Simple Paryushan-friendly meal ideas to try during this Jain festival
Jain festival Paryushan revolves strictly around adhering to consuming sattvic food, rooted in ahimsa or non-violence, which means avoiding harm to any living being. This includes avoiding root vegetables such as carrots, garlic, onions, and potatoes, as uprooting them destroys the plant and kills soil organisms. So, devotees skip eating leafy greens and fermented foods, and they eat before sunset. Read more to know about the simple Paryushan-friendly meal ideas.
New Delhi: Paryushan 2025, also called the festival of forgiveness, encourages spiritual growth through fasting, meditation, prayer, and self-restraint. One of the most sacred observances in Jainism, it culminates in the ritual of samvatsari, seeking heartfelt forgiveness by saying Micchami Dukkadam. Every year, Shwetambar Jains observe it for eight days and Digambar Jains celebrate it for ten days. The word Paryushan comes from pari, meaning all sides and ushan, meaning to stay close to the soul. This is a time to pause worldly activities and introspect within.
Paryushan revolves strictly around adhering to consuming sattvic food, rooted in ahimsa or non-violence, which means avoiding harm to any living being. This includes avoiding root vegetables such as carrots, garlic, onions, and potatoes, as uprooting them destroys the plant and kills soil organisms. So, devotees skip eating leafy greens and fermented foods, and they eat before sunset.
Paryushan 2025: Sattvic food plan for breakfast, lunch and dinner
During Paryushan, each dish is prepared with sattvic ingredients that back fasting, good health, and mindfulness. All foods are cooked with minimal oil and very light spices like jeera, hing, haldi, and dhania powder, but without garlic and onion.
1. Breakfast menu ideas
- Warm water with soaked dry fruits
- Methi dana or jeera water
- Fresh fruits such as banana, apple, papaya
- Sprouted green moong salad
- Soaked dry fruits such as almonds, raisins, figs, and dates
- Tender coconut water
2. Lunch before sunset
- Plain khichdi consisting of rice and moong dal without tadka
- Vegetable dishes like bottle gourd, apple gourd, pointed gourd curry, ridge gourd, pumpkin curry
- Moong dal soup or masoor dal
- Wheat flour chapatis without ghee
- Salad consisting of vegetables like cucumber, capsicum, coriander chutney and tomato
3. Evening meal if required
- Simple khichdi or dal rice
- Sabudana khichdi with peanuts
- Kuttu or buckwheat flour pancakes
- Bottle Gourd soup
- Dal dhokli or lentils with wheat dumplings
- Royal Jain-style sweet made of fried bread soaked in sweetened milk, garnished with cardamom and nuts
- Daliya or broken wheat porridge with bottle gourd or apple gourd
- Semolina upma
4. Snacks before sunset
- Roasted makhana with rock salt
- Simple poha with peanuts
- Sama ke chawal khichdi or barnyard millet
- Steamed dhokla without fermentation
With these Paryushan-friendly meal menus, you can easily follow the core values of this Jain festival along with enjoying it.