Agam 35 Chhed 02 Bruhatkalpa Sutra

Author(s): K C Lalwani
Publisher: Motilal Banarasidas

Page 12

Kalpa Sūtra
has a fairly long list of names of men who had been the leaders of the Jaina church till the time of writing, and who, in fact, were the founders of innumerable denominations called gaņas kulas, gacchas and sākhās into which the Jaina church got itself fragmented, both vertically and horizontally, over several centuries, before Jainism as a powerful religion, particularly in the eastern region and in tlie deep south, was knocked off its pedestal and perhaps it will not be wrong to add that it has not regained its original position to this day, but is a religion of a small minority group.
As the earliest account of the life of the Tirthańkaras, the 24th 23rd, 22nd and 1st, -since the arrangement of the text moves back in time,-Kalpa Sūtra should in the fitness of things, occupy a unique position. Scholars have divided this work into three parts as Tirthankaras, Church Leaders and Parjuşaņā, the last one being a code for the monks during the rainy season. For the present translation, however, the work has been divided into seven parts as follows: śramaņa Bhagavān Mahavira, Arhat Pārsva, Arhat Ariştanemi, twenty other Tirthankaras, Arhat Ķşabha, Church Leaders and Parjuşaņā. Parjuşaņā in this text seems to have a wider connotation spreading as it may over the entire rainy season and is not just restricted to a few days during this season.
Among the Agamic texts, Kalpa Sūtra belongs to a group called Cheda Sūtras. It is, however, not known what the word cheda stands for. Going by the contents of these texts, it would appear that they contain rules about personal behaviour and organisational discipline to be observed by the monks. How a work on the biographies of the Tīrthankara entered into this group is anybody's guess. Among the Cheda Sūtras, three names usually go together which are Dasā-Kappa-Vavahāra (GET-CTqaat) and they are compiled into one text called Sruta Skandha. Kalpa Sūtra is the eighth chapter of the Dasă text.
The word kalpa stands for the mode of some religious practice, usually a sacrifice; but in the Jaina context, it should mean the code of conduct of the monks during religious festivities. For the word sūtra, we have the following definition: