The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (779 page)

ra Jayanti, the birthday of
Mah
v
ra
, which is celebrated on the 13th of the bright half of Caitra. Otherwise, the same feast or fast is observed at different times (e.g. Jñanapañcami honours scripture among the
vet
mbaras,
rutapañcami among the Digambaras) or the same goal is reached by different occasions: thus Paryushan (
Pary
sana
) among
vet
mbaras is an eight-day period of penitence,
confession
, and effort to accomplish what should have been done during the year; the near equivalent for Digambaras is Da
alak
anaparvan, which starts exactly as Paryushan ends. The ritual year ends with Div
l
, but the lights are reinterpreted as a commemoration of the lights lit to acknowledge the death of Mah
v