Commentary, Canon and Standing

The Tattvartha Sutra's acceptance by both the Svetambara and Digambara traditions (which differ over the status of the old canon, over monastic nudity, and over much else), makes it a rare point of shared ground and a natural starting point for the study of Jain philosophy. Each tradition, however, reads it through its own commentaries: the Svetambaras revere a commentary (the Bhashya) traditionally ascribed to Umasvati himself, while the Digambaras rely on great commentaries such as Pujyapada's Sarvarthasiddhi and the works of Akalanka and Vidyanandi, and the two recensions differ slightly in wording and in the numbering of the aphorisms.

Over the centuries the Sutra generated an enormous exegetical literature and became the standard textbook through which Jains, monastic and lay, learned the architecture of their tradition. Modern scholars regard it as the single most convenient and authoritative summary of classical Jain doctrine, and it is often the first Jain text translated and studied outside the tradition. Within Jainism it retains the status of a foundational scripture, recited, memorised and expounded to this day.