ABSTRACT
The equivalent Digambara ceremony, known as Da¬alak‚an˝aparvan, the ‘Festival of the Ten Religious Qualities’, is rather different in emphasis, both because the Digambara rejection of the flvetåmbara scriptural canon means that the Kalpas¨tra cannot be recited and because the paucity of monks in the last two centuries has necessitated essentially temple-or text-centred practice during this period. Da¬alak‚an˝aparvan starts immediately after the completion of the flvetåmbara Paryu‚an and lasts for ten days. It revolves around the recitation of the ten chapters of the Tattvarthas¨tra and homilies delivered by members of the community on successive days on each of the ten religious qualities enunciated at TS 9.6 (viz. forbearance, gentleness, uprightness, purity, truth, restraint, austerity, renunciation, lack of possession and chastity). The most auspicious day is ‘Endless Fourteenth’ (Anantacaturda¬⁄), which comes at the end of Da¬alak‚an˝aparvan and is associated with the fourteenth fordmaker, Ananta, when fasting and image worship is universally carried out and p¨jå is performed with fourteen flowers. The final day is called K‚amåpan˝å, ‘Asking for Pardon’.
