hideThis article has multiple issues. Please help or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
This article is written like a personal reflection, personal essay, or argumentative essay that states a Wikipedia editor's personal feelings or presents an original argument about a topic. Please by rewriting it in an encyclopedic style.(July 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
This article's lead sectionmay be too short to adequately summarize the key points. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article.(July 2013)
This article includes a list of general references, but it remains largely unverified because it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations.(February 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
(Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Sudharmaswami (Sanskrit: Sudharmāsvāmī or Sudharman; 607 BC – 507 BC) was the fifth ganadhara of Mahavira. All the current Jainacharyas and monks follow his rule.
Sudharmaswami was the spiritual successor of Indrabhuti Gautama in religious order reorganised by Mahavira.[1] He is traditionally dated from 607 to 506 BCE.[2] He is believed in Jain tradition 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 Ghandhara who survived after 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 is a series of beginning-less, endless and fixed truths, a tradition without any origin, human or divine, which in this world age has been channelled through Sudharmāsvāmī.[4]