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Bhagwan Mahavir and Gautam Ganadhar. He attained Samadhi at the age of 96 at Kundradri in Karnataka.
Historical Importance and Works Jainism is not founded by anyone at any time in history. It predates known history. It is revealed by Thirthankaras/ Arihants from time to time and communicated to generations and generations by Acharyas, saints and other scholars. The present available Jain literature stems from Bhagwan Mahavir and his disciple Gautam Ganadhar. Kundakund Acharya remains most prominent one after them. After about 600 years of Lord Mahavir's nirvana, it was Acharya Kundakund who re-established his teachings with its pristine grandeur, depth and spirit and is being continuously revered by all seekers of truth since last 2000 years. Even inscriptions on all the idols in digamber tradition bear his name.
"Had Shri Padmanandinath (Shri Kundakund Acharya) not enlightened with the divine knowledge gained from the present Thirthankar Shri Simandhar Swamy of Videhkshetra, how could the monks know the true path"
- Devsen Acharya, Darshansar
"He was the most accomplished monk among accomplished monks and the latter hovered around, hummed and took shelter like bees under lotus (Kund). He was the pure soul who consecrated the teachings of Thirthankaras in this Bharat Kshetra. Who will not have reverence for such a grear personality on the earth?"
- An Inscription on Chandragiri Mountain, Gommetshwara, Karnataka
The scriptures composed by him are treated as authentic as preachings of Ganadhar. His five major works, Samayasar, Pravachansar, Panchastikay, Niyamasar and Ashtapahud are known as best ever written. These unravel the mystery of the Universe and almost guarantee realization of pure soul and moksha to anyone who delves into them. His other works include Parikarm, Moolachar, Rayanasar, Dasabhakti, Barasanuvekkha, and Kural, although there are controversies about the authors of some of these works. He has written 84 Pahud scriptures but many of these have been lost. He spent prolonged periods of time writing scriptures due to which his neck posture got slightly affected. As a result, many of his followers fondly addressed him as Vakragriva. The major five works of Kundakund are uncomparable whatsoever anywhere in terms of its coverage, subject matter, depth and subtleness. A brief introduction about these is given below;
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Panchastikay deals with five substances viz. soul, atom, dharma (motion), adharma (medium of rest) and space. "Asti" implies existence and "kay" means the space occupied by the substance. Time - the sixth substance occupies only one space unit while the other five substances occupy more than one unit of space. This book deals with internal structure, nature and basic properties of substances in the Universe. This promotes understanding of existence of our soul in the Universe vis-à-vis other substance. Pravachanasar refers to the essence (sar) of the teachings (pravachan) of the omniscient Arihants. The eternal principle of right conduct of Jain philosophy based on right faith and right knowledge. Right conduct is undoubtedly the Dharma which stands for equanimity and equanimity knows no attachments or sorrow and is caused by realization of soul. Niyamasar describes about the rule that guarantees moksha. The book deals with cause and effect relation in the self which leads to right faith, right knowledge and right conduct. It contains a detailed discussion on eternal and continuous "bhav" known as "paramparinamika". Other than this bhav, no other bhavas are conducive to the path of
