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Kalpa-sūtra
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Mahavira enthroned, miniature from the Kalpa-sutra, 15th-century western Indian school; in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
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Kalpa-sūtra

Jainist literature
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Kalpa-sūtra, a text held in great honour by the Śvetāmbara sect of Jainism, a religion of India. It deals with the lives of the 24 Jaina saviours, the Tīrthaṅkaras; the succession of pontiffs; and the rules for monks during the Paryuṣaṇa festival. The text records the five auspicious events (the descent from heaven, birth, initiation, obtaining of omniscience, and death) and many legends of the last three saints, Ariṣṭanemi, Pārśvanātha, and Mahāvīra, and those of Ṛṣabanātha, the first of the 24 saints. The names and details of the other saints are briefly listed. Manuscripts of the Kalpa-sūtra, housed in monastery libraries, are often profusely illustrated in the characteristic western Indian style of miniature painting. Once a year during the Paryuṣaṇa festival a Kalpa-sūtra manuscript is taken out in a procession and read by the monks before the laity. Great merit is attributed to hearing the Kalpa-sūtra.