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the entire Jain community. Since then the practice of reciting the Kalpasutra publicly during the paryuşana festival has continued to this day. The recitations are held in every village and every town with any sizcable Jain community.
The Kalpasūtra has been held in a position of special honour among Svetāmbara Jains of all communities. Its study and its recitation has, consequently, been more popular among the Svetambaras.
For the purpose of public recitations, it was necessary that a copy be made available to every vicaka who gave a public recitation. As a result, innumerable copies of the work were made. Hundreds of Kalpasūtra manuscripts, prepared over a period ranging from the twelfth to the twentieth centuries, are available in manuscript libraries and collections. Many of these are illustrated manuscripts, containing from 7 to 125 miniature paintings. Quite a few manuscripts have been written in excellent calligraphy with letters of gold, silver or a beautiful red and black. Decorative borders are also not uncommon. No other canonic text employed the skill of as many painters, calligraphists and decorators as the Kalpasatra.
Exegetic literature on the Kalpasutra
In view of the great popular import of the Kalpasitra, it was natural that many commentaries were written to explain the sense and significance of the Prakrit original. Many Tikas in Sanskrit as well as Niryuktis and Carnis in Prakrit composed at different times have come down to us. A number of explanatory works are also available in Old Rajasthani and Gujarati : these were, evidently,
( xxviii)
1. See Tikas on Kalpasutra.
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