Lilotri is the everyday Gujarati word for green vegetables, and leaving them out on the parva tithis is one of the most widely kept Jain household vows. This tool takes the city and the date you choose, finds the tithi current at that city’s sunrise, and tells you whether the day is a lilotri day under each of the two customs described in the sources below. It also says whether the date falls inside the eight months when leafy greens are not eaten at all, and lists the lilotri days of the next thirty days.
How it works
The tithi at sunrise. The tool uses the same calculation as our Jain tithi and parva days tool and the pachkhan time calculator: the tithi current at your city’s sunrise names the whole civil day. Sunrise is the moment the upper edge of the Sun appears, with the usual allowance for the air bending its light. We checked this against the Swiss Ephemeris for eight test places over 10,220 days, from 1900 to 2074: sunrise agreed to within 8 seconds, and the tithi at sunrise agreed on every day except 5, each of which had a tithi change less than a minute from sunrise.
Two customs. The sources we follow describe two sets of days:
- Twelve tithis. Bij, Pancham, Aatham, Agiyaras and Chaudas of both fortnights, with Punam and Amas, as Introduction to Jainism (edited by Gunvant Barvalia) lists them: on these days, it says, householders refrain from green vegetables and roots.
- Five tithis. Shukla Pancham, the Aatham of both fortnights and the Chaudas of both fortnights. Natubhai Shah, in Jainism: The World of Conquerors, writes that most Jains keep these five as sacred days and avoid harming even plant life on them.
A skipped or doubled tithi. A tithi that begins and ends between two sunrises is at no sunrise, and a long one can be at two. The tool keeps a skipped parva tithi on the day before, and a doubled one on the second of its two days, the Shvetambara reading our tithi tool already uses. The day’s card says when this moved anything.
The eight months without leafy greens. Muni Kushalchandravijay’s Essence of Jainism (part 1, p. 50) says that leafy vegetables such as tandalja, methi, kothmir and patarvel, with dates and dry fruit, are not eaten for eight months, from Phalguna Shukla 14 to Kartika Shukla 15. The tool finds those two days for your city by the same sunrise rule.
Reading the result
The first line answers the question for the date you chose. The cards then give:
- Tithi at sunrise, with the time it ends, on your city’s clock.
- Twelve parva tithis and Five parva tithis: “No green vegetables” when the custom keeps that day, with the parva named.
- Leafy greens: whether the date is inside the eight months, and their first and last days.
- Digambara parva: Ashtami or Chaturdashi when a Digambara calendar keeps one that day, for information.
The table below the cards lists every day of the next thirty that either custom keeps.
Where traditions differ
Both lists are drawn from the Shvetambara parva tithis. The twelve-tithi list is the one Introduction to Jainism gives for householders, and the five-tithi list is the one Natubhai Shah says most Jains keep; your family’s practice decides which applies to you. The eight months without leafy greens come from Essence of Jainism, the work of a Shvetambara Murtipujak muni. Sanghs also differ on how a skipped or doubled Punam or Amas is kept, and the table marks those days.
Digambara practice centres its parva days on Ashtami and Chaturdashi, the days of proshadhopavasa in the Traivarnikachara of Somasena (chapter 10, verse 113), and Digambara calendars such as the Songadh calendar keep the first of two days when such a tithi is doubled. We have no Digambara text that sets out a lilotri rule, so the tool shows the Digambara parva for information only.
What it does not do
It does not tell you which vegetables your family counts as lilotri, or whether dried vegetables are allowed: households answer that differently, and the sources above do not settle it. It does not cover the days of Ayambil Oli, when the ayambil meal has no green vegetable in it by its own rule, or the Paryushan week. It does not know your sangh’s own calendar. Where your sangh or teacher differs from this page, follow them: the vow is kept with them, not with a website.
Frequently asked questions
↳ What does lilotri mean?
Green vegetables, in everyday Gujarati. Leaving them out on the parva tithis is a household vow. Roots and tubers are a separate rule, among the 22 abhakshya, and those who keep it keep it every day: see the abhakshya checker.
↳ Which days are lilotri days?
Under the twelve-tithi custom, Bij, Pancham, Aatham, Agiyaras and Chaudas of both fortnights, with Punam and Amas. Under the five-tithi custom, Shukla Pancham and the Aatham and Chaudas of both fortnights. The tool shows both, so you can read the one your family keeps.
↳ Why does my calendar show a different day?
Usually for one of three reasons: a skipped or doubled tithi, which sanghs handle in different ways; the calendar was printed for another city, whose sunrise is at another time; or the tithi changes within a minute or so of sunrise, when two careful calendars can disagree. For the vow, follow your own sangh's panchang.
↳ Are leafy greens eaten in the monsoon?
By the rule in Essence of Jainism, leafy vegetables, dates and dry fruit are not eaten for eight months, from Phalguna Shukla 14 to Kartika Shukla 15, which covers the monsoon. The tool gives those two days for your city and year. Your sangh's practice comes first.
↳ Do Digambara Jains keep lilotri?
Digambara practice keeps Ashtami and Chaturdashi as its parva days, with fasting on them as the Traivarnikachara describes. We have not found a Digambara text that sets out a green-vegetable rule, so the tool shows the Digambara parva without a lilotri verdict. Ask your own sangh.
↳ Can I check another city or another year?
Yes: any city in the world and any date from 1900 to 2074. The tithi and the eight months are worked out for the sunrise of the city you choose, on that city's own clock.
Sources. Twelve parva tithis: Gunvant Barvalia (ed.), Introduction to Jainism (Arham Spiritual Centre and the Saurashtra Kesari Pranguru Jain Philosophical and Literary Research Centre, Mumbai), section "Parva tithis". Five parva tithis: Natubhai Shah, Jainism: The World of Conquerors, chapter 5.7, "Jain sacred days and festivals", p. 282. The eight months without leafy greens: Muni Kushalchandravijay, Essence of Jainism part 1 (108 Jain Tirth Darshan Trust), p. 50. Digambara parva days: Traivarnikachara of Bhattaraka Somasena, chapter 10, verse 113. The rule for a skipped or doubled tithi is the one our tithi tool follows and explains. Corrections are seva: tell us.