Mahasabha Agama Granthamala & Lesya-kosa (Review)

Summary

This review introduces a monumental publishing project sponsored by the Jain Śvētāmbara Terāpanthī Mahāsabhā of Calcutta to produce critical editions of the entire Jaina Āgamas. Under the editorship of Muni Sri Nāthmal and with Acarya Sri Tulasi as Vacana‑pramukha, the project aims to publish each canonical text with variant readings, Sanskrit renderings, Hindi translations, notes and scholarly introductions. At the time of review five texts and accessory volumes for the first two had been issued, while the remainder were in preparation. The editors followed the guidelines of the Āgamic scholar Abhayadeva Sūri, who enumerated six sources of manuscript corruption—absence of genuine tradition, lack of right reasoning, ignorance of one’s own and others’ śāstras, loss of memory, conflicting versions of texts and corrupt manuscripts—and attempted to guard against them. The resulting editions are enriched with introductions, detailed contents, appendices specifying the loci of passages that are abridged in conventional recitations and exhaustive word‑indexes that will assist in compiling a Prakrit lexicon. Annotations, critical studies and translations reveal the depth and devotion of Muni Sri Nāthmal and the scholarship of Acarya Sri Tulasi, and the review notes that the critical studies are each worth a doctorate. Following the account of the Granthamālā volumes, the review considers *Lesyā‑Kośa* (Cyclopaedia of Lesyā), edited by Mohanlal Banthia and Srichand Choraria and published in Calcutta. This specimen volume is part of a larger project to compile reference works on various subjects within Jainism. It provides a comprehensive and exhaustive catalogue of teachings on lesyā (states of the soul) drawn from canonical and commentarial literature. Although the compilers do not claim that the volume is a complete reference, the review highlights its value as a foundation for future research. The article concludes by encouraging scholars to support both projects, noting that they will significantly advance the study of Jain textual traditions.