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Jain Agamas


Agamas are original texts of Jainism based on the discourses of the tirthankara. The discourse delivered in a samavasarana (divine preaching hall) is called Śhrut Jnāna and comprises eleven angas and fourteen purvas. The discourse is recorded by Ganadharas (chief disciples), and is composed of twelve angas (departments). It is generally represented by a tree with twelve branches. This forms the basis of the Jaina Agamas or canons. These are believed to have originated from Rishabhanatha, the first tirthankara.

The earliest versions of Jain Agamas known were composed in Ardhamagadhi Prakrit language. Agama is a Sanskrit word which signifies the 'coming' of a body of doctrine by means of transmission through a lineage of authoritative teachers.

Gautamasvami is said to have compiled the most sacred canonical scriptures comprising twelve parts, also referred to as eleven Angas and fourteen Pūrvas, since the twelfth Anga comprises the fourteen Pūrvas. These scriptures are said to have contained the most comprehensive and accurate description of every branch of learning that one needs to know. The knowledge contained in these scriptures was transmitted orally by the teachers to their disciple saints Digambara sect of Jainism maintains that the Agamas were lost during the same famine that the purvas were lost in. According to the Digambaras, Āchārya Bhutabali was the last ascetic who had partial knowledge of the original canon. Later on, some learned Āchāryas started to restore, compile and put into written words the teachings of Lord Mahavira, that were the subject matter of Agamas.Āchārya Dharasen, in first century CE, guided two Āchāryas, Āchārya Pushpadant and Āchārya Bhutabali, to put these teachings in the written form. The two Āchāryas wrote, on palm leaves, Ṣaṭkhaṅḍāgama- among the oldest known Digambara Jaina texts. This was about 683 years after the nirvana of Mahavira.


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