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Jaina Canonical Literature : 197
Cūrṇis viz., Daśavaikālika of Agastyasimha and Cūrṇisūtras on Kasayapahuḍasutta are the earlier among the Curṇi literature.
Among whole of the commentary literature Cūrṇis hold an important place because first, they deal with the various subjects and are directly concerned with social and cultural heritage of Jainism. Secondly, they supply so many informations about the Jaina History pertaining c. 1-6th A.D.
Cūrṇis were succeeded by Sanskrit commentaries written on different Agamic texts, known as Vṛttis or Vivaraņas. Among Sanskrit commentators Haribhadra Suri is the earliest, flourished in the middle of the c. 8th A.D. He wrote commentaries on Avaśyaka, Daśavaikālika, Jīvābhigama, Prajñāpanā, Nandī, Anuyogadvāra and Pindaniryukti. Śilänkācārya, flourished in the c. 9th A.D. believed to have written several commentaries on Agamas but unfortunately at present only two commentaries on Acaränga and Sūtrakṛtānga, are available. After Śīlānka, Abhayadevasūri and Śāntisuri are the prominent names among commentators. Abhayadevasūri has commented upon nine of eleven Angas except Acārānga and Sūtrakṛtānga, hence was called Navāngīvṛttikāra. Säntisūri has written a commentary on Uttaradhyayana-sutra. Both of these later Sanskrit commentators flourished, during c. 10th-11th A.D. This trend of commentary writing is still current in Svetämbara tradition.
In Digambara tradition, Kasāyapāhuḍa and Ṣatkhaṇḍāgama are considered as equivalent to agamas. These works are written in c. 4th 5th A.D. On Kasayapāhuḍa, first commentary was written by Yativṛṣabha in the form of Curni-sütras in c. 6th A.D. After that in c. 9th A.D. Virasena wrote two commentaries--. Jayadhavalā and Dhavala on Kasāyapāhuḍa and Satkhaṇḍāgama respectively. Mahādhavalā is a commentary on the one part of Satkhandagama, written by his disciple Jinasena. These commentaries mainly deal with Jaina philosophy in general and Karma theory in particular.
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