Varṣītap

Meaning ‘year-long fast’ in Sanskrit, Varṣītap is modelled on the fast of the first Jina, Ṛṣhabhanātha or Lord Ṛṣabha. Instead of doing a 13-month total fast, which would be impossible, the fasters adopt a pattern of alternating days of total fasting with days of partial fasting. They always begin on Fāgan dark 8th and end on Vaiśākh bright 3rd, 13 and a half months later.

Varṣītap is one of the most demanding fasts for Jains. Devotees believe it is especially effective at reducing the karma in one’s soul. Though fasting is often thought of as an especially female expression of religious devotion, both men and women undertake the varṣītap fast.

Absent Lord: Ascetics and Kings in a Jain Ritual Culture

Lawrence A. Babb

Jains in the World: Religious Values and Ideology in India

John E. Cort

Riches and Renunciation: Religion, Economy and Society among the Jains

James Laidlaw

Akṣaya Tṛtīyā in Ahmedabad

The DNAIndia website provides a report about the 2010 ending of the varṣītap fast in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. The year-long fast is ceremonially broken on the festival of Akṣaya Tṛtīyā. Undertaken in imitation of Ṛṣabhanātha or Lord Ṛṣabha, the first Jina, the fast ends with the taking of alms in the pāraṇā ritual, which re-enacts the first acceptance of alms. The fasters are at the centre of great public celebrations among the Jain community.

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/1383986/report-varsitap-parna-jains-take-part-in-ritual-in-large-numbers

Altarpiece of Ṛṣabha and other Jinas

The Art Institute in Chicago, Illinois, USA, provides a zoomable image of Ṛṣabhanātha or Lord Ṛṣabha, the first Jina, surrounded by all the other Jinas. The brass altarpiece is finely made, depicting the Jinas sitting in meditation, with symbols of high spiritual and worldly status emphasising their positions at the pinnacle of the Jain faith. The photograph can be enlarged to see more detail.

http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/142507?search_no=2&index=10

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