Lord Mahavir

Jains live according to five key principles: ahimsa (avoidance of harm), satya (truthfulness), asteya (no stealing), brahmacharya (chastity), and aparigraha (detachment from material things).

This festival celebrates the day of Mahavira’s birth. Jains will gather in temples to hear readings of the teachings of Mahavira. Images of Mahavira are paraded through the streets with much pomp and ceremony.

Jains will wear masks and will take great pain to ensure they do not harm or kill any living animal including insects. They will take five vows, which are integral parts of the religion: nonviolence, truthfulness, no stealing, celibacy, and not to be possessive.

Jain Monks doesn’t wear the cloths because cloths are symbol of attachment with your body. To be a digambar(without cloths) you should be free from all the desires including looking good caring for your body etc. Jain monks doesn’t have any desires for there body.

Here it is to be noted that Jain monks wear the Muhapatti to avoid unwittingly kill the insects or living beings through the process of breathing. A muhapatti is used to cover the mouth.

Jain monks don’t retire to mountain-top monasteries. Going forward, they will travel across cities by foot, except during the monsoon months, pluck their hair out strand by strand—a painful and controversial exercise called kaya klesh—and scavenge for food.

The Jain cuisine is completely lacto vegetarian and also excludes underground vegetables such as potato, garlic, onion etc, to prevent injuring small insects and microorganisms; and also to prevent the entire plant getting uprooted and killed. It is practised by Jain ascetics and lay Jains.

They don’t have a bath throughout their life,” says Jain. “During menstruation, they usually sit in a container of water on the fourth day, taking care that the water is later spilled on Earth. They use a mild soap to wash their clothes, once or twice a month.”

In Jainism, the bleeding that occurs in menstruation is thought to kill micro-organisms in the body, making the female body exhausted, causing cramps, and producing stress. Hence, women are expected to rest and not perform any religious duties for a duration of four days.

Jains believe in eating food that is inevitable for survival. This practice makes them healthier than any other person.

According to them, germs that we cannot see directly spread rapidly at night, so after sunset, proper and clean food does not enters the stomach. At the same time, it is considered as violence in Jainism and hence, at night, food is said to be taboo in Jainism and Ayurveda.

Jains are strict vegetarians but also do not eat root vegetables and some types of fruits. Some Jains are also vegans and exclude various types of green vegetables during periods of the month.

[10] Jains don’t eat root vegetables such as potatoes, onions, roots and tubers, because tiny life forms are injured when the plant is pulled up and because the bulb is seen as a living being, as it is able to sprout. Also, consumption of most root vegetables involves uprooting & killing the entire plant.

According to Jains, in raw turmeric there are lots of Jeev (Ekendriya Jeev), which will indirectly imposing that we are eating souls i.e. nonveg. On the other hand turmeric powder is made by drying in raw turmeric in the sun. This kills all the Jeev in the turmeric.

In addition to not eating meat, Jains cannot eat eggs, gelatin, or even anything that grows underground. That includes potatoes, onions, and garlic! These are typical foods used in every day cooking in most households, but for Jains, it is not allowed in the house. Jainism is a religion founded on non-violence.

Jainism is considered to be a legally distinct religion in India. A section of scholars earlier considered it as a Hindu sect or a Buddhist heresy, but it is one of the three ancient Indian religions.