Mahāvīra
The fourteen Pūrvas (lost)
Traditional attribution
The fourteen Pūrvas (lost)
पुव्व (Puvva) / पूर्व (Pūrva)

The fourteen "earlier texts", which according to tradition contained the wisdom of the tīrthaṅkaras before Mahāvīra on karma, the soul, causality and the sciences, and formed part of the Dṛṣṭivāda. They were progressively lost after Bhadrabāhu and Sthūlabhadra; the Digambaras hold that the Ṣaṭkhaṇḍāgama and the Kasāyapāhuḍa preserve fragments of them.
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Authorship note
Canonical compilation: according to the Śvetāmbara tradition it transmits Mahāvīra's teaching as recited by his disciple Sudharman to Jambū; it was written down at Valabhī (c. 453/466 CE) and contains strata of very different periods. Mahāvīra did not write it. The Digambaras regard the original Aṅgas as lost.
Editions and translations
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Other works by Mahāvīra
- The Śvetāmbara canon (the Āgamas) · 453
- Ācārāṅga (The Book of Conduct)
- Sūtrakṛtāṅga (The Book of Doctrines)
- Sthānāṅga (The Stations)
- Samavāyāṅga (The Groupings)
- Bhagavatī Sūtra (Vyākhyāprajñapti)
- Jñātādharmakathā (Parables and Stories of the Doctrine)
- Upāsakadaśā (The Ten Lay Followers)
- Antakṛddaśā (Those Who Made an End)
- Anuttaraupapātikadaśā (Those Reborn in the Highest Heavens)
- Praśnavyākaraṇa (Explanation of Questions)
- Vipākaśruta (The Ripening of Deeds)
- Dṛṣṭivāda (The Exposition of Views, lost)
- Aupapātika (On Rebirths)
- Rājapraśnīya (The King's Questions)
- Jīvājīvābhigama (Understanding the Living and the Non-living)
- Prajñāpanā (The Exposition)
- Sūryaprajñapti (Exposition on the Sun)
- Jambūdvīpaprajñapti (Exposition on Jambūdvīpa)
- Candraprajñapti (Exposition on the Moon)
- Nirayāvalikā (The Series of Hells)
- Kalpāvataṃsikā (The Ornaments of the Heavens)
- Puṣpikā (The Flowers)
- Puṣpacūlikā (The Flower Crests)
- Vṛṣṇidaśā (The Ten Vṛṣṇis)
- Kalpasūtra (Lives of the Jinas)
- Daśāśrutaskandha (The Ten Chapters)
- Bṛhatkalpa (The Great Code)
- Vyavahāra (Procedure)
- Niśītha (The Penances)
- Mahāniśītha (The Great Code of Penances)
- Jītakalpa (The Customary Code)
- Uttarādhyayana (The Last Lectures)
- Daśavaikālika (The Ten Evening Lectures)
- Āvaśyaka (The Obligatory Duties)
- Piṇḍaniryukti (On Alms)
- Nandīsūtra (The Auspicious Sūtra)
- Anuyogadvāra (The Doors of Exegesis)
- Catuḥśaraṇa (The Four Refuges)
- Āturapratyākhyāna (The Renunciation of the Sick)
- Mahāpratyākhyāna (The Great Renunciation)
- Bhaktaparijñā (The Renunciation of Food)
- Taṇḍulavaicārika (Reflection on the Grains of Rice)
- Saṃstāraka (The Straw Bed)
- Gacchācāra (Conduct in the Group)
- Gaṇividyā (The Science of the Group Leader)
- Devendrastava (Hymn of the Kings of the Gods)
- Maraṇasamādhi (Death in Concentration)
- Ṣaṭkhaṇḍāgama (The Scripture in Six Parts)
- Kasāyapāhuḍa (Treatise on the Passions)
Sources
- Jaini, Padmanabh S. The Jaina Path of Purification. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979; reimpr. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1998. ISBN 9788120815780.
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