The (Prakrit: "Scripture in Six Parts") is the only canonical piece of literature of Digambara sect of Jainism. According to Digambara tradition, the original teachings of Lord Mahavira were passed on orally from Ganadhar, the chief disciple of Mahavira to his disciples and so on as they had the capability of listening and remembering it for always. But as the centuries passed there was downfall in these capabilities and so ÃÂcÃÂrya Puá¹£padanta and Bhà «tabali penned down the teachings of Mahavira in á¹¢aá¹Âkhaá¹Âá¸ÂÃÂgama. Therefore the á¹¢aá¹Âkhaá¹Âá¸ÂÃÂgama is the most revered Digambara text that has been given the status of ÃÂgama.
The importance of the á¹¢aá¹Âkhaá¹Âá¸ÂÃÂgama to the Digambaras can be judged by the fact that, the day its Dhavalàcommentary was completed, it is commemorated on the à Ârà «ta Pañcamë, a day when all the Jain scriptures are venerated. The á¹¢aá¹Âkhaá¹Âá¸ÂÃÂgama, the first ÃÂgama, is also called the "Prathama à Âruta-Skandha", while the Pañca ParamÃÂgama by Kundakunda are referred to as the second ÃÂgama or Dvitiya à Âruta-Skandha.
This work is based oral tradition of Dharasena, a Digambara monk, who knew parts of several canons. According to the tradition, alarmed at the gradual dwindling of scriptural knowledge, he summoned two monks, Puá¹£padanta and Bhà «tabali to a cave, known as Candra GuphÃÂ, or the Moon Cave, his retreat in mount Girnar, Gujarat, and communicated what he remembered out of originally vast extent of sacred Jain writings. He taught them portions of the fifth Aá¹ ga ViÃÂhapannaá¹Âá¹Âi (VyÃÂkhyàPrajñapti) and of the twelfth Aá¹ ga Diá¹Âá¹ÂhivÃÂda (Dá¹Âá¹£á¹ÂivÃÂda). These were subsequently reduced to writing in Sutra form by his pupils. Puá¹£padanta composed the first 177 aphorisms and his colleague Bhà «tabali wrote the rest, the total being 6000 aphorisms.
ÃÂcÃÂrya Vërasena received the ancient á¹¢aá¹Âkhaá¹Âá¸ÂÃÂgama and KasÃÂyapÃÂhuá¸Âa texts through the lineage tradition. At Vatagram, he wrote a 72,000 à Âloka commentary on á¹¢aá¹Âkhaá¹Âá¸ÂÃÂgama (known as Dhavala and the last section called Mahadhavala) and 20,000 shloka commentary the Kashyaprabhrita (known as Jayadhavala). After his death, his disciple Jinasena completed the Jayadhavala commentary by adding another 20,000 shlokas. Both of the commentaries use both Sanskrit and Prakit. Jayadhavala was finished during the rule of the Rashtrakuta ruler Amoghavarsha in 838 AD (or Jagatunga according to some scholars)
A palm leaf manuscript of this long work were preserved in the Digambara holy place of Shravanabelagola at the Siddhanta Basadi. Later they were shifted to Mudabidri, a temple town in South-West Karnataka. The palm leaf manuscript, itself written during the RÃÂá¹£á¹Ârakà «á¹Âa rule, is still preserved. Some of the leaves contain beautiful paintings of historical importance A copy was reputed to have been at the Malked (Manyakhet) Mutt, but that has not survived. At Mudabidri, these manuscripts were treated with great reverence, but became mere objects of worship, and unavailable to outside scholars. Ordinary householders were not permitted to study them. Digambara ÃÂgamas like á¹¢aá¹Âkhaá¹Âá¸ÂÃÂgama and the KasÃÂyapÃÂhuda were in a state of neglect and were not studied or made available to the community.
With the support of Manikchand of Sholapur during 1896 to 1920, the Moodbidrai manuscript were transcribed in modern Nagari and Kannad scripts, without the knowledge of the Moodbidri temple trustees.
In the 20th century, Dr. Hiralal Jain was one of the first few lay scholars who decided to retrieve the ÃÂgamas, and bring to light with systematic editing and proof reading. With the help of his scholar friends like Pandit Nathuram Premi and Jamunaprasada Sub-Judge, he raised the funds to publish the ÃÂgamas, and set out to extricate the ÃÂgamas from Mudabidri, where the original handwritten Prakrit manuscripts had lain for centuries, unstudied. Dr Hiralal Jain, Pt Nathuram Premi and Jamunaprasada sub-judge together managed to convince Seth Sitabray Gulabray, a wealthy land-owner from Vidisha (Bundelkhand, Madhya Pradesh) belonging to the ParavÃÂra community, to donate Rs. 30,000 for the cause of editing and publishing the SatkhandÃÂgama along with its DhavalÃÂ commentary, expertly edited and accompanied by an excellent Hindi translation. This donation enabled Dr Hiralal Jain to work together with Dr. A.N. Upadhye, close friend and a scholar of Prakrit. Dr. Hiralal Jain brought together a team of scholars including, Pt. Phulchandra Shastri, Pt. Kailashchandra Shastri, Sh. Sheryansh Kumar Jain Shastri, Pt. Hiralal Shastri and Pt. Balachandra Shastri started the project of revival and study of the Digambara ÃÂgama. These scholars had to face stiff opposition from the monks and the traditional srÃÂvakas who were opposed to the very concept of printing religious scriptures as they felt that printing would undermine the purity of the scripture.
In a period of twenty years, the SatkhandÃÂgama, along with its massive DhavalÃÂ and MahÃÂdhavalÃÂ commentaries was edited from the original palm leaf manuscripts and published after very careful proof reading in consultation with senior Jaina scholars like Pt. Nathuram Premi and Pt. Devakinandan Nayak.
The á¹¢aá¹Âkhaá¹Âá¸ÂÃÂgama, as the name suggests, is a scripture in six parts. The six parts are:
á¹¢aá¹Âkhaá¹Âá¸ÂÃÂgama postulates karma theory, using a number of technical terms defining various concepts and mathematical notions. The first three parts deal with the karma philosophy from the view point of the soul which is the agent of the bondage and the last three section discusses the nature and extent of the karmas.
The commentary on the first five parts is known as the Dhavalà ¥ÂÃÂ. The commentary on the sixth part is known as the MahÃÂdhavalÃÂ.
DhavalÃÂ is divided into 16 sections which is as follows:
MahÃÂdhavalÃÂ the commentary on sixth section called Mahabandha has seven books. The other Digambara ÃÂgama, the KasÃÂyapÃÂhuda, also has a voluminous commentary. It is called the Jaya DhavalÃÂ. All three commentaries were composed by ÃÂcÃÂrya Virasena and ÃÂcÃÂrya Jinasena (8th century CE). The text and its commentaries preserved on the palm leaf manuscripts run into some 120,000 verses.
One interesting fact about the á¹¢aá¹Âkhaá¹Âá¸ÂÃÂgama is that it is believed that the 5 pada NamokÃÂra Mantra is believed to have been composed by ÃÂcÃÂrya Puá¹£padanta as the mangalacarana (opening verse, often an invocation to god for the successful completion of the text) to the SatkhandÃÂgama. Before this work, only the 2 pada NamokÃÂra Mantra has been found in inscriptions. Hence, there is reason to believe that ÃÂcÃÂrya Puá¹£padanta was the first person to compose the 5 pada NamokÃÂra Mantra. The á¹¢aá¹Âkhaá¹Âá¸ÂÃÂgama is a highly complex work, adumbrating the Jaina karma siddhÃÂnta. Although it is a Digambara work, it is seen as an authoritative work on the Jaina karma theory by all Jains.
The first five parts of the á¹¢aá¹Âkhaá¹Âá¸ÂÃÂgama along with the Dhavalàcommentary and Hindi translation, running into 16 Volumes, was first published from Vidisha itself, by the family of Shrimant Seth Sitabray Gulabray. But is now published by the Jaina Sanskriti Sanrakshak Sangh in Solapur and distributed by Hindi Granth Karyalay, Mumbai. The MahÃÂdhavalàcommentary and Hindi translation, running into 7 Volumes, is published from New Delhi by Bharatiya Jñanapitha. The KasÃÂyapÃÂhuda along with the JayaDhavalàcommentary and Hindi translation, running into 16 Volumes, is published by Jaina Sangha, Mathura and distributed by Hindi Granth Karyalay, Mumbai.
Popular English Translations are :- Satkhandagama : Dhavala (Jivasthana) Satparupana-I (Enunciation of Existence-I) An English Translation of Part 1 of the Dhavala Commentary on the á¹¢aá¹Âkhaá¹Âá¸ÂÃÂgama of Acarya Puá¹£padanta & Bhà «tabali Dhavala commentary by Acarya Virasena English tr. by Prof. Nandlal Jain, Ed. by Prof. Ashok Jain, ,