Most people fast on Samvatsari, commonly with upvas and chauvihar.

Afterwards, people go to each other — in person where possible, starting with family and with anyone they are in conflict with — and ask. In many families the elders are approached first, and it is customary to touch their feet.

Saying it correctly

Both michhami dukkadam and micchami dukkadam are in common use; the Prakrit is micchāmi dukkaḍaṃ and neither spelling is wrong in English. Some say the fuller khamat khamna, and Digambara usage tends toward uttam kshama.

If someone sends you the phrase, the reply is not "it's fine". The established response is to return it — to ask their forgiveness in turn, because the assumption is that the fault was never one-sided.