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✦ zenith calendar · the jain almanac

the days of the jain year, on the ring of your year.

shvetambar and digambar days in one quiet layer of your sky, each marked with its branch and explained in its own tradition's words.

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jain is one of the holiday almanacs that come with zenith calendar. it holds the days of the jain year by vir nirvan samvat and the tithi at sunrise. there is no single world authority, so the shvetambar days follow the published calendars of shvetambar sanghs, the digambar days a digambar tithi calendar, and each day says which branch keeps it.

its dates come from those published calendars, not worked out on your phone. tap a day and read three short paragraphs: what it is, where it comes from, and how it is kept.

lunisolar · vir nirvan samvat, by the tithi at sunrise

a few of its days

mahavir nirvan kalyanak

diwali (shvetambar) · deepavali (digambar)

the night of diwali, the new moon of aaso; each branch's day is marked with its branch

what it is

the night bhagwan mahavir attained nirvana at pavapuri and was freed forever from birth and death; that same night his chief disciple, gautam swami, attained keval gyan. in the app the shvetambar day is 8 november and the digambar day 9 november.

how it is kept

lamps are lit and the lord's name is chanted, and the nirvan puja is offered in the temple; jains keep it quietly and without firecrackers, out of care for living beings.

bestu varas · jain new year

vir samvat 2553 begins

the bright first of kartak, the morning after diwali

what it is

the first day of the new jain year. vir samvat, the jain era, counts its years from bhagwan mahavir's nirvana, so the year turns the morning after diwali.

how it is kept

jains go to the temple early, where shvetambar sanghs open the temple doors for the first darshan of the year; people greet one another, visit elders and family, and many hear a blessing from the monks and nuns.

mahavir janma kalyanak

the bright thirteenth of chaitra

what it is

the birth of bhagwan mahavir, the twenty-fourth tirthankar: one of the five kalyanaks, and one of the most widely kept jain days of the year.

how it is kept

the image of bhagwan mahavir is bathed in the abhishek and carried through the streets with hymns; jains visit temples, pray, fast, give in charity and hear talks on his teaching of ahimsa, non-violence.

in the app

the film

the jain almanac in zenith calendar
jain on zenith calendar: the days of the jain year on the ring of the year, each one opening to its story.

✦ zenith calendar · the sky around it

and the sky those days live in is worth staying for.

jain is a single layer. beneath it is a whole calendar drawn as the sky, your year an orbit round the sun, and every part of it answers your touch.

your year, an orbit

the sun stands at the centre and the year rings round it, with today's earth riding at today's place, its small moon beside it. tap the ring anywhere else and a faint ghost earth waits on that day.

run a finger round the year

drag along the ring and the days pass under your finger, the big date and the day's list following as you go. lift, and the day you stopped on stays picked.

a week under its moon

tap the small moon beside today's earth and you dive into the week. the moon above shows its phase, named underneath; swipe the dates and each week brings its own.

the sun and the moon are doors

tap the sun and the ring tips on its edge into a ladder of years. in the week, pull the moon firmly down and the month opens, the moon resting half off its foot.

it keeps to itself

zenith calendar has no server of its own. tap the gear and switch on "nothing comes in" or "nothing leaves this phone"; lift them, and every almanac is back exactly as it was.

jain is waiting in the app, and the rest of the sky comes with it.

✦ get zenith calendar on google play explore zenith calendar →
✦ get zenith calendar on google play explore zenith calendar →

jain ·

how to get it

  1. on a new install, the first page is "your starting sky": which almanacs start lit.
  2. under "faiths", tap "more faiths and traditions" to open that line.
  3. switch on "jain" (its mark is ✋︎) and tap "· begin ·". it is lit from the start.
  4. already past the first page? jain waits, whole, in the archive. on the sky, hold the "almanacs" book in the bottom-right corner to open the binder.
  5. tap "▣" in the binder's bottom-left corner to turn to the archive, and tap "jain" once to choose it.
  6. tap "unlock" (the padlock) at the foot, then "▥ put back".
  7. it comes back eclipsed: tap the "almanacs" book on the sky and tap the "jain" chip, or choose it in the binder and tap "● shine". you can lock it again whenever you like.

sibling almanacs

  • sikhthe gurpurabs and days of the nanakshahi calendar
  • indiapublic holidays: the days every central government office keeps

questions

When is Mahavir Janma Kalyanak 2027?

Mahavir Janma Kalyanak, the birth of Bhagwan Mahavir, falls on 19 April 2027, the bright thirteenth of Chaitra. In 2026 it fell on 31 March.

Why do Jains celebrate Diwali?

For Jains, Diwali is the night Bhagwan Mahavir attained nirvana at Pavapuri, and the night his chief disciple, Gautam Swami, attained keval gyan. In 2026 the Shvetambar day falls on 8 November and the Digambar day on 9 November.

When is the Jain new year in 2026?

Bestu Varas, the first day of the new Jain year, falls on 10 November 2026, the morning after Diwali. Vir Samvat 2553 begins that day.

Does the jain almanac keep both Shvetambar and Digambar days?

Yes. Each day in the jain almanac says which branch keeps it. Mahavir's nirvana at Diwali, for instance, is marked on the Shvetambar day and on the Digambar day.

Is there a calendar app that shows Jain festivals?

Zenith Calendar for Android comes with an almanac called jain: the days of the Jain year, each marked with its branch, drawn on the ring of your year beside your own days. Turning it on costs nothing.

Where do the jain almanac's dates come from?

They are copied from published calendars, not worked out on your phone: the Shvetambar days from Shvetambar sanghs' calendars and the Digambar days from a Digambar tithi calendar. Some Digambar Kartik days are marked as estimates that may move by a day.