Pancastikayasara
Pancastikayasara
Information
Religion	Jainism
Author	Kundakunda
Period	1st century B.C.
Verses	180

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Pañcāstikāyasāra ("The Essence of Reality") is an ancient Jain text authored by Acharya Kundakunda.^[1] Kundakunda explains the Jain concepts of dravya (substance) and Ethics. The work serves as a brief version of the Jaina philosophy. There are total 180 verses written in Prakrit language.^[2] The text is about five (panch) āstikāya, substances that have both characteristics, viz. existence as well as body.

A modern English translation was published by Vijay K. Jain in 2018.^[3]

The five āstikāya mentioned in the text are :—^[4]

1. Jīva (soul),
2. Pudgala (matter),
3. Dharma (medium of motion),
4. Adharma (medium of rest), and
5. Akasa (space)

• Kundakunda, Acharya; Chakravarti, Appaswami; Upādhye, Ādinātha Neminātha (2001), Ācārya Kundakunda's Pañcāstikāya-sāra, Bharatiya Jnanpith, p. 16, ISBN 978-81-263-1813-1
• Jaini, Padmanabh S. (1991), Gender and Salvation: Jaina Debates on the Spiritual Liberation of Women, University of California Press, ISBN 0-520-06820-3
• Jain, Vijay K. (2020). Ācārya Kundakunda's Pańcāstikāya-saṃgraha – With Authentic Explanatory Notes in English (The Jaina Metaphysics). Dehradun: Vikalp Printers. ISBN 978-81-932726-5-7.