Meaning of all 10 days daslakshan day
Das Lakshan Parva (often called Das Lakshan) is a Digambara Jain ten-day festival just before the new year. Each day focuses on one supreme virtue (Lakshana) of the soul, helping practitioners purify conduct and mind. The ten virtues are practiced with the aim of upliftment and self-purification. You read or hear readings from the corresponding chapters of the scriptures, and many observe fasting or other austerities.
The ten days and their meanings (Uttam = supreme) are:
- 1) Uttam Kshama — Supreme Forgiveness: forgiving all living beings and letting go of anger or grudges.
- 2) Uttam Mardava — Supreme Humility (gentleness): behaving with modesty and without pride.
- 3) Uttam Arjava — Supreme Straightforwardness (honesty): speaking and acting honestly, with simplicity and without deceit.
- 4) Uttam Shaucha — Supreme Purity (contentment): keeping inner and outer purity, and being content with what one has.
- 5) Uttam Satya — Supreme Truth: speaking the truth and avoiding falsehood.
- 6) Uttam Sanyam — Supreme Self-restraint: controlling senses, desires, and passions; practicing restraint.
- 7) Uttam Tap — Supreme Austerity: enduring hardships, practicing penance and self-discipline.
- 8) Uttam Tyag — Supreme Renunciation: renouncing attachments and possessions.
- 9) Uttam Akinchanya — Supreme Non-possessiveness: minimizing possessions, reducing attachment to material things.
- 10) Uttam Brahmacharya — Supreme Celibacy/Chastity: restraint and purity in mind and conduct.
Notes:
- These are the Digambara Das Lakshana teachings; the list is often presented with the “Uttam” prefix to denote the highest standard of each dharma.
- In everyday practice, householders may observe them to a lesser degree; mendicants emphasize them as the ideal.