Kalpa Sūtra

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The Kalpa Sūtra (Sanskrit: कल्पसूत्र) is a Jain text containing the biographies of the Jain Tirthankaras, most notably Parshvanath and Mahavira, including the latter's Nirvana.

Detail of a leaf with, The Birth of Mahavira (the 24th Jain Tirthankara), from the Kalpa Sutra, c.1375-1400.

Bhadrabahu I is considered the author of the text and it is traditionally said to have been composed about one hundred and fifty years after Nirvāṇa of Mahavira (traditionally 599 – 527 BCE).

History

Kalpasutra folio on Mahavira Nirvana. Note the crescent shaped Siddhashila, a place where all siddhas reside after Nirvana.

Within the six sections of the Jain literary corpus belonging to the Svetambara school, it is classed as one of the Cheda Sūtras. It contains detailed life histories and, from the mid-15th century, was frequently illustrated with miniature painting. The oldest surviving copies are written on paper in western India in the 14th century.

Importance

The book is read and illustrated in an eight day long festival of Paryushan by Jain monks for general people. Only Monks can read this scriptures as in olden days ordinary people could not get their copy of kalpasutra as printing was not yet invented^{[citation needed]}.

References

• "The Kalpa Sûtra" translated in English by Hermann Jacobi is published by Motilal Banarsidass Publishers in Delhi in " The Sacred books of the East" (Vol 22) (1989) ISBN 81-208-0123-7

External links

Translations

• Kalpa Sutra text (1884 English translation)
• The Kalpa sutra, and Nava tatva (1848 English translation)
• Bhadrabahu