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The Devendrastava means 'hymns of the Jinas' and concerns praise of the Jinas by the king of the celestial beings.
The Ganitavidya means 'prognostics' and deals with auspicious dates and omens in monastic life.
The Mahaapratyaakhyaana means 'great renunciation and deals with renunciation at the time of death.
The Virastava means 'hymns to Mahavira' and deals with the virtues of Mahavira, and praises him.
Many brief and extended commentaries on the canon are available; most of them were composed between the 6th and 13th centuries in both Sanskrit and Prakrit.
Digambar Scriptures Digambars believe that the canon was largely lost through lapses of memory. However, after their separation from the original sangha, in the in early part of the second century CE, Dharasena, who had some knowledge of the ancient texts, passed them onto Puspadanta and Bhutabali (Jain, H. 1939-58: vol.1 pp.67-72). Puspadanta composed the first 20 cardinal sutras, and Bhutabali completed the rest of the work running to 6000 sutras and organising it into six parts. This work is known as Satkhandaagama, on which in the ninth century CE Virasena wrote a commentary known as Dhavalaa. Aacaarya Gunadhara, a contemporary of Bhutabali, wrote the second canonical text known as Kasaaya-praabhruta (paahuda), on which Virasena began a detailed commentary named as Jayadhavalaa, which was completed by his disciple Jinasena. Digambars accept these two texts, Satkhandaagama and Kasaayapaahuda as their canon, which were discovered in Mudabidre in early part of the twentieth century.
The Satkhandaagama has six sections and its contents are based on what was remembered of the primary canon. It contains a theory of karma and the basic Jain principles; describes the fourteen forms of the spiritual path (marganas) and the fourteen spiritual stages; and contains several sections dealing with karma from the third book of Drastivada, called Purvagata.
The Kasaayapaahuda is a Prakrit text of 233 verses, discussing the nature, intensity and effects of passions, the root cause of worldly existence and karmic bondage.
Digambars consider Satkhandaagama and its commentary, the Dhavalaa by Virasena in 16 volumes, and Kasaayapaahuda and its commentary, the Jayadhavalaa by Jinasena in 15 volumes, and a 7-volume commentary called Mahaadhavalaa, as their sacred texts.
Commentaries: The Jain scholar monks such as Bhadrabahu, Jinabhadra, Sanghadaas, Haribhadra, Silanka, Santisuri, Abhayadeva and Malyagiri, have written extensive commentaries, in the forms of prose, poetry, descriptions and analysis, on most of their sacred texts. These commentaries, though many of them are in Prakrit or Sanskrit, guide the reader in understanding the Jain scriptures and give useful historical, social and cultural information on India from those times.
Both Svetambar and Digambar scriptures are preserved in manuscript libraries in India. The Svetambar literature is mainly found in libraries at Jesalmir (Rajasthan), Patan, Khambat and Bharuch (all in Gujarat). Digambara scriptures are mainly found at Mudabidre and Sravanbelgola (both in Karnataka).
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