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Jain Education International
PAINTINGS OF KALPASŪTRA
SASTRADANA-the gift of religious books to secure merit has always been considered a virtuous act among the Jains. They have great reverence for such gifts and perform a special Jñana pūjā (or wisdom worship) on the fifth day of the bright half of the month of Kartik (September-October). This idea of reverence for learning acted as the main inspiration in the creation of Jain Sastra (or Grantha) bhandaras filled as they are with illustrated (and unillustrated) manuscripts. Both monks and śravakas contributed in this field equally-monks by their influence on the society and śravakas through their financial resources. Illustrating the monk's contribution Kastoor Chand Kasliwal observed, "Since Acarya Bhadrabahu upto 16th C. A. D. there were powerful personalities among them and their influence on the public was tremendous. They used to travel throughout the country on foot and explain to the Jain intelligentsia the importance of the sacred texts. Acarya Kunda Kunda Umaswami, Sidhasena, Devanandi, Devardhigani, Akalank, Haribhadra Suri, Jinasena, Gunabhadra and Hemchandra etc. not only filled the shastra bhandars with their own works but preached the importance of writing down the manuscripts to the masses. They took initiative in the foundation of these blandars. They spent the best part of their life in establishing these store-houses of knowledge for the posterity".
It is difficult to say when did this tradition of Sastradina start but it must have been after the assembly of Pataliputra in which it was decided to record the oral traditions of Jain faith; a further stage was to establish Granth bhandars. There was no specific rule for Sastradana-means there were no
1. Dr. Kastoor Chand Kasliwal, Jaina Grantha Bhandars in Rajasthan, Jaipur 1967, p. 4
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