Mahapurana (Jainism)

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Mahapurana (महापुराण) is a major Jain text ^[1] composed largely by Acharya Jinasena during the rule of Rashtrakuta ruler Amoghavarsha and completed by his pupil Gunabhadra in the 9th century CE. Mahapurana consists of two parts. The first part is Adi-Puran written by Acharya Jinasena. The second part is Uttarpurana which is the section composed by Gunabhadra. Adipuran contains about 37 chapters where as Uttarpurana contains about 65 chapters.^[2] The completed and edited text was released by Lokasena, pupil of Gunabhadra in a celebration at Bankapura in the court of Vira-Bankeyarasa in 898 CE. The first 42 Parvans of this text were written by Jinasena, while remaining 34 Parvans were composed by Gunabhara.

This text gives an encyclopedic account of the Jain tradition.^[3] The text is widely quoted. A widely used quote from Carl Sagan's Cosmos, page 140 is:^[4]

"Some foolish men declare that Creator made the world. The doctrine that the world was created is ill-advised, and should be rejected. If god created the world, where was he before creation? If you say he was transcendent then, and needed no support, where is he now?",^[5][6]

A number of Jain and non-Jain texts have been influenced by the Mahapurana. Mahapurana was the model for Saiva Siddhanta Periyapuranam which gives biographies of the 63 individuals.^[7]

References

Jain Scriptures Fourteen Purvas (The Prior Knowledge - considered totally lost) Śvētāmbara Canonical Texts Angāgama Ācāranga sūtra Sūtrakrtanga Sthānānga Samavāyānga Sūtra Vyākhyāprajñapti Jnātrdhārmakathāh Upāsakadaśāh Antakrddaaśāh Anuttaraupapātikadaśāh Praśnavyākaranani Vipākaśruta Drstivāda (now extinct) Upanga āgamas Aupapātika Rājapraśnīya Jīvājīvābhigama Prajñāpana Sūryaprajñapti Jambūdvīpaprajñapti Candraprajñapti Nirayārvalī Kalpāvatamsikāh Puspikāh Puspacūlikāh Vrasnidaśāh Chedasūtra Ācāradaśāh Brhatkalpa Vyavahāra Niśītha Mahāniśītha Jītakalpa Mūlasūtra Daśavaikālika Uttarādhyayana Āvaśyaka Pindaniryukyti Prakīrnaka sūtra Catuhśarana Āturapratyākhyanā Bhaktaparijñā Samstāraka Tandulavaicarika Candravedhyāka Devendrastava Ganividyā Mahāpratyākhyanā Vīrastava Cūlikasūtra Nandī-sūtra Anuyogadvāra-sūtra Digambara Texts Āgamas Satkhandāgama Kasāyaprabhrta Pratham -ānuyoga Padmapurāna Harivamsapurāna Ādi purāṇa Mahāpurāna Carnānuyoga Mulācāra Trivarnācāra Ratnakaranda śrāvakācāra Ganitānuyoga Sūryaprajñapti Candraprajñapt Jayadhavalātikā Gommatasāra Dravyānuyoga Niyamasāra Pancastikayasāra Pravacanasāra Samayasāra Tattvārthasūtra (Note1) Āptamīmamsa Commentary Commentary on Tattvarthasūtra and Aptmimamsa Tattvārthasūtra is accepted by both Digambaras and Śvetāmbara as their texts although Śvetāmbaras do not include it under canonical texts.

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