Sudharmaswami

Sudharmaswami was the spiritual successor of Indrabhuti Gautama in religious order reorganised by Mahavira.^[1] He is traditionally dated from 607 to 507 BC.^[2] In the Jain tradition he is believed to have obtained omniscience after 12 years in 515 BC.^[1] He is believed to have attained nirvana in 507 BC at the age of 100.^[1][3] The leadership of religious order was then transferred to Jambuswami who served for 44 years and was the last Ganadhara who survived after the death of Mahavira.^[1]

For Jains, their scriptures represent the literal words of Mahavira and the other tirthankaras only to the extent that the agama texts are a series of fixed truths without a beginning or an end, and a tradition without any origin, human or divine, which in this world age has been channelled through Sudharmasvāmī.^[4]

• Jain monasticism

• Dundas, Paul (2002) [1992], The Jains (Second ed.), Routledge, ISBN 0-415-26605-X
• George, Vensus A. (2008), Paths to the Divine: Ancient and Indian, vol. XII, The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy, ISBN 978-1-56518-248-6
• Shah, Natubhai (2004) [First published in 1998], Jainism: The World of Conquerors, vol. I, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-81-208-1938-2