The Kalpa Sutra.
The lives of the Tirthankaras and the rules of the rainy-season retreat, read aloud in full across the eight days of Paryushana every year. The fourteen dreams of Mahavira's mother are enacted, and in some congregations the right to hold the dream-images is auctioned. It is the text Svetambara Jains have actually heard.
The Kalpa Sutra is attributed to Bhadrabahu and is read publicly in full during the eight days of Paryushana, which makes it the most heard text in Svetambara Jainism regardless of literacy. It contains the biography of Mahavira in most detail, then Parshvanatha, Neminatha and Rishabhanatha, a list of the succession of teachers after Mahavira, and the rules for the monsoon retreat. The narrative of the fourteen dreams of Trishala before Mahavira's birth — elephant, bull, lion, the goddess Shri, garland, moon, sun, banner, vase, lotus lake, ocean, celestial abode, heap of jewels, smokeless fire — is enacted with images during the reading, and in many congregations the right to hold or sponsor a particular dream image is auctioned, which is both a fundraising mechanism and a status ritual. Illustrated Kalpa Sutra manuscripts from fifteenth-century Gujarat, on paper with gold and lapis, are among the great achievements of Indian painting, and their distinctive convention of the far eye projecting beyond the profile is one of the most recognisable features of western Indian manuscript art.
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