The Paryusana Parva is the most important festival for the Jains.

This is the eight-day period during which many Jains fast and carry out the religious activities. This period falls in the months of Sravana and Bhadra (August or September).
During the rainy season in India Jain monks stop walking from one town to another and settle in a fixed location with the purpose of reducing the injury to the living things now springing to life. Often a township invites respected monks to stay in its vicinity during the rainy season (sometimes with a beautifully written manuscript invitation) and the people receive them with great pomp and rituals.
A course of lectures or sermons by a monk or other respected person is a regular feature of the Paryusana Parva.

The word Paryusana is derived from two words meaning (gada) a year and a coming back. It is a period of repentance for the acts of the previous year and of austerities to help shed the accumulated karmas. It should be remembered th ...more

As per BA