Ayambil Oli 2018

Ayambil Oli is a nine-day Jain period of austerity devoted to purification, restraint and the Navpad—the nine supreme spiritual entities and principles honoured in Jain tradition.

Ayambil Oli, or Navpad Oli, is a nine-day Jain period of restraint observed twice yearly, in the bright halves of Chaitra and Ashwin. It is particularly important in Shvetambara traditions. Worship focuses on the nine revered positions of the Siddhachakra: Arihant, Siddha, Acharya, Upadhyaya, Sadhu, right faith, right knowledge, right conduct and austerity. Each day emphasizes one of these, joining reverence for spiritual teachers with the qualities needed for liberation.

An important devotional narrative is that of King Shripal and Queen Mayanasundari. Popular Jain retellings describe Shripal's suffering from serious illness and Mayanasundari's trust in the Navpad. Guided by spiritual teaching, they practise devotion and restraint; the story speaks of recovery and renewed prosperity. It is a Jain religious account, not evidence that dietary austerity cures disease. Its moral centre includes patience, discipline, compassion and confidence in right knowledge.

An ayambil observer traditionally eats one simple, plain meal during the day, avoiding rich ingredients and pleasures of taste, while engaging in prayer, samayik, study and charity. Local teachers should guide appropriate practice, especially where illness makes fasting unsafe. The existing database rules identify Shukla Saptami starts in Chaitra and Ashwin, but the nine-day span through Purnima must be represented rather than only the first day.

Ayambil Oli is significant to the community that observes it and helps preserve religious, family and cultural continuity.

One meal a day for nine days, boiled and without salt, oil, sugar, milk, curd, fruit or spice - usually rice, wheat or lentils with hot water. It is kept in a cycle of nine years and nine oli to complete. The ayambil shala at the temple cooks it, so nobody keeping it has to cook differently from the rest of the house.

Kept twice a year and both times for nine days - in Chaitra ending at Chaitri Poonam, and in Ashwin ending at Aso Poonam. The autumn one runs alongside Navratri, so a Jain household and its Hindu neighbours keep the same nine days for opposite reasons: fasting against feasting.