Call for Abstracts

Shrut Ratnakar cordially invites scholars and researchers to contribute papers to the 5th National Prakrit Seminar. Building on the success of previous seminars, this year’s deliberations will focus on the Ācārāṅga Sūtra, Śrutaskandha 1, exploring its philosophical depth, textual nuances, and unresolved interpretive questions.

Participants are encouraged to:

Highlight unexplored aspects — those not covered by previous commentators and translators — supported by textual, philosophical, or interdisciplinary analysis.
Offer innovative interpretations, contemporary relevance, and cross-disciplinary connections (e.g., linguistic, philosophical, scientific, medical, sociological).
Engage critically with traditional readings, proposing well-reasoned alternative interpretations where textual or contextual evidence supports it.

A list of suggested topics is provided below, organized by Adhyayana and Uddeśaka. Papers on these topics are welcome; papers proposing related lines of inquiry within Ācārāṅga 1 – Śrutaskandha are also welcome.

Suggested Areas of Research (Illustrative)

Ācārāṅga 1 – Śrutaskandha

Śrutaskandha 1, Uddeśaka 1

1. Layered meanings of saṃjñā, parijñā, prajñā and vijñāna — including the four/ten saṃjñās and the Nandīsūtra’s three saṃjñās
2. Three ways of knowing the ātman’s existence: past-life recollection (Meghakumāra, etc.) and Mahāvīra’s teaching to Rohiṇeya
3. “So’ham” in the Upaniṣads vs. “so’ham” in the Ācārāṅga
4. Ātmavādī, lokavādī, karmavādī, kriyāvādī — Mahāvīra’s core philosophical positions
5. Parijñā as leading to honor, freedom from birth-death, and end of suffering — does linking it to violence create inconsistency?
6. Recurring sūtras at the start of successive uddeśakas
7. Meaning of “andha” in “appege andhamante, andhamante” — sense-difference between one-sensed and five-sensed beings

Adhyayana 1, Uddeśaka 3

8. How is the mutual relation between loka and ātmā established?
9. Distinguishing udaka-niśrita beings from udaka jīvas; the true sense of “adattādāna”

Adhyayana 1, Uddeśaka 4

10. “Dīrgha loka” as “agni” vs. simply “vast world”
11. Rūpa-darśana and śabda-śravaṇa arising from mūrcchā
12. Scientific evidence for plant sentience; violence to pṛthvī-jala-agni-vāyu vs. beings dependent on them

Adhyayana 1, Uddeśaka 6

13. Animal violence for trading body parts; “accā” as “skin” rather than “worship”

Adhyayana 2, Uddeśaka 1

14. Reconciling two seemingly opposed passages on past vs. future sensory vision in one uddeśaka

Adhyayana 2, Uddeśaka 3

15. Sequencing and explaining sūtras opposing casteism
16. Central theme of the 5th uddeśaka: parigraha — how it grows for householder vs. monk
17. Risks of excessive medical reliance for sādhakas; is the 6th uddeśaka an extension of the 5th?
18. Mental state indicated by being “neither bound nor free”

Uddeśaka 3, Adhyayana 1

19. Completion of vyavahāra possible only in the akarma state, not before

Uddeśaka 3, Adhyayana 2

20. Relation between a person’s manifold cares and janapada-vadha, paritāpana, parigrahaṇa

Uddeśaka 3, Adhyayana 3

21. What does the āgama establish after discussing remembering/forgetting past and future? Urging abidance in ekatva?

Uddeśaka 4, Adhyayana 1

22. If ahiṃsā’s basis is samatā, is equanimity possible toward all beings alike?

Uddeśaka 4, Adhyayana 2

23. How can āsrava become parisrava and vice versa? Is anāsrava-aparisrava possible?
24. Relation between cruelty and restlessness, and their opposites
25. Speaking and wisdom are not equivalent — clarifying this
26. Ārya-anārya distinction rests on protecting vs. harming life; ātma-tulā as the root of ahiṃsā
27. Defining true knowledge — rooted in virtue, not merely in study

Adhyayana 5, Uddeśaka 1–3

28. The “āvaṃtī kevaṃtī” sūtras: one who attacks is attacked in turn; one who refrains stays safe

Adhyayana 5, Uddeśaka 4

29. Remedies for a sādhaka afflicted by worldly temptation; meaning of terms like “kāhie pāsaṇie”
30. Why some grasp the sūtras’ hidden meaning and others don’t — and the resulting distress
31. Violence is ultimately done to oneself, not another
32. Parallels between Upaniṣadic “neti neti” and this Ācārāṅga passage

Adhyayana 6, Uddeśaka 1

33. Parallels between dhutavāda and the Aghoṛapanth’s avadhūta tradition
34. The sixteen diseases in the Ācārāṅga vs. other ancient/modern systems

Adhyayana 6, Uddeśaka 2

35. Why the reclusive monk should generally avoid public exposure

Adhyayana 6, Uddeśaka 3–4

36. “Kappa” in “vivrata-kappa” as meaning “cloth” — conditions before/after renouncing clothing
37. How the 3rd and 4th uddeśakas connect; locating where uddeśakas end but themes continue

Adhyayana 7

38. Seeking a human (not divine) explanation for the disruption of the Mahāparijñā adhyayana

Adhyayana 8, Uddeśaka 1

39. Ascetics following a pratimā (vow) and exceptions to non-exchange with others

Adhyayana 8, Uddeśaka 4–6

40. Vivid depiction of renouncing clothing — rare praise of digambaratva within Śvetāmbara āgamas

Adhyayana 8, Uddeśaka 7

41. Re-examining “śīta-sparśa” and “vihamāie” — likely meaning cold and wilderness, not strī-parīṣaha or a hanging noose

Adhyayana 8, Uddeśaka 8

42. How earlier uddeśakas prepare for saṃthārā, and the 8th’s depiction of it

Adhyayana 9, Uddeśaka 1

43. Keeping the cloth was Mahāvīra’s own choice, not a “deva-dūṣya” gift
44. “Sāgāriyaṃ” — avoiding houses occupied by householders

Adhyayana 9, Uddeśaka 2

45. Mahāvīra’s minimal sleep; mismatch with the “two ghaṭikās of sleep” found in narrative texts

Adhyayana 9, Uddeśaka 4

46. Practising ūnodarī whether ill or well — hints of oncoming illness
47. Fasts named belā, telā, caulā — absent from later narrative lists
48. Why “se bemi” occurs mid-uddeśaka in the Ācārāṅga, unlike other āgamas
49. Identifying Ācārāṅga prose passages that were likely originally verse
50. Parallels in niścaya naya between the Ācārāṅga and the Samayasāra
51. Compiling and unpacking the Ācārāṅga’s 25–30 “gata-pratyāgata” (circular) style sūtras