Akshaya Tritiya

Akshaya Tritiya, also known as Akha Teej is a Hindu and Jain[citation needed] holy day, that falls on the third Tithi (Lunar day) of Bright Half (Shukla Paksha) of Hindi month of Vaishakha.

Jainism is one of the oldest known religion of world. Rishabhadeva alias Adinath is the first Tirthankara of the Jain. The Day of Akshay Tratiya is worshipped and said auspicious in Jainism because -

Tirthankara Rshabhdeva was king of Ayodhya. He being enlightened gave up all earthly pleasures and chose to lead the life of an ascetic and become a Jain monk. Jain monks do not possess anything,not even food. They do not even cook food for themselves. While hungry or thirsty, they go to people and ask for food or drinking water. Tirthankara Rshabhdeva also went to people and asked food. However, the people of that time did not know anything about the acts of monks, as he was the first monk in this era. People of Ayodhya offered gold, jewellery, gemstones, elephants, horses, expensive garments and even their daughters to honour their beloved king. Rshabhdeva was not in quest of all these. He wanted only 36 morsel of food,and that no body offered him. No body at that time could guess that their king was asking for food. As there was no choice, he had to fast for long time until his grand son Shreyansha kumara understood his need. Shreyansha kumara, finally, offered him sugar cane juice and Rshabhdeva broke his fast with that juice after 1 year. The incident happened on the day of Akshaya Tritiya. This is considered by the Jains as one of the best offerings. It is believed that bestowing upon religious gifts on Akshaya Tritiya becomes inexhaustible. Jains, even today, observe longterm fast to commemorate their first Tirthankara Rshabhadeva and broke their fast on Akshaya Tritiya with sugar cane juice.