On Karaṇas in Jaina Calendar
By Sajjan Singh Lishk, S. D. Sharma
Summary
“On Karaṇas in Jaina Calendar” by S. D. Sharma and Sajjan Singh Lishk is an astronomical study of karaṇas—the divisions of a lunar day used in Indian calendrical science. Jaina canonical texts record eleven karaṇas: Bava, Bālava, Kaulava, Taitila (or Strivilocana), Garaḍi, Vanijya, Viṣṭi (Bhadrā), Śakuni, Catuṣpada, Nāga and Kiṃstughna. Of these, seven are movable and four are immovable. The article draws on the Jambu‑dvīpa Prajñapti, a sixth upāṅga of the Jaina canon, which lists the karaṇas and associates each with auspicious or inauspicious acts. The authors explain how karaṇas are allocated to the thirty tithis of a lunar month, citing passages that map each day’s daytime and nighttime halves to specific karaṇas. They compare the Jaina system with Vedic and Hindu calendrical traditions and note that the same terms occur in the *Atharva‑Veda Jyotiṣa*. The paper concludes that although the classification of karaṇas is broadly shared across Indian astronomical texts, Jaina sources preserve unique lists and interpretations that merit further study. The authors call for philologists to examine how revisions to the karaṇa list affect chronological calculations.
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Conclusion
By cataloguing the karaṇas and their distribution across lunar days, the article preserves an aspect of ancient Jaina astronomy and highlights both the commonalities and distinctive features of Jain calendrical science. It invites further research into how these divisions were used to time rituals and predict auspicious events.