________________
324
A CULTURAL STUDY OF THE NISITHA CURNI
day ) or such other pavva days, but it was from the time of Ajja Kālaga that the date of the Pajjusana was changed from the 5th to the 4th of the bright half of Bhaddavaya (Bhadrapada ) at the request of the king Salivahana of Paithana (Mahārāşçra ), as it coincided with the date of the Indrafestival in his region. From this time this festival came to be known as Samanapūya among the people of Marahatçha. 3 Even today the Paryūṣaṇa among the Jainas begins with the twelfth of the dark half of Bhadrapada and ends with the fifth of the bright half of it.
The object of this festival was to make the person free from sins committed by him during the year; hence an atthama fast5 was necessarily enjoined upon a monk, while the laymen could take recourse to fasting according to their individual capacities. An.yearly confession of sins was made on this occasion and old enmities were given up. Example is cited of king Udāyana, a devoted Jaina layman, who made king Pajjoya free from his captivity and restored his kingdom back to him on this day on learning that he also believed in the
1. NC, 3, p. 131. 2. Ibid. 3. dat grafa Tetraggi " V " fə gult Tat—Ibid. 4. Sangave, V. A., Jaina Community, p. 247. According to the Digam
baras, however, Paryusana lasts every year for ten days from the fifth to the fourteenth day (both days inclusive ) of the bright half
of the month of Bhadrapada-Ibid., p. 246. 5. Toith1—3T BYTH got - NC. 3, p. 157. The Jaina
monks were enjoined to do atthama, chattha and cauttha fasts during the Pajjusána, Caummāsiya and Pakkhiya fasts respectively (Ibid). The Cauttha meant one fast during which the person took bis mcals on the fourth turn ; the Chattha thus meant two such fasts and the
atthama, three fasts. 6. qilgang af faar 31131011-NC. 3, P. 157. 7. Foi qotaquin
NC. 3, p. 139. Sco also--Stevenson, S., 'Festivals and Fasts (Jaina ),'Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, vol. 5, pp. 875-79,
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
