Some Jaina Canonical Sutras c26.2

c26.2

The Nandī Sūtra¹ and the Anuyogadvāra² are occasionally counted among the Prakīrnakas, but they really stand as two companion texts forming a group by themselves. The first sūtra as its title implies contains an ‘auspicious introduction’ to the study of the Śvetāmbara canonical texts, and as such its main bearing is on the Jain method of education. Like the Anuyogadvāra it is compiled partly in prose and partly in verse. One of the first forty-seven verses contains an eulogy of the tīrthankara, two that of Mahāvīra, fourteen that of the Jain Sangha, two introduce the twenty-four tīrthankaras, two mention the eleven ganadharas or leading disciples of Mahāvīra, one extols the order of Mahāvīra, and eleven supply us with a succession of 27 Jaina teachers from Sudharman to Dūsyagaṇi, the teacher of Devavācaka who is identified with Devarddhi-gaṇi under whose guidance the final redaction of the Śvetāmbara āgama was made in the Council of Valabhī. If Devavācaka-gaṇi, who is regarded as the author of the Nandī Sūtra, be the same person as Devarddhi-gaṇi, the work cannot be dated earlier than the 6th century A.D.