Achit water is water made free of life, by boiling, so that it can be drunk under the vow; the tradition holds that after a time, life arises in it again and it turns sachitta. Give your city, the date and the time the water finished boiling, and the tool gives the time until which it stays achit by the Shvetambara rule for the season, by the Digambara rule, and by two household tables, with your city’s sunset beside them.
How it works
The Shvetambara rule. The Pravachana Saroddhara (verses 881 and 882) says that thrice-boiled water turns sachitta again after five prahar in summer, four in winter and three in the rains: jayai sacittaya se, gimhammi paharapancagassuvarim, caupaharovari sisire, vasasu puno tipaharuvarim. Muni Nandighoshvijay quotes the verse in Scientific Secrets of Jainism and gives the figures as 15, 12 and 9 hours, and Muni Ratnaprabhvijay gives the same in his Jiva Vichar Prakaranam. Both count the prahar here as three hours, and so does the tool.
The seasons. Summer, winter and the rains are the three seasons of the Shvetambara food rules, which Essence of Jainism (part 1, p. 50) bounds by the full moons of Phalguna, Ashadha and Kartika. The tool finds those full-moon days for your city by the tithi at its sunrise, as our kaal maryada calculator does. Our sources do not say how to count when the season changes while the water is kept, so the tool uses a rule of its own, chosen so that the time shown is never late. The limit is that of the day the water was boiled, and on the day a season changes, the shorter of the two. If the hours run into a day with a shorter limit, the water stays achit until that day begins or until the shorter limit runs out, whichever is later. For example, by our calculation the season in Ahmedabad turns from the monsoon to winter on 24 November 2026, so water boiled there that evening gets the monsoon’s 9 hours, not winter’s 12. The season there turns from summer to the monsoon on 29 July 2026, so water boiled at noon on 28 July stays achit until midnight, when 29 July begins, and water boiled at 8 PM on 28 July gets 9 hours, until 5 AM on 29 July.
The Digambara rule. The Traivarnikachara of Somasena (chapter 10, verse 106) says that strained water turns sachitta after one muhurta, 48 minutes, and heated water after one day and night, in every season. The tool gives both.
The household tables. The Jainism Study Notes of the International School for Jain Studies (vol. 3, 2012, section 6.2) give strained water 48 minutes, strained water with cloves 6 hours, boiled water 12 hours and water boiled many times 24 hours. Natubhai Shah’s table of time limits (Jainism: The World of Conquerors, Table 6.4, p. 324) gives boiled water 4 to 7 hours in the Indian winter, and he says that in summer it could be less. Neither table names a sect.
Clock times. Times are on your city’s own clock, daylight saving included. Sunset is worked out the same way as on our pachkhan time calculator; checked against the Swiss Ephemeris for eight test places on every day of 2026, it agreed to within 10 seconds. We checked the Shvetambara limit itself against an independent calculation for those eight places, at three times of day on every fifth day of 1900, 2026 and 2073, and every 20 minutes on the three days up to each change of season in those years: all 20,808 results agreed, clock time included, and water boiled later never got an earlier time.
Reading the result
The first line gives the Shvetambara answer and the reason for it: the season, or the shorter limit on a day of change or on the day before one. The cards show the season, the Shvetambara and Digambara times and the sunset. The table then lists every rule we follow, with the clock time for each. If the water was boiled close to sunset, the first line says so: with chauvihar no water is taken after sunset, while tivihar allows water at night, as Natubhai Shah describes the two vows.
Where traditions differ
The Shvetambara rule changes with the season; the Digambara rule we cite does not. They also start from different water: the Shvetambara verse speaks of water boiled three times, the Digambara verse of water that has been heated. The ISJS figure for boiled water, 12 hours, is shorter than the Digambara day and night; against the Shvetambara rule it is shorter in summer, the same in winter and longer in the monsoon. Natubhai Shah’s 4 to 7 hours is the shortest figure for boiled water of all. These are different reckonings kept by different sanghs, not errors to be averaged, so follow the one your family keeps. Sanghs may also change the season on a different day from the one the tool uses: if yours does, follow it.
What it does not do
It does not tell you how to boil or store water; Science of Dhovana Water (Jeoraj Jain) notes that the Shvetambara practice it describes keeps boiled water out of the refrigerator. It does not cover dhovana, the washing water some ascetics accept, or water kept with lime, which have rules of their own, and it does not cover water boiled again after its time is up. It gives no health advice. Your own sangh’s practice comes first.
Frequently asked questions
↳ How long does boiled water stay achit?
By the Shvetambara rule of the Pravachana Saroddhara, 15 hours in summer, 12 in winter and 9 in the monsoon, from the time it finished boiling. By the Digambara Traivarnikachara, one day and night for heated water.
↳ Why is the monsoon limit the shortest?
The verse sets it so: three prahar in the rains, four in winter and five in summer. Our sources give no further reason, and the tool applies the verse as it stands.
↳ What is a prahar here?
Three hours, as both Shvetambara sources we follow count it for this rule. In the pachkhan times a prahar is a quarter of the daylight instead, which is why our pachkhan tools work it out from sunrise and sunset.
↳ Can achit water be drunk after sunset?
Not by those who keep chauvihar, which allows nothing between sunset and sunrise. Tivihar allows water at night. The tool shows your city's sunset beside the time limit.
↳ Can the water be boiled again when the time is up?
Jeoraj Jain's Science of Dhovana Water takes up this question (answer to question 6). It says that what the first boiling killed stays in the water, and that boiling the water again after its time is up may make it unfit to drink. So the tool gives the time for water boiled once, and does not treat a second boiling as a fresh start. Your own sangh's practice comes first.
↳ When does the season change?
On the full moons of Phalguna, Ashadha and Kartika, by the tithi at your city's sunrise. The tool names the season and, on the day of a change, uses the shorter limit. If the hours run into a day with a shorter limit, the water stays achit until that day begins or until the shorter limit runs out, whichever is later. Our sources do not set out these two counting rules; they are the tool's own, chosen so that the time shown is never late.
Sources. Shvetambara rule: Pravachana Saroddhara, verses 881 and 882, as given by Muni Nandighoshvijay, Scientific Secrets of Jainism (Research Institute of Scientific Secrets from Indian Oriental Scriptures, Ahmedabad), pp. 290 and 291; the same figures in Muni Ratnaprabhvijay, Jiva Vichar Prakaranam, p. 27. Seasons: Muni Kushalchandravijay, Essence of Jainism part 1, p. 50. Digambara rule: Traivarnikachara of Bhattaraka Somasena, chapter 10, verse 106, with its Hindi gloss. Household table: International School for Jain Studies, Jainism Study Notes vol. 3 (2012), section 6.2. Chauvihar and tivihar: Natubhai Shah, Jainism: The World of Conquerors, chapter 4.13, p. 221; his household figure for boiled water: the same book, chapter 6.5, Table 6.4, p. 324. Storage and boiling again: Jeoraj Jain, Science of Dhovana Water (Samyag Gyan Pracharak Mandal), answers to questions 4 and 6. Corrections are seva: tell us.