Pratikraman means turning back. It is a structured review of your own conduct against the vows you hold, performed in a fixed sequence of six duties, and it ends by naming what you got wrong and withdrawing from it. It is not a prayer, nothing is petitioned, and no one absolves you.
The word appears constantly in Jain writing and speech, usually untranslated, usually assumed to be understood. Most people who attend one have never had it explained. This page explains it.
The word
Pratikramana is Sanskrit: prati, back or against, and kramana, stepping or going. Stepping back. The classical gloss is more precise than the literal one: returning from transgression to the vow you had already taken.
That framing matters. Pratikraman assumes you already made a commitment. A person with no vows has nothing to step back to. The rite is therefore not a general expression of remorse; it is a reconciliation of an account against a specific, previously stated standard.
The Prakrit form used in the liturgy is padikkamana. In Gujarati and Hindi speech it is pratikraman or padikkamanu.
It is not a prayer
This is the point most often missed, and getting it wrong changes what you think you are doing in the hall.
In a prayer, something is asked of someone. In pratikraman, nothing is asked of anyone. There is no deity to appeal to in Jain doctrine, a Tirthankara is liberated and does not intervene, and the officiating ascetic is a witness rather than an absolver. The Michhami Dukkadam said at the end is a statement about karma, not a request for a pardon: we have written that phrase up in full.
The nearest honest analogy is an audit. You hold a list of undertakings. You go through them in order. You state where you fell short, in what way, and by how much. You withdraw your approval of that conduct, and you re-commit for the period ahead. The karmic result, nirjara, the shedding of bound karma, follows from the sincerity of that act and from nothing else. This is why the Jain reading of a birth chart treats effort as decisive: the same doctrine that says planets only indicate says that your own retraction is what actually removes.
The six avashyaks
Avashyaka means the obligatory, the unavoidable. Six of them make up a pratikraman, and the fourth is itself called pratikramana, which is why the whole rite takes its name from one of its parts.
| # | Avashyak | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Samayika | Equanimity. A period of stillness, forty-eight minutes in the standard measure, in which harmful activity is suspended and the mind held level toward all beings |
| 2 | Chaturvimshati-stava | Praise of the twenty-four Tirthankaras. In Shvetambara practice this is the Logassa sutra, recited by name through all twenty-four |
| 3 | Vandana | Reverence offered to the ascetic teacher, with the formal request for permission and the asking of forgiveness for any disrespect |
| 4 | Pratikramana | The review proper. The vows are gone through, the aticharas (transgressions) against each are recalled, and each is retracted |
| 5 | Kayotsarga | Abandonment of the body. Standing or sitting motionless, breath counted against a fixed recitation, treating the body as separate from the self |
| 6 | Pratyakhyana | Renunciation forward. A vow for the coming period, which for a householder is usually a pachkhan governing food and drink |
Two of those need a note.
Kayotsarga is measured, not open-ended. The unit is the breath, and the count is kept by silently reciting the Logassa to a fixed verse, twenty-five breaths being the common measure for the standard kayotsarga. It is a stated quantity, not a mood.
Pratyakhyana points forward, and that is the whole design. A rite that only looked backward would be an inventory of regret. The sixth avashyak converts the review into a commitment, which is why pratikraman ends with a vow rather than with an apology. Our Jain Panchang computes the pachkhan times, navkarsi, porsi, purimuddha and chauvihar, from the sunrise and sunset at your own city, which is what the sixth avashyak actually requires you to know.
On the order. Shvetambara manuals give the sequence above, with kayotsarga fifth and pratyakhyana sixth. The Digambara Mulachara lists the same six but puts pratyakhyana fifth and kayotsarga last. The six are common ground across the traditions; the order is not, and neither ordering is a corruption of the other.
What is actually reviewed
The fourth avashyak is not free-form. It runs against defined lists, and knowing the lists is what makes the rite legible rather than a wall of Prakrit.
The twelve vows of a householder. Five anuvratas (limited non-violence, truth, non-stealing, chastity, limitation of possessions), three gunavratas which restrict the field in which the five operate, and four shikshavratas which are practices of discipline including samayika itself. Each vow has a standard set of five aticharas, partial breaches, and it is those that are recalled one by one.
The eighteen papasthanaks. The eighteen sites of demerit: violence, falsehood, taking what is not given, unchastity, possessiveness, anger, pride, deceit, greed, attachment, aversion, quarrelling, false accusation, backbiting, slander, taking pleasure and displeasure, deceitful falsehood, and wrong belief. The list is deliberately weighted toward speech and mental states rather than dramatic acts, because those are where an ordinary year’s karma is actually bound.
All classes of living being. The Shvetambara liturgy asks forgiveness of the whole field of life passed through, one-sensed to five-sensed, most of which was injured without the injurer noticing. Jain ethics treats unintentional harm as real harm, less culpable but not zero, and this passage is aimed squarely at it.
The variants
Pratikraman is kept at five frequencies. They are the same six avashyaks at different lengths, not five different rites.
| Variant | When | Covers | Rough length |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rai | At dawn | The night just past | 30 to 45 minutes |
| Devasi | After sunset | The day just past | 45 to 60 minutes |
| Pakkhi | Chaudas, the 14th of each fortnight | The fortnight | About 2 hours |
| Chaumasi | Chaumasi Chaudas, three times a year | The four months | 2 to 3 hours |
| Samvatsari | Once a year, on Samvatsari | The whole year | 3 to 5 hours |
Timings vary considerably by sangh, by whether an ascetic is leading, and by how much is sung rather than recited. Treat the column as an order of magnitude.
The Chaumasi Chaudas days in 2026 are Phalguna Chaudas on 2 March, Ashadha Chaudas on 28 July, and Kartika Chaudas on 23 November, the last two being the days before the Ashadha and Kartika full moons that open and close the monsoon retreat. Confirm the civil day against your own sangh’s panchang.
Samvatsari Pratikraman is the one nearly every lay Jain attends, and for many it is the only one. It is long, it is mostly in Ardhamagadhi Prakrit, and it ends with the entire assembly saying Michhami Dukkadam to one another.
What happens in one
A description of the Shvetambara form, since it is the one most readers will walk into.
You sit on a katasanu, a mat of undyed cloth or wool, which keeps you off the bare floor and off any surface that might hold small life. You hold a muhpatti, a small rectangle of cloth, and a charavalo, a soft woollen brush. Both are functional: the muhpatti is held before the mouth while speaking so that the breath does not injure air-bodied beings, and the charavalo sweeps the ground before you sit or move.
The rite opens with Iriyavahiyam, the retraction for harm done while walking, which is done before almost any Jain ritual act and sets the pattern for everything that follows: before you do anything, account for the harm done getting here.
Then the six avashyaks proceed in order. Standing sections alternate with seated ones. There are periods of kayotsarga in which the hall goes completely still. There is a long recitation of aticharas in which the vows are gone through. In the Shvetambara householder’s rite the central text is the Vandittu sutra, which is the twelve vows and their transgressions set out in verse. At intervals the assembly performs khamasamana, a full prostration with the formal asking of forgiveness.
At the close, forgiveness is exchanged. On Samvatsari this is the moment the whole year has been pointing at.
If you do not know the sutras, go anyway. Nobody is examined at the door. Following the postures, keeping the silences, and holding the intention is a real participation, and the texts are learned by attending, not before attending.
Where the traditions differ
They differ more here than on almost any other practice, and flattening it would be dishonest.
| Shvetambara Murtipujak | Sthanakvasi and Terapanth | Digambara | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Central householder text | Vandittu sutra | Prakrit pratikraman texts in the sect’s own recension | Pratikramana pathas, and the Mulachara framework |
| Muhpatti | Held in the hand, used while speaking | Worn tied over the mouth | Not used by laity |
| Image worship in the rite | Present in the surrounding practice | Absent by principle | Present, with different ritual forms |
| Lay frequency | Daily among the observant; universal at Samvatsari | Same pattern | Daily samayika emphasised; annual congregational pratikraman less uniform |
| Annual occasion | Samvatsari | Samvatsari, commonly a day later | Kshamavani, after Das Lakshana |
The six avashyaks themselves are common ground. They appear in Shvetambara Agama literature and in Digambara Mulachara alike, which makes them one of the few pieces of practice the whole tradition can point at together. What varies is the liturgy built on them, the ritual objects, and how central the congregational annual form has become. None of these is a departure from a purer original; they are parallel developments from a shared frame.
The honest difficulties
The language. Most people reciting pratikraman do not understand most of what they are saying. The tradition’s own answer is that the sequence of acts, sitting, standing, stilling, retracting, vowing, carries the practice, and that comprehension is acquired over years. That answer is reasonable but not complete. If you can read a translation of the Vandittu once before attending, the rite changes character entirely.
The length. Samvatsari Pratikraman running four hours is a genuine obstacle for people with young children, health limits or shift work, and treating attendance as a test of piety pushes exactly the wrong way. Sanghs differ in how they handle this. Partial attendance is attendance.
Doing it alone. Rai and devasi pratikraman are ordinarily performed alone or in a household, not in a hall. The congregational form is the exception, not the norm, which is worth knowing if you have concluded from Samvatsari that this is a public rite.
Frequently asked questions
↳ What is pratikraman in Jainism?
Pratikraman means turning back: returning from transgression to a vow already taken. It is a structured review of one's own conduct against the twelve vows of a householder and the eighteen papasthanaks, performed through six obligatory duties called avashyaks. It is not a prayer and nothing is petitioned. The rite ends by retracting the conduct reviewed and taking a fresh vow for the period ahead.
↳ What are the six avashyaks?
Samayika (equanimity), chaturvimshati-stava (praise of the twenty-four Tirthankaras), vandana (reverence to the ascetic teacher), pratikramana (the review and retraction of transgressions), kayotsarga (motionless abandonment of the body, counted in breaths) and pratyakhyana (renunciation forward, a vow for the coming period). Shvetambara manuals place kayotsarga fifth and pratyakhyana sixth; the Digambara Mulachara reverses the last two. The six themselves are common to both traditions.
↳ How long does Samvatsari Pratikraman take?
Commonly three to five hours, depending on the sangh, whether an ascetic is leading, and how much is sung. Daily devasi pratikraman runs forty-five minutes to an hour, rai pratikraman rather less, pakkhi about two hours and chaumasi two to three. If you intend to keep Samvatsari Pratikraman in 2026, block the afternoon and evening of Tuesday 15 September, or Wednesday 16 September if your sangh keeps Shukla 5.
↳ Can I do pratikraman if I do not know the sutras?
Yes. Following the postures, keeping the silences and holding the intention is real participation, and the texts are learned by attending rather than before attending. Reading a translation of the Vandittu sutra once beforehand changes the experience considerably, because the fourth avashyak is a run through the twelve vows and their standard transgressions rather than a devotional passage.
↳ Do Digambara Jains perform pratikraman?
Yes. The six avashyaks are set out in the Digambara Mulachara as clearly as in the Shvetambara Agamas, and Digambara ascetics perform pratikramana as a matter of course. What differs is the liturgy, the ritual objects, the ordering of the last two avashyaks, and the relative weight given to daily samayika versus a large congregational annual rite. The Digambara annual exchange of forgiveness happens at Kshamavani Parva rather than at Samvatsari.
↳ Is pratikraman the same as confession?
No, and the difference is structural. There is no authority who absolves, because Jain doctrine has no intervening deity and treats a liberated Tirthankara as beyond petition. The ascetic present is a witness, not a confessor. Karma is shed by the soul's own retraction and resolve, so a pratikraman performed without genuine recognition accomplishes nothing regardless of who heard it.
Related
- Samvatsari 2026: the annual day of forgiveness
- Kshamavani Parva 2026: the Digambara day of forgiveness
- Michhami Dukkadam: what the words actually mean
- Paryushana 2026: dates, practice and what actually happens
- Jain Panchang: parva days and pachkhan times for your city
Sources. The six avashyaks as set out in the Shvetambara Avashyaka literature and in the Digambara Mulachara, which is why they are described here as common ground and the ordering of the last two as a genuine divergence. The twelve householder vows and their five standard aticharas each follow the Tattvartha Sutra chapter seven and the Upasakadashanga; the eighteen papasthanaks follow the standard Shvetambara enumeration used in the Vandittu sutra. Ritual description is of Shvetambara Murtipujak practice and is labelled as such; Sthanakvasi, Terapanth and Digambara forms differ in the ways tabulated above and none of them is a deviation from the others. Durations are reported ranges from ordinary congregational practice, not prescribed values. 2026 Chaumasi Chaudas dates are derived from the Ashadha and Kartika full moons and should be confirmed against your own sangh's panchang. Corrections are seva: tell us.