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Jaina Canonical Literature :. 193
secondary canonical works only Prajñāpanā's authorship is known. About the authorship of other works, we are still in dark. The fifth one is Jambudvipaprajñapti, mainly dealing with Jaina Geography in addition to the life history of Rṣabhadeva. The subject matter of next two works, Suryaprajñapti and Candraprajñapti are related with Jaina cosmology in general and Jaina astronomy in particular. Scholars date these works c. 2nd-1 B.C. Other five works of this bunch are very short and rather of less important.
Besides Anga & Upanga canonical literature, Candravedhyaka, Taṇḍulavaicārika, Āturapratyäkhyāna, Mahāpratyākhyāna, Maraṇavibhakti mainly concerned with the Jaina Sadhana, are known as Prakirnakas, in general and Samadhimaraṇa in particular. All these works are, undoubtedly earlier to the c. 4th-5th A.D.
Among the non-canonical works of this period, very few in number are extant, namely Tattvārtha-sūtra and its auto-commentary (c. 3rd-4th A.D.), Paumacariya of Vimalasūri (c. 2nd_5th A.D.) and Digambara works composed in Śaurasenī Prakrit like Kasāyapāhuḍa of Gunadhara (c. 4th A.D.) and Satkhanḍāgama of Puspadanta Bhutabali (about c. 5th A.D.). Apart from these, the works of Kundakunda, Samantabhadra and Siddhasena Divakara may also be considered as the works of early period. Scholars differ on the exact date of composition of these works, except that of Tattvärtha-sutra. They date these works in between c. 2nd -5th A.D.
Niryuktis ate the first among the non-canonical literature. Ten in number, they are of great importance. These Niryuktis mainly explain the meaning of Jaina technical terms from the various standpoints along with the brief account of the subject matter of that particular Agama. Scholars widely differ about the time and authorship of Niryuktis except that of Govindaniryukti. Some are of the opinion that these Niryuktis are composed by Bhadrabahu-I (c. 3rd B.C.) while others consider these to be composed by Bhadrabahu-II, the brother of Varahamihira (c. 6th A.D.). But in my humble opinion, as
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