Sanskrit Manuscripts : Kalpasūtrāvacūri

Bhadrabāhu, Kulamaṇḍanasūri, Bhadrabāhu, Kulamaṇḍanasūri

Sanskrit Manuscripts

<p style='text-align: justify;'> Traditionally attributed to Bhadrabāhu the <i>Kalpasūtra</i> is a major canonical text of the Śvetāmbara Jains, composed in Ardhamāgadhī Prakrit, in a mixture of prose and verse, and containing the life-stories of the twenty-four Jinas, in particular Neminātha, Pārśvanātha and Mahāvīra. This <i>Avacūri</i> was composed by Kulamaṇḍanasūri on the basis of Jinaprabhasūri's commentary Sandehaviṣauṣadhi, 14th century. It is also called <i>Antarvācanā</i>, „a sort of indirect commentary. It narrates the legends suggested in the text and explains the ritual connected with the reading of the <i>Kalpasūtra</i>“ (Velankar 1944: p. 78). Kulamaṇḍanasūri was one of the five prominent disciples of Devasundarasūri, the 49th pontiff of the Tapāgaccha. He was born in V.S. 1409, became <i>Sūri</i> in V.S. 1442 and died in V.S. 1455 (cf. Klatt 1882: p. 255). Based on these dates, this <i>Avacūri</i> can be dated between V.S. 1442 and V.S. 1455. He composed also an <i>Avacūri</i> on the Prajñāpanātṛtīyapadasaṁgrahaṇī (cf. Balbir 2006: Cat. No. 80). </p>