Drstivāda is a legendary lost text in the

Jain Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being ...

religion. It is the last of the 12 Jain āgamas as per Śvetámbara tradition, said to be promulgated by Māhavīra himself and composed by

Ganadhara In Jainism, the term Ganadhara is used to refer the chief disciple of a ''Tirthankara''. In '' samavasarana'', the ''Tīrthankara'' sat on a throne without touching it (about two inches above it). Around, the ''Tīrthankara'' sits the ''Gana ...

Sudharmaswami Sudharmaswami ( sa, Sudharmāsvāmī or Sudharman; 607 BC – 507 BC) was the fifth ganadhara of Mahavira. All the current Jain acharyas and monks follow his rule. Life Sudharmaswami was the spiritual successor of Indrabhuti Gautama in reli ...

. Drstivāda, translated as “Disputation about views”, was said to contain the entire knowledge of the Fourteen

Purvas The Fourteen Purva translated as ancient or prior knowledge, are a large body of Jain scriptures that was preached by all Tirthankaras (omniscient teachers) of Jainism encompassing the entire gamut of knowledge available in this universe. The pers ...

or prior knowledge that is now considered to be totally lost, in part because the tradition holds that the Drstivāda itself is also completely lost. However, its contents have been referred and explained in Nandi and ''Samavāyānga Sūtra''.

Subject Matter of the Agama

Dristivāda was divided into five parts :- #Parikarma #Sūtra #Pūrvanayoga #Purvgata #Chūlikā Parikarma contained Jaina calculatory science and the Sutra included discussions about creeds and doctrines. Pūrvanayoga contained Puranic narratives, religious biographies as well as illustrative tales. Purvagata contained fourteen subdivisions and contained discussions about Jaina doctrines and principles. As the name suggests,

contain the knowledge prior to

Mahavira Mahavira (Sanskrit: महावीर) also known as Vardhaman, was the 24th ''tirthankara'' (supreme preacher) of Jainism. He was the spiritual successor of the 23rd ''tirthankara'' Parshvanatha. Mahavira was born in the early part of the 6 ...

which was preserved only in oral form. Jain texts Agamas {{Jainism-book-stub