Gyan Panchami, on Kartik Shukla Panchami, is a Shwetambar Jain observance in which knowledge and the scriptures are worshipped; in Gujarat the same day is also called Saubhagya Panchami and Labh Panchami. In 2026 it falls on Saturday 14 November: the Panchami tithi runs from 8:43 pm on 13 November to 11:25 pm on 14 November (New Delhi, checked against Drik Panchang). The Digambar Shruta Panchami is a different day, Jyeshtha Shukla Panchami, when the scriptures are worshipped in memory of the writing down of the Shatkhandagama.
In 2026 (New Delhi)
- Gyan Panchami
- Saturday 14 November 2026
- Panchami tithi
- 8:43 pm, 13 November to 11:25 pm, 14 November
- Sunrise
- 6:43 am, 14 November
- Shruta Panchami (Digambar)
- Jyeshtha Shukla Panchami; in 2026 it fell on 19 June
Tithi times from our panchang, checked against Drik Panchang (Drik: Panchami 8:42 pm to 11:23 pm). Drik Panchang lists the day as Labh Panchami and says it is also called Gyan Panchami in Gujarat.
How Gyan Panchami is kept
John Cort observed among Shwetambar Jains of Patan in north Gujarat that on this day the puja of knowledge is done first and only then is work begun; the real reopening of shops after Diwali is on this day too. Many keep an ayambil or a full fast. The puja is done at five places, for the five kinds of knowledge: books are set out in tiers, vasakshepa powder is sprinkled on them, svastikas are made of rice and a five-wick arati is waved. Sermons draw on the Gyan Panchami stories, written in Prakrit and Sanskrit over about a thousand years.
The five kinds of knowledge are listed in the Tattvartha Sutra (1.9): mati (through the senses and mind), shruta (from scripture), avadhi, manahparyaya and kevala. By JAINA and the Oshwal community of the UK, 51 khamasamanas and the japa “om hrim namo nanassa” are also part of the day’s practice by tradition.
The popular story: Varadatta and Gunamanjari
By the popular story, Gunamanjari, a merchant’s daughter, is ill and Prince Varadatta cannot learn. Acharya Vijayasena tells them of their past lives: Gunamanjari had shown disrespect to books, and Varadatta, as an acharya, had refused to teach. The remedy is the Gyan Panchami vow, kept on every bright fifth for five years and five months. Both are healed, take diksha and in time attain moksha.
This outline is in Cort (who names Vijayalakshmisuri’s Upadeshaprasada, 1787, story 215, as its source) and on Jainsite; the tellings differ in small points (in Jainsite’s, Gunamanjari is mute and had destroyed her children’s books). The Bhandarkar Institute’s manuscript catalogue lists a Sanskrit Varadatta-Gunamanjari story “on the great austerity of Kartik Shukla Panchami”.
The Digambar Shruta Panchami
In the Digambar tradition the day of scripture worship is Jyeshtha Shukla Panchami, called Shruta Panchami. By Indranandi’s Shrutavatara (verses 142–144), Acharya Bhutabali composed the Shatkhandagama, set it down in a book and worshipped the book with the fourfold sangha on Jyeshtha Shukla Panchami; the day has since been known as Shruta Panchami, and Jains still worship scripture on it. By Dundas, Acharya Dharasena taught Pushpadanta and Bhutabali in the Cave of the Moon on Girnar, and on Shruta Panchami manuscripts are taken out, dusted, recopied and worshipped. Jaini calls the Shatkhandagama probably the first written scripture.
Where the traditions and sources differ
- The day: the Shwetambar Gyan Panchami is on Kartik Shukla Panchami, the Digambar Shruta Panchami on Jyeshtha Shukla Panchami. Both worship the scriptures, for different reasons on different days.
- The story: Gunamanjari is ill (Cort) or mute (Jainsite); her fault is disrespect to books (Cort) or destroying her children’s books (Jainsite).
Frequently asked questions
When is Gyan Panchami in 2026?
On Saturday 14 November 2026, Kartik Shukla Panchami. The Panchami runs from 8:43 pm on 13 November to 11:25 pm on 14 November (New Delhi).
What is the difference between Gyan Panchami and Shruta Panchami?
Gyan Panchami is kept on Kartik Shukla Panchami in the Shwetambar tradition; Shruta Panchami on Jyeshtha Shukla Panchami in the Digambar tradition, in memory of the writing down of the Shatkhandagama (Indranandi, Shrutavatara 142–144).
Why is Gyan Panchami also called Labh Panchami?
In Gujarat it is the same day: by Drik Panchang it is called Saubhagya Panchami, Gyan Panchami and Labh Pancham, and by Cort shops really reopen after Diwali on this day.
What is done on Gyan Panchami?
Puja of books at five places for the five kinds of knowledge, vasakshepa, rice svastikas and a five-wick arati; many keep an ayambil or a fast (Cort).
Sources
- Drik Panchang, New Delhi: Labh Panchami 2026 and day panchang for 14 November 2026 (read 20 October 2026)
- John E. Cort, Jains in the World (Oxford University Press, 2001), pp. 172–175
- Umasvati, Tattvartha Sutra 1.9 (Nathmal Tatia’s translation, That Which Is, 1994)
- Indranandi, Shrutavatara, verses 142–146 (Bharatvarshiya Anekant Vidvat Parishad, pp. 95–97)
- Paul Dundas, The Jains, 2nd edition (Routledge, 2002), ch. 3; Padmanabh S. Jaini, The Jaina Path of Purification, pp. 50, 203–204
- Jainsite: the Gyan Panchami story; JAINA newsletter, 25 October 2017; Oshwal Association of the UK: Gyan Panchami
- H. R. Kapadia, catalogue of Jain manuscripts at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (jainqq.org/explore/018043)
- “2026 Jain Calendar Special Dates”, based on the Jain Tithi Darpan, Songadh (AtmaDharma.com, PDF)
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