The Dravyasamgraha presents itself as a compact, systematic treatise that moves from ontology to soteriology in a carefully graded manner. It opens with an auspicious invocatory verse (maṅgalācaraṇa), praising the liberated ones and indicating its purpose: a concise exposition of the fundamental categories of Jain thought, especially the notion of dravya, or substance. From the outset, the text defines dravya and establishes the sixfold classification that undergirds Jain metaphysics: jīva (soul), pudgala (matter), dharma (medium of motion), adharma (medium of rest), ākāśa (space), and kāla (time). This initial framing already signals that the work is not merely descriptive but is oriented toward clarifying the basic structure of reality as the necessary backdrop for spiritual practice.

Following this introduction, the text proceeds substance by substance, devoting particular care to jīva, the soul. Jīva is treated in greater detail than the other dravyas, with attention to its defining characteristic of consciousness, its various classifications, and its different states of existence, including the condition of the liberated soul. The remaining five, collectively ajīva (non-soul), are then taken up in turn: pudgala as material substance with its properties and transformations; dharma and adharma as the subtle media that make motion and rest possible; ākāśa as the accommodating space; and kāla as temporal substance, treated more briefly. Throughout, the analysis follows the pattern of defining each dravya, then outlining its essential nature, attributes, and modes, in line with the dravya–guṇa–paryāya framework.

On this metaphysical foundation, the work turns to the dynamics of bondage and liberation, linking the structure of reality to the existential situation of the soul. Karma is explained as a form of pudgala that binds to jīva, with the text sketching how passions, wrong belief, and the activities of mind, speech, and body lead to karmic influx and bondage. Within this framework, the nine tattvas are articulated—jīva, ajīva, puṇya, pāpa, āsrava, bandha, saṃvara, nirjarā, and mokṣa—so that the reader can see the full arc from entanglement to release. The three jewels of right faith, right knowledge, and right conduct are then presented as the practical means by which karmic processes are reversed and the soul moves toward purification.

The work culminates in a portrayal of mokṣa and the nature of the liberated soul, the siddha. Having outlined the substances, the karmic mechanism, and the path, the text describes the siddha as a soul completely free from karma, endowed with unobstructed knowledge, perception, bliss, and energy, abiding at the apex of the universe. Concluding verses recapitulate the central teachings and extol the spiritual benefit of studying and internalizing this concise map of reality and liberation. In this way, the Dravyasamgraha is organized so that a seeker is led step by step: from understanding what exists, to recognizing the soul’s bondage, to discerning the disciplined path that culminates in freedom.