Divinity Atlas

Sacred Correspondences
Literary Works

Ayaro (Acaranga Sutra)

literarywork

Citation Formats

General Reference

APA Style

BibTeX

An English translation and critical edition of the Acaranga Sutra, the first of the twelve Anga Agamas and among the oldest surviving texts of the Jain canon, giving the original Prakrit in both Devanagari and roman scripts alongside a full English translation, annotations, notes, glossary and index. Published 1981 in New Delhi by Today and Tomorrow's Printers & Publishers, 433 pages, under the general editorship of Acharya Tulsi, the ninth Acharya of the Svetambara Terapanth sect, and his successor Yuvacharya (later Acharya) Mahaprajna, with the English translation itself the work of Muni Mahendra Kumar. Published under the auspices of Jaina Vishva Bharati, the research institute Tulsi himself established at Ladnun, Rajasthan, part of the wider Agama research and translation project Tulsi began in the 1970s.

Facts
Subject Matter
Religious Subject MatterSourced to the subject's own account
The Acaranga Sutra's own teaching on ascetic conduct and non-violence, the foundational discipline of Jain monastic life; produced as part of Terapanth's own religious leadership's scholarly effort to make its tradition's oldest scripture available in critical, translated form. 3
Scholarly ReceptionSourced to the subject's own account
Part of a larger critical edition and translation project of the Jain Agamas that Acharya Tulsi began in the 1970s, continued under his successor Acharya Mahaprajna and published under Jaina Vishva Bharati, the institute Tulsi himself founded; still held today in library and archive digitized collections. 3
Production
Publication Year
1981 1
AuthorSourced to the subject's own account
General editorship of Acharya Tulsi and Yuvacharya Mahaprajna; English translation by Muni Mahendra Kumar 2
Place of Origin
New Delhi; Today and Tomorrow's Printers & Publishers, 1981; published under the auspices of Jaina Vishva Bharati, Ladnun, Rajasthan. 1
Format
Scripture 1
Learn More
Two Religious Leaders Translated Their Own Oldest Scripture

When Acharya Tulsi began, in the 1970s, compiling translations and commentaries on the Jain Agamas, the oldest layer of Jain canonical literature, he was not commissioning outside scholars to do it. Tulsi was the ninth Acharya, the supreme religious head, of the Svetambara Terapanth sect, and the man he brought in to lead the project alongside him was his own successor, Yuvacharya Mahaprajna, who would later become Acharya in his turn.

The volume that resulted in 1981, Ayaro, tackles the very first of the twelve Anga Agamas, the Acaranga Sutra, one of the oldest surviving Jain texts and the tradition's foundational statement on ascetic conduct and non-violence. It is not a light undertaking: 433 pages carrying the original Prakrit in both Devanagari and roman script, a full English translation by Muni Mahendra Kumar, and a scholarly apparatus of annotations, notes, glossary and index, published in New Delhi under the auspices of Jaina Vishva Bharati, the research institute Tulsi himself had established at Ladnun.

The distinction matters. A university press translating an ancient scripture is one kind of event. A sect's own supreme religious authority, together with the man chosen to succeed him, sitting down to translate that sect's own oldest sacred text into English for a wider readership, is another kind entirely. Terapanth did not wait for outside scholarship to make its foundational scripture accessible. Its own leadership did the work themselves, and the institute carrying that project forward continues under Tulsi's name today.

Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Delhi, Cities

This source names Delhi directly: "Published 1981 in New Delhi by Today and Tomorrow's Printers & Publishers, 433 pages, under the general editorship of Acharya Tulsi, the ninth Acharya of the Svetambara Terapanth sect, and his..."

Source Ayaro = Acaranga Sutra (Internet Archive)Internet Archive (digitized catalogue record)
Prakrit, Languages

This source names Prakrit directly: "of the Jain canon, giving the original Prakrit in both Devanagari and roman scripts alongside a full English translation, annotations, notes, glossary and index."

Source Ayaro = Acaranga Sutra (Internet Archive)Internet Archive (digitized catalogue record)
Rajasthan, Regions

This source names Rajasthan directly: "Tulsi himself established at Ladnun, Rajasthan, part of the wider Agama research and translation project Tulsi began in the 1970s."

Source Ayaro = Acaranga Sutra (Internet Archive)Internet Archive (digitized catalogue record)

This source names Svetambara directly: "Tulsi, the ninth Acharya of the Svetambara Terapanth sect, and his successor Yuvacharya (later Acharya) Mahaprajna, with the English translation itself the work of Muni Mahendra Kumar."

Source Ayaro = Acaranga Sutra (Internet Archive)Internet Archive (digitized catalogue record)

Belongs to Tradition

General editorship of Terapanth's own ninth Acharya, Tulsi, and his successor Mahaprajna, published under the auspices of Jaina Vishva Bharati, the institute Tulsi himself founded: the tradition's own religious leadership producing a scholarly edition of its own oldest scripture, not an outside academic account of it.

Source Ayaro = Acaranga Sutra (Internet Archive)Internet Archive (digitized catalogue record)
Sources
1. Ayaro = Acaranga Sutra (Internet Archive)
Internet Archive (digitized catalogue record), Internet ArchiveView the Source
2. Ayaro (Acranga Sutra) (Goodreads)
Goodreads catalogue contributors, GoodreadsView the Source
3. Acharya Tulsi (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, WikipediaView the Source
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.

View At A Past Year

The atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.