Śvetāmbara Jainism preserves a canon of 45 Agamas—texts said to capture Mahāvīra’s spoken wisdom. They’re grouped like this:

• 12 Āṅgas (“limbs” or core scriptures)
• 12 Upāṅgas (supplementary limbs)
• 10 Paṭṭhānas or Prakīrṇakas (treatises on particular topics)
• 6 Chedasūtras (monastic disciplinary codes)
• 4 Mūlasūtras (basic rules for novices)
• 1 “Dravyasaṃgraha” (compendium on the nature of reality)

Each category functions as the backbone of Jain study—ethics, cosmology, logic and meditation find a place here. The Āṅgas are the bread and butter: Acaranga Sūtra lays out non-violence in action, Sūtrakṛtāṅga Sūtra tackles vows and duties, and so on, down the line to the Samarāiccakāṅga Sūtra’s focus on monk-lay dialogue.

Digambara Jains maintain those original discs were lost centuries ago, so turn to later works like the Ṣaṭkhaṅḍāgama and Kūṭāgama. Meanwhile, modern efforts—such as the Jain Digital Library’s 2024 initiative—are breathing new life into manuscripts once fading in village temples, ensuring these 45 gems continue to shine.

More than dusty tomes, the Agamas serve as life’s compass for over a million practitioners worldwide. Whether recited in morning chants at a temple in Palitana or studied on a smartphone app in New York, they remain the touchstone for Jain philosophy in a world that’s always on the move.