Within the Jain tradition, the Agamas are regarded as direct discourses of Mahavira, remembered and systematized by his immediate disciples rather than presented as revelations from a creator God. Their authority rests on the omniscience of the enlightened teacher, not on divine command, and they were preserved for centuries through a disciplined oral lineage before being compiled in written form. This gives them a distinctive character among religious canons: they are “teacher-based” scriptures grounded in spiritual insight rather than “God-revealed” texts. The tradition is also unusually self-aware about issues of transmission and loss, as seen in the differing views of major Jain sects on which original Agamas survive intact.

Structurally, the Agamas do not form a single, unified book but a carefully organized corpus, classified into Aṅgas, Upāṅgas, Chedasūtras, Mūlasūtras, and related categories, each serving a specific doctrinal or disciplinary purpose. They are grouped by subject matter—monastic discipline, doctrine, narratives, cosmology, and conduct—rather than arranged as a continuous narrative. This systematic organization, together with detailed classifications of souls, matter, time, and space, often gives them a technical and analytic tone that sets them apart from more purely devotional or mythic scriptures. Their methodical treatment of topics can resemble a set of spiritual treatises rather than a single sacred story.

In terms of content and orientation, the Agamas are markedly non-theistic, focusing on individual liberation through self-purification, without dependence on a supreme deity. They articulate a rigorous path of ethical and ascetic practice, with particular emphasis on non-violence, non-attachment, and a finely worked-out karma theory that describes the workings of karmic particles and their effects in great detail. These texts speak at length about monastic life, vows, meditation, and the conduct of lay followers, extending even to practical guidance on daily behavior and social and business ethics. The centrality and radical thoroughness of ahiṃsā, together with the precision of their karmic analysis, distinguish them from many other scriptural traditions.

Philosophically, the Agamas are notable for embedding the doctrines of anekāntavāda and conditional predication, which encourage viewing reality from multiple standpoints and avoiding rigid, absolute assertions. This lends them a distinctive openness to the partial validity of different perspectives, even while maintaining firm doctrinal commitments. The texts also weave together Mahavira’s life and experiences with spiritual instruction, integrating biography and doctrine in a way that grounds abstract principles in lived example. Taken together, these features give the Agamas a unique profile: a non-theistic, ethically exacting, and philosophically nuanced canon that seeks to guide practitioners toward liberation through disciplined insight and conduct.