Gyan Panchami 2024 : Why Gyan Panchami is celebrated

Gyan Panchami is related to Jainism. It is an extremely revered and important day for everyone. The festival of 'Gyan Panchami' is celebrated on Panchami Tithi of Shukla Paksha of Kartik month. According to beliefs, Lord Mahavira’s Darshan in the form of scriptures had first taken place at this time. Till then, knowledge was passed on using the Shruti tradition. As per this tradition, Lord Mahavira only preached his main disciples. These disciples would listen attentively and then assimilate all the knowledge. They would then spread this knowledge further to the people and explain it to everyone.

Prior to this, the tradition of noting down Mahavira’s script did not exist. His preachings were learnt only by listening and learning at the same time hence the name ‘Shrut' was given. Gyan Panchami, also known as Shrut Panchami. Jain scriptures are worshipped and studied on this day. Earlier, Jain knowledge used to follow the Acharya tradition of verbal form.

Gyan Panchami Katha

The festival of Gyan Panchami is celebrated on the fifth day of Deepawali. It is believed that knowledge expands on this day. Knowledge and Karma are connected to each other. It is only through knowledge we can cleanse our Karmas. Understanding the glory of knowledge and making ourselves aware of it is nothing but Gyan Panchami. Many stories are found with respect to Gyan Panchami.

One story goes like this - There used to be a king named Ajitsen, who had a son named Varadatta. Varadatta was not intelligent, the Raja was very disappointed because there was no improvement in his son’s intellect. The king appointed many qualified teachers for his son, but all those teachers were of no use. The king’s son continued to remain dim. The king began to feel sad due to his son's condition. The king was very worried. He thought ‘If the successor of the state is not eligible, then how can the future of the state remain safe.’

To resolve the problem, King Ajitsen makes a declaration that whoever can make his foolish son a worthy knowledgeable person will be rewarded. The King promises such a person security for life. Despite this announcement, the king does not find anyone. Slowly the health of his son also started deteriorating. Varadatta gets afflicted by leprosy. Everyone starts avoiding Varadatta because of the disease. This increases the King’s anxiety even more. He realises that finding a suitable bride for his son will be very challenging. This keeps him worried day and night. Finally, he discovers a girl, the daughter of a Seth who too was afflicted by leprosy. The girl had one more flaw she could not even speak.

Once a very famous Dharmacharya came to the king's kingdom and everyone was fascinated by his sermons. The king and Seth approach both visit the Dharmacharya to listen to his sermons and to get their questions answered. The father of the girl inquires about the fate of his daughter. In response, Acharya Maharaj tells Seth that the girl is suffering because of her Karmas in past lives.

As per the Dharmacharya, there was a Seth named Jindev. His wife was beautiful. Both of them used to live with their children. But due to the pride of wealth, the wife had no value for education. If the teachers punished her children, she would call them bad. She would also get into fights with her husband on this matter. The Dharmacharya tell the Seth ‘Your daughter is the same beauty and she is born dumb due to disdain for knowledge.’

Similarly, King Ajitsen too wanted to know about his son Varadatta’s fate. The King wanted to understand why Vardatta was not born with an intellect and suffers from leprosy. The Acharya tells the king that his son too despised knowledge in the previous birth. There was a Seth named Vasu. He had two sons, Vasusara and Vasudev. Once the children get the opportunity to meet a great saint. Both the boys receive education on account of the great saint. Vasudev served the Guru a lot with a pure character, and after the death of the Guru, he got the post of Acharya. At the same time, the other brother becomes greedy. He does not make much effort and enjoys life. Vasudev, on the other hand, used to get very tired because of physical and mental exertion. He becomes sad when he sees his brother enjoying all the pleasures of life without working hard.

Once Vasudev gets very tired of his work and decides to no longer work hard and also resolves to not share his knowledge with others. He stops believing in the power of knowledge. That is why he was born as a fool in this birth. In this way, both the King's son and Seth's daughter are facing problems in this birth because of their past Karma.

It is hence important to always worship knowledge. Kartik Shukla Panchami depicts this importance of knowledge. When one worships knowledge on this day by following all the rituals, his/her problems get eliminated and life gets filled with auspiciousness.

Importance of Gyan Panchami

This day is considered very important in Jain society. Jain scripture was written on this day for the first time. Lord Mahavira's knowledge was compiled into a book by several Acharyas on this day i.e. Jyeshtha Shukla Panchami. Dharsanacharya composed the scripture called Shatkhandagam with the help of Pushpadanta and Bhootha Bali. This book contains information about Jainism. From this day onwards, the Shrut tradition was presented in a scripted form. This auspicious day is celebrated as Shrut Panchami.

On this day, followers of Jain religion express their affection and respect for ancient scriptures. The scriptures are worshiped. Along with this, processions are also held on this day. Knowledge is invaluable for everyone. It is a form of wealth that expands on distribution. Knowledge always illuminates the path of life.