Achieving personal excellence, success and happiness in every walk of life is the buzz word in modern era; every school is busy in defining motif and designing templates. Alas, very little known is to such pursuers that this is the core specialty of Jain dharma. In this era of Vira sasana (i.e. ever since 527 B.C.), the Sacred Word (grata) of Bhagavana Vira Vardhamana Mahavira is as much as possible being conserved and preserved by a chain of supreme seers called Ganadhara and srutadhara.

The Auspicious and Venerable Acarya Kondakunda

In this divine lineage, the most shining seer after Gautama Ganadhara has been Acarya Kondakunda or more popularly known as Kondakunda or Kundkund. This name verily refers to his birthplace in present day Andhra Pradesh. His saint-pontiff name was Acarya Padmanandi. He is also called Elacarya. Even though there were scores of srutadhara after Gautama Ganadhara, he is bracketed along with Lord Mahavira and Gautama Ganadhara because Acarya. Padmanandi Kundakunda reestablished the fading dharma by visiting Mahavideha, another planet in our solar system, to get his doubts cleared directly from the Tirthankara Srimandhara. This fact was passed on to the generations by word of mouth (karna parampara) till in Vikrama Samvat (VS) 990 Acarya Devasena put it on record in his book called Darsanacara':

Hail Lord Padmanandi for imbibing divine knowledge directly from Srimandhara Svami but for which how could the sramanas continue to benefit the Right Path?

This unique feat is also captured by the commentators of Pancastikaya' and `Satprabhrta', viz., Acarya Jayasena and Acarya Srutasagara, respectively. In addition, there are several inscriptions recording the renaissance of Jain dharma contributed by this rddhidhara in the two hills of Sravanabelagola situated in the Hassana district of Karnataka (B.L. Rice, 1889). The author Shri V.K. Jain in his Preface has already depicted a snapshot of the great Acarya along with the most famous `mangalam' hymn which is arguably a precursor for many such me-too like hymns in India. The venerable Acarya Kundakunda composed 84 pahuda - short anthems - making use of the most accepted original sutras, gathas and Tirukkural', the world-famous Tamil anthology is the contribution of his sangha. This is not an epic as erroneously interpreted by many Hindi scholars.

Niyamasara’, it appears, was composed as a handbook for the sramanas and sravakas conversant with basic tenets of Jain dharma. Here we see the copious vocabulary of the Jain tenets and philosophy. Only those familiar with such prerequisites would capture the imports of the chapters and their gathas. The name of the sacred book is derived from the third gathas which is central to the topic of the book. The word niyama implying systematic regime or discipline has become a common usage in the Indian languages. Patanjali used it in his yoga. Yama-niyama refers to a set of vows. Niyamasara' is the abridged version of the original gathas of the srutaskandha, the library of original Jain agama. For generations, this book was in the compulsory by-heart reading list and hence for centuries, no written commentary was deemed necessary till in the 12th century of the Vikram era, versatile Acarya Padmaprabhamaladharideva rendered his Sanskrit commentary by name Tatparyavrtti' using both prose (padya) and stanzas (gadya). His rendition is more in the nature of expression of his deep devotion to this book. The commentator refers this Scripture with divine appellations such as, sruta, Paramagama, Paramartha-sastra, Bhagavad-sastra and, sabdabrahma. A perusal of his invocatory stanza below clearly reveals the supreme lineage of the book glorified with the adjective, paramagamarthasartham.

The name of Acarya Kundakunda has an auspicious significance and is uttered with great veneration. Almost universally, the Jainas - ascetics (muni, sramana) and laymen (sravaka) - recite the above verse as a mark of auspiciousness at the start of their activities.

The Scripture (agama) - the Word of the Omniscient Lord There were eleven Ganadhara in Lord Mahavira's (599-527 BCE) congregation, with Gautamasvami, also known as Indrabhuti, as his chief disciple. After liberation (nirvana) of Lord Mahavira, sequentially, in the course of next sixty-two years, three anubaddha kevali attained Omni-science (kevalajnana) - Gautamasvami, Sudharmacarya, and Jambusvami. They are called 'sequential' or `anubaddha' kevali because of the fact that Gautamasvami attained omniscience on the day Lord Mahavira attained liberation, and so on.

During the course of the next one hundred years, five sruta kevali had complete knowledge of the `agama'; they were Nandi, Nandimitra, Aparajita, Govardhana, and Bhadrabahu. (See Tiloyapannati’, verses 1494-95.)

It is generally accepted by the Digambara sect of Jainas that the comprehensive knowledge contained in the 'agama' - anga and purva -was lost gradually in the course of six hundred eighty-three years; he following the nirvana of Lord Mahavira as it was transmitted orally from one generation of acaryas to the next.

Some learned and spiritually advanced acaryas then started to restore the Jaina compile and put into written words the teachings of Lord Mahavira, that were the subject matter of dvadasanga. Acarya Dharasena guided two acaryas, Acarya Puspadanta and Acarya Bhutabali, to put these profound tenets in the written form. The two acaryas wrote, on palm leaves, Satkhandagama - among the oldest known Digambara Jaina texts. Around the same time, Acarya Gunadhara wrote Kasayapahuda. These two texts, being highly technical in nature, could not become popular with the general readers.

The Rise of Acarya Kundakunda

Around the same time, Acarya Kundakunda rose as the bright sun and composed some of the finest Jaina Scriptures which continue to exert, even today, great influence on the thinkers and the practitioners - the ascetics and the laymen. For the last two milleniums these texts have been true guides for the bhavya' - potential - souls who find worldly existence as full of suffering and aspire to tread the path that leads to ineffable happiness of liberation (nirvana, moksa).

Book's Contents and Sample Pages