How many upvas, ekashana are necessary in varshi tap
In Varshi Tap (Varshitap) there is no single fixed, same-every-time number of upvās and ekāshan across all years and all traditions. It depends on:
- Exact start date (tithi)
- Full lunar‑year length (about 13 months + 13 days)
- Tithis like Ātham, Chaudash, Samvatsari, etc., where beshan/ekāshan is not done, so that day also becomes upvās or chhatth
- The maryādā (rules) of your particular guru / gacch / sangh
General idea (Śvetāmbara practice, Tapāgacch etc.)
- Varshitap is kept for about 400 days.
- Rule is basically: alternate‑day upvās and eating day.
- On eating days one may do ekāshan or beśan, as per niyam.
If it was a perfect “one day upvās / one day ekāshan” without any special tithis, it would be roughly:
- ~200 days upvās
- ~200 days ekāshan / beśan
But in real practice:
- Many eating days fall on tithis where you cannot eat, so those also become upvās or chhatth.
- Therefore most Varshitap tapasvīs end up doing more than 220 upvās in total, and the remaining days are ekāshan / beśan.
So you can remember simply:
- Upvās: a little more than half the days (usually 220+)
- Ekāshan / beśan: the rest of the days (around 170–180, approximately)
Exact counts differ by:
- Year’s calendar
- Whether you keep only ekāshan on eating days or sometimes beśan
- Local maryādā (some add special extra fasts)
What you should do
For your Varshi Tap:
- Take pachchakkhān from your own guru / sādhu / learned elder.
- Use the Varshitap calendar they give for that year.
- Follow their count of how many upvās, how many ekāshan/beshan.