The work is attributed to Jainmonk Kumudendu Muni. He claims that he was guru of Amoghavarsha of Manyakheta and a disciple of virasena and jinasena of Dhavala. However, not much is known about this monk. Scholars are divided about when he lived. Karlamangalam Srikantaiah, the editor of the first edition, claims that the work may have been composed around 800 AD. Dr Venkatachala Sastry, however, dates him and his work to the 15th century. He also claims that Kumudendu Muni belonged to a village called Yalavalli near Nandidurga in Chikkaballapura Taluk in Kolar district. He further dates the work to around the 1550-1600 period and suggests it might be even more recent.
The Work
The work is said to have around 600,000 verses, nearly 6 times as big as the ancient Indian epicMahabharata. Totally there are 26 chapters constituting it a big volume of which only three have been decoded.
Coverage
The author expounds that many philosophies which existed in the Jain classics are eloquently and skillfully interpreted in the work. It is also believed to contain valuable information about various sciences including mathematics, chemistry, physics, astronomy, medicine, history, space travel, etc. Karlamangalam Srikantaiah, the editor of the first edition, has claimed that the work contains instructions for travel in water and space travel. It is also said that the work contains information about the production of modern weapons. It is also claimed to consist of works in several languages including Sanskrit, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Prakrit, etc., apart from Kannada. Different languages can be realised by assigning different alphabets to different numbers.
Codification
Some of the patterns used include the Chakrabandha, Hamsabandha, Varapadmabandha, Sagarabandha, Sarasabandha, Kruanchabandha, Mayurabandha, Ramapadabandha, Nakhabandha, etc. As each of these patterns are identified and decoded, the contents can be read. Though written in Kannada its numerical enunciation enables the people of other languages to comprehend it.
Challenges
There are 16,000 chakras in all. Out of which only 1,270 chakras are available. There are 9 khanda's in all. The available 1270 chakra"s belong to Prathama khanda called Mangala Prabhruta.. Remaining 8 Khanda's work not available. The number of letters used are 14 lakhs. It has been claimed that it is possible to decipher 6 lakh Shlokas or verses. Since no contemporary pandit is conversant with the esoteric metres employed in the work, the work of deciphering is being done with the help of computers. The whereabouts of remaining chakra's = 14,730 are not known.
Reactions
, a respected name in the study of Indian history and culture, has commented on the work thus,
