Following up on the notification from Royce that the Śvetāmbara Jain canonical texts in the original Prakrit are available in searchable files, the other need is the commentaries on them, whether searchable or not. Most of these are in Sanskrit, even though they are on texts in Prakrit. For several decades, the main editions of these available were those included in the canonical text editions by Ānandasāgara/Sāgarānanda, published by the Āgamodaya Samiti starting in 1915 and continuing into the 1930s. But almost none of these ever reached North America.

M. B. Emeneau's 1935 Union List of Printed Indic Texts and Translations in American Libraries lists a grand total of four of these texts (2 at Cleveland Public Library, 1 at University of Chicago Library, and 1 at Yale University Library). A WorldCat search just now turned up only a few more at Yale. This was no doubt a big factor in the paucity of Jaina studies by American Indologists. These texts did not even start being replaced by critical editions until the Jaina-Āgama-Series published by the Shrī Mahāvīra Jaina Vidyālaya of Bombay (which began in 1968) started including Sanskrit commentaries in 1999, and only a few with commentaries have so far been published.

So I was quite happy to see the announcement of the Savṛttika-Āgama-Suttāṇi in 2017, which consists of photographic reprints of Ānandasāgara/Sāgarānanda's editions in 40 volumes, prepared and supplemented by the indefatigable Muni Dīparatnasāgara. I intended to post a notice of them here; but after receiving my set (can be purchased through Biblia Impex), I saw that they were printed from the digital files available at the Jain eLibrary. They can be found there under this spelling of the title, Savruttik Aagam Sootraani, or of the editor, Anandsagarsuri, or under the serial number 035001 and following.

The need for editions of the Śvetāmbara canonical texts with commentaries had been met by Muni Dīparatnasāgara with his 2000 publication of Āgama Suttāṇi (saṭīkaṃ) in 30 volumes (now also available at the Jain eLibrary, serial numbers 003305 to 003334). However, when I was cataloguing my set several years ago, I was somewhat dismayed to see typographical errors even in some of the titles on the title pages (the volumes were all newly typeset). Many (all?) of the volumes of Ānandasāgara/Sāgarānanda's editions were typeset at the famous Nirnaya Sagar Press, Bombay, known for their careful work. So I tend to trust the 2017 reprints over the 2000 newly typeset edition. It may be that the corrections made by Muni Dīparatnasāgara in the 2000 edition over previous editions are more than counterbalanced by the newly introduced typographical errors.

Best regards,

David Reigle
Colorado, U.S.A.

On Mon, Jun 18, 2018 at 5:23 PM, Royce Wiles via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:
Śvetāmbara Jain texts available in digital format (Unicode Devanāgarī)

I wish to draw attention to a set of 45 Śvetāmbara Jain canonical texts in the original Prakrit uploaded as Word documents in (mostly?) Unicode compliant Devanāgari that has been available for sometime from the Jain eLibrary (run by Jain Education International). 

The eLibrary new website can be found with a search under jainlibrary.org or similar terms (registration and approval is necessary there for access or to download the files for personal use). Searching on that site is a bit complex, the quickest way to locate these particular 45  files (amongst the hundreds of scanned and uploaded books) is to search using the file identification numbers 003701-003789 (only odd numbers though from that range).

As indicated in the email below (shared with permission), in 1996 Muni Dīparatnasāgara-jī released his editions of the 45 texts of the Śvetāmbara Jain canon in booklet form based mainly on the Āgama mañjūṣā set (1940s) (also on the website and available on-line) (003901 to 003953), which in turn was based on Ānandasāgara/Sāgarānanda’s earlier editions. 

By 2012 Muni Dīparatnasāgara-jī had produced and released those 45 versions as digital files in Unicode Devanāgari: PDF and Word files can now be downloaded file by file, which means a searchable set of canonical texts is available for the first time (admittedly without apparatus but it is a wonderful starting point and put together by a single individual working consistently over many years).

Recently Pravin Shah, sent me the email below, based directly on Muni-jī’s responses to my question about the basis for his textual work and this background is important for scholars making use of these documents (which certainly need to be recognized as a major step forward for studies of Jain texts and Prakrits).

Royce WILES


PS Any questions about accessing the texts can perhaps best be emailed to Pravin-bhai though he is travelling at the moment.

On 5 Jun 2018, at 22:05, Pravin K Shah <jainaedu@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear Royce,

I have talked to Pujya Shri Deepratna-sagarji to list all references used in compilation of these 45 Agams.  The following is the list of all references.

The searchable docx files were prepared from the 45 Agam Mool Sutra books (Agam Suttani) that were published by him (Shri Deepratnasagar Maharaj Saheb) in 1996 (elibrary sr. numbers -  009727 to 009775). In these books reference Gatha number is indicated at the end of each Gatha.

Main References

The main source of the publication of these 45 Agam Mool Sutra books were "Agam Manjusha" compiled by Pujya Shri Anand-Sagar-Suri (popularly known as Sagaranand-suri) published about 70 to 75 years ago (eLibrary Sr. Number - 003901 to 003953). Also several other references were also used, and they are listed below.

Other References

  • *Vrutties of 45 aagam literature (except 6 Chhed Sutras and Chandra Pragnapti 38 aagams).  Edited By poojy Shri Sagaranandsooriji
  • Some Churnis of Agam Literature
  • Paynnas & some other Aagams compiled by Muni Shri Punyavijayji
  • Some Manuscript of non printed Aagam from L D Indology, Ahmadabad
  • 32 Agams of Sthanakvasi sect compiled by Acharya Ghasilalji (eLib# 006301 to 006399)
  • 32 Agams of Terapanthi sect compiled by Acharya Tulasi (eLib# 003551 to 003627)
  • Suttagam (eLib# 003551 to 003627)

Note *

સમગ્ર ૪૫ આગમમાં પ્રત્યેક સૂત્ર કે ગાથાને અંતે અંગ્રેજી ક્રમાંકન થકી વૃત્તિનો અંક નિર્દેશ છે. 

  • તે વૃત્તિમાં છ છેદ સૂત્રો અને चंदपन्नत्ति સિવાયના આગમો માટે અમે પૂ. આગમોદ્ધારક શ્રી સંશોધિત સંપાદિત અને (૧) આગમોદય સમિતિ, (૨) દેવચંદ લાલભાઈ ફંડ, (૩) ઋષભદેવ કેસરીમલ પેઢી એ ત્રણ સંસ્થાના પ્રકાશનો જ લીધા છે.
  • चंद पन्नत्ति માટે હસ્ત લિખિત પ્રત લીધેલી છે.
  • बृहत्कप्पो – પૂ. પુણ્યવિજયજી મ. સંપાદિત.
  • निसीह-પૂ. કનૈયાલાલજી સંપાદિત
  • ववहार-પૂ. મુનિ માણેક સંપાદિત
  • जीयकप्पो-પૂ. જીનવિજયજી સંપાદિત છે. 
  • મહાનિસીહની વૃત્તિ નથી. दसासुयक्खंध ની ચૂર્ણિ જ મળી છે. માટે તેનું ક્રમાંકન થઈ શકેલ નથી.

Suggested Other Agam References

In addition to above 45 docx (searchable) files, Maharaj Saheb has also published two more Agam related searchable files as follows:

  • Agam Vishay Anukram in Gujarati (eLibrary serial Num - 009143).  This is a very useful file to search the Agam references of any subject / Topic.
  • Agam Sankshipta Parichay in Gujarati (eLibrary serial Num - 035100)

Also, there are good non-searchable Agam references compiled by Shri Deepratnasagarji

  • Agam Suttani Satikam Part 1 to 30 (30 books – eLibrary Sr 003305 to 003334) 
  • Agam Shabda Kosh Part 1 to 4 (4 Books – eLibrary Sr. 016024 to 016027)

I work with Maharaj Saheb for last 8 years to scan all his Agam related work and upload them in Jain eLibrary website. 

He does not have any team to help him.  All his printed publications and web publications work was compiled by him alone.  He is a very hard-working Maharaj Saheb. 

Thanks 

Pravin Shah


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