The Pause That Became a Festival of Forgiveness

Jain monks and nuns in ancient India lived a wandering life for most of the year. They travelled from place to place, teaching and practising their faith wherever they went. The monsoon season brought this wandering to a natural stop. Once the rains came, the wet grass and soaked earth filled with countless tiny insects and other small forms of life. A walking traveller could not avoid crushing them, however careful the steps.

Ahimsa, non-violence toward all living beings, sits at the very centre of Jain practice. It extends to creatures far smaller than the ones most traditions think to protect. To avoid this harm, monks and nuns settled in one place for the four months of the rainy season. This practice is known as Chaturmas. Rather than travel and risk harm to life they could not see, they paused. They stayed with a single community until the rains had passed, and the ground was safe to walk again.