Vyakhyaprajnapti
Encyclopedia
Vyākhyāprajñapti commonly known as Bhagavati sūtra is the fifth of the 12 Jain āagam said to be promulgated by Bhagwan Mahavara
. Vyākhyāprajñapti translated as "Exposition of Explanations" is said to have been composed by Sudharma Swami Gandhara
as per the Svethambara tradition. It is the largest text of the canon said to contain 60,000 questions answered by Mahavira. The subject matter of the answers ranges from the Jain Doctrine to rules of ascetic behaviour.
The Bhagavati Sutra is divided into 41 sections known as Shatakas. It follows question and answer pattern. The questions are raised by Gautama, Makandiputra, Roha, Agnibhuti & Vayubhuti,
Skandaka, Jayanti, etc. It is written in Ardhamagadhi Prakrit
Mahavira
Mahāvīra is the name most commonly used to refer to the Indian sage Vardhamāna who established what are today considered to be the central tenets of Jainism. According to Jain tradition, he was the 24th and the last Tirthankara. In Tamil, he is referred to as Arukaṉ or Arukadevan...
. Vyākhyāprajñapti translated as "Exposition of Explanations" is said to have been composed by Sudharma Swami Gandhara
Gandhara
Gandhāra , is the name of an ancient kingdom , located in northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. Gandhara was located mainly in the vale of Peshawar, the Potohar plateau and on the Kabul River...
as per the Svethambara tradition. It is the largest text of the canon said to contain 60,000 questions answered by Mahavira. The subject matter of the answers ranges from the Jain Doctrine to rules of ascetic behaviour.
Contents
Briefly, the answers may be categorised under the following categories:- related to ascetic conduct
- related to the six substances
- related to the Jain Ontology
- related to Reincarnation
- related to Jain Geography
- related to Jain Cosmology
- related to Jain Mathematics
- related to Obstetrics
- brief biographies of famous contemporaries of Mahavira
- miscellaneous subjects
The Bhagavati Sutra is divided into 41 sections known as Shatakas. It follows question and answer pattern. The questions are raised by Gautama, Makandiputra, Roha, Agnibhuti & Vayubhuti,
Skandaka, Jayanti, etc. It is written in Ardhamagadhi Prakrit
Prakrit
Prakrit is the name for a group of Middle Indic, Indo-Aryan languages, derived from Old Indic dialects. The word itself has a flexible definition, being defined sometimes as, "original, natural, artless, normal, ordinary, usual", or "vernacular", in contrast to the literary and religious...