At Valabhi in Gujarat the Shvetambara teacher Devarddhigani presided over the council that gave the Shvetambara canon its settled written form, gathering the surviving texts from the recensions kept in different centers. The council's work fixed the forty-five Agamas that Shvetambara Jains receive as scripture. Digambara Jains do not accept the collection, holding the original word lost long before.
Tagged: Councils Jain Shvetambara
The Event
- Date
- 454 CE (traditional)
- Also called
- the Vallabhi Council
- Era
- Councils and Schism; Standard periodization of Jain history
- Location
- Valabhi, Gujarat; today Vallabhipur, Gujarat, India
- Traditions
- Jainism
- Streams
- Shvetambara
- Key figures
- Devarddhigani Kshamashramana
- Key texts
- Angas, Agamas
How the Tradition Tells It
Digambara Jains do not accept the Valabhi canon. They hold that the original teaching was lost in the centuries after Mahavira and that the Shvetambara Agamas are a later compilation, however reverently kept. The council is therefore a Shvetambara event, and this record presents it as their tradition carries it.
Primary Sources
- The Kalpa Sutra account of the Tirthankaras.
- The Agamas of the Shvetambara canon.
Secondary Sources
- Dundas, Paul. The Jains. 2nd ed., Routledge, 2002.
- Wiley, Kristi L. Historical Dictionary of Jainism. Scarecrow Press, 2004.
Provenance: HIST-0605; confidence 0.8; accessed 2026-10-27.
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- First Council at Pataliputra History Event
- Mahavira (24th Tirthankara) History Event
- Parshvanatha (23rd Tirthankara) History Event
- Shvetambara canon committed to writing History Event