________________
CHAPTER XX
KALPA SŪTRA
The Kalpasūtra is supposed to have been composed in its original form by Bhadrabāhu. In its present forin it is a compilation made in 9801 years after the passing a way of Mahāvīra, i.c. A.D. 454, during the reign of Dhruvasena, king of Gujarat. Yusovijaya, Devicandra, Jñanavimala, and Samayasundara wrote commentaries on this text. All of them were most probably written between fifteenth and seventeenth centuries according to Dr. Stevenson. Jacobi in the introduction to his edition of the Kalpasūtra says, that the oldest commentary that he has used is the Pañjikū written by Jina Prabhamuni. There are various printed editions of this text. This text has been translated by H.
in S.B.E., Vol. XXIT and by Dr. J. Stevenson in 1818. There is an edition of this work by Hermann Jacobi with an introduction, notes and il Prākrit-Sanskrit Glossary published in 1879.
According to the Svetāmbaras, the Kulpestro is a great authority and is always read publicly during the l'arsūrisa or Puijusun. The major portion of this work is devoted to the biography of Mahāvīra. The archair style in which this portion is written has got much in common with the old sūtras written in prose. The Jinacaritra, the Sthavīrāvuli and the Sāmācāris collected together in one book wder the title of Kalpasūtra were, according to the tradition, included in Devarddhigaņin's recension of the Jaina scriptures, though it is not contained in the Siddhānta. The Kalpasūtra is said to contain 1,216 grunthus. A careful study of the text leads us to calculate more than 100 granthas above the fixed number.
The text is full of repetitions. The entire kalpa-sūtra was read on the first night of the Pajjūsun but since it was read in the sabhā of king Dhruvasena of Anandapura to console him after the death of his beloved son, it was explained in nine vācunās or vyākhyānus.
There are two Kalpa stītras: the Kalpasūtra of Bhadrabāhu and the old Kalpasūtru edited by Schubring, which is only a collection of monastic rules.
1 The date 980 corresponds with 454 of the Christian cru on the supposition that at that time Nirvāra was placed 470 before l'ikrama. But if at that time the older tradition, by means of which the date of Nirrūna was fixed, was still in use, the corresponding year of the Christian era would be 514 A.D.
