Why this exists.
The honest version. How it started, who built it, how the content was made, what is still missing.
A few months ago I sat down to actually learn the Bhaktamara Stotra. Not just recite it — read it, line by line, understand each verse. I had known fragments of it my whole life as a Digambara, but realized I had never really sat with it.
Going looking online was a quiet disappointment. Old PDFs. Translations from the 1920s in stiff English. The same Sanskrit compound spelled three different ways across editions. Hindi commentary with no English option. Nothing that worked well on a phone.
What I really wanted was something where I could tap any Sanskrit word and see what it means, switch between Sanskrit, simple meaning, and word-by-word, and read someone's actual unpacking of why a verse matters today. Manatunga wrote it 1300 years ago, but the questions he's asking still hit — why bow to anyone, what bhakti really is, if no one can save you what's the point of devotion. Those don't expire.
I couldn't find what I wanted. So I started building it. Then it grew a bit.
What this site actually is
Honest framing: this is, at heart, a modern contemplative reading of the Bhaktamara Stotra — with surrounding context (the Tirthankaras, the foundational doctrines, the authors) and a handful of other texts that started getting added because they connect to each other.
It is not a comprehensive Jain scripture library. Sites like JainQQ and JainPediahave decades of content and thousands of texts. This site has one stotra in full, one chapter of one sutra, twelve gathas of another, and several short prayers. The framing on the home page says “library” — I'm aware that overstates the content for now.
Who built it
One person — a Digambara Jain practitioner working solo, in evenings and weekends, with no formal scholarly credentials. The whole project is on GitHub. No institution stands behind it. No scholar has yet reviewed it.
How the content was made
Different parts of the site went through different processes. Being upfront about this matters:
- Canonical Sanskrit and Prakrit verses (Bhaktamara, Tattvartha, Samayasara, Navkar, etc.) are sourced from Digambara editions. The Sanskrit text itself is not AI-generated; where you see a śloka, that is the textual tradition.
- IAST transliteration follows the Sanskrit text mechanically; AI was used as an editing aid here but the underlying source is the original Devanagari.
- Translations (Hindi and English) draw from traditional translations and were drafted with AI assistance, then edited by me. They are working translations — pending review by a Digambara scholar.
- The “Today” reflections on each verse, the Foundations articles, the Tirthankara biographies, and the modern explanatory prose were drafted with AI assistance and edited by me. They are my interpretive framing, not canonical doctrine.
AI is a tool. It is not a teacher. Treat the modern English prose here the way you would treat a thoughtful but anonymous study companion — useful for getting started, not authoritative.
What is still missing
- A community reviewer. Until one looks at the Sanskrit text and translations carefully, treat everything as draft.
- Per-verse audio recitation. Currently none.
- Tattvartha Sutra chapters 2 through 10. Only chapter 1 is here.
- Samayasara expansion. 415 gathas total; 12 are selected.
- “Today” reflections on the remaining Bhaktamara verses.
- Fuller biographies of the less-known Tirthankaras.
If you find an error
Please flag it. Translation wrong? Sanskrit text off? Doctrinal misframing? Any page's footer has a “Report an issue” link that opens a pre-filled GitHub issue. Feedback from people who actually know the texts is the most useful thing this project can receive right now.
Privacy
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