Jain eight-day festival (Ashtami to Purnima) honouring the devas' worship at Nandishwar Dweep

Kartika Ashtahnika is one of the three Ashtahnika Mahaparvas of the Jain calendar, held in the last eight days of the bright half of Kartika, Ashadha and Phalguna, from Ashtami to Purnima. According to Jain cosmology, in these eight days the devas travel to Nandishwar Dweep, the eighth continent, which mortals cannot reach, to worship the 52 eternal Jinalayas (temples with self-existent Jina images) with great festivity. Humans on earth, unable to go there, perform the Nandishwar Dweep puja and the Siddhachakra Mandal Vidhan in their own temples to share in that devotion. The festival is especially important among Digambar Jains, and its legend tells of Queen Mainasundari, who performed the Siddhachakra vidhan during Ashtahnika and cured her husband Shripal of leprosy. Devotees keep fasts (upvas, ekasana or ayambil), perform the eightfold puja (ashtaprakari puja), abhishek of the Jina images, and scriptural study, and many temples hold rath yatras on the closing Purnima. The Kartika Ashtahnika also coincides with the end of Chaturmas, when monks and nuns resume their travels.

Upvas (only boiled water in daylight), ekasana (one meal) or ayambil (one bland meal) for the eight days.