________________ Also the fact that these (Aupapatika and Jivabhigama) were recognised as Upangas of the Argasutras, which in turn depicts the fact that they were scripted in ancient times." The current Agama Aupapatika Sutra vivaciously describes the characteristics and qualities of Lord Mahavira, the Samavasarana that He gave sermons in, His disciples who had ordained sainthood, the penance that was undertaken during His time and such other information. It also illustrates the lives of King Kunika and Queen Dharini (Subhadra) and gives a detailed picture of the township called Campa with the help of pleasingly eloquent words. Several treatises such as the Bhagvati Sutra etc. have also mentioned the aforementioned descriptions and have written "Jaha uvavaie" which means to say that "refer to the Uvavai Sutra (Aupapatika Sutra in Sanskrit ) for a comprehensive description of the same". Similarly there are multiple references of the Aupapatika Sutra in various scriptures and the references have been noted in the annexure. While preparing the critical edition of Aupapatika-Sutra with the oldest available Sanskrit commentary by Acarya Abhayadevasuri, we have referred to the following palm leaf manuscripts as well as paper manuscripts: 1) With the help of Acarya Sheelchandrasuriji we received the CD of the palm leaf manuscript No. 15 of Khambhat's Shantinath Taad Patriya Gyan Bhandar. The same CD was also obtained from Acarya Kailashsagarsurji Gyan Mandir situated in Koba, Ahmedabad. We have assigned the sign ai. or .. to the aforementioned palm leaf manuscript. Muni Shri Punyavijayji had prepared the transcript copy (pratilipi) of Khambhat's manuscript which contained the Aupapatika Sutra without Acarya Abhayadevasuri's tika i.e. the oldest available Sanskrit commentary. Also Muni Shri Punyavijayji had incorporated the variant readings (patha bheda) of the tika to the published text of the Aupapatika Sutra with tika, which was edited by Agamoddharaka Ananadsagarsuriji. Muni Shri Punyavijayji incorporated to it the variant readings (pamha bheda) of the commentary (tika). The two aforementioned manuscripts were preserved with the L.D. Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad. We have been able to obtain the same from the L.D. Institute of Indolody,Ahmedabad. with the help of Dr. Jitendrakumar B. Shah. 3) We received images of the palm leaf manuscript numbered 24/1 and 24/2 and kept at Jinbhadrasuri Gyan Bhandar located in Jaisalmer. We received these from Surat based Shri Nemi Vigyan Kastursuri Gyan Mandir with the kind support of Acarya Somchandrasuriji, the disciple of Acarya Ashokchandrasuriji. J is the sign assigned to this palm leaf manuscript
