Akshaya Tritiya, also known as Akha Teej is a Hindu and Jain holy day. Akshaya Tritiya falls on the third day of the bright half of Vaishakh month (April-May), when the Sun and Moon are in exaltation; they are simultaneously at their peak of brightness, which happens only once every year.
The word “Akshaya” means the never diminishing in Sanskrit and the day is believed to bring good luck and success. It is believed that if you do a charity on this day you will be blessed and will receive blessings many fold. Nowadays jewellers have turned the purity into a marketing gimmick. The day is particularly considered auspicious for starting new ventures. The legend states that any venture initiated on the auspicious day of Akshaya Tritiya shall continue to grow and bring prosperity. Hence, it is normal to see many of the new ventures, like starting a business, ground breaking for construction on the Akshaya Tritiya.
Akshaya Tritiya day is the very auspicious day – there’s no inauspiciousness to be found today so even checking muhurthas is considered unnecessary, so auspicious it is.
According to Hindu mythology, Akshay Tritiiya was the day when Veda Vyasa started dictating the epic Mahabharata to Ganesha, the elephant-headed god of wisdom and obstacle removal.
It is also traditionally observed as the birthday of Parashurama, the sixth incarnation of god Vishnu. The Puranic scriptures speak about how he reclaimed the land from the sea.
The legend according to the Jains goes like,Tirthankara Rshabhdeva , king of Ayodhya was enlightened and 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.
