For the Digambara tradition, Kundakunda stands next only to Mahavira and Gautama. The Digambara blessing names him directly: “Mangalam Bhagavan Viro, Mangalam Gautamo Gani, Mangalam Kundakundaryo, Jain dharmostu mangalam.” Monastic lineages call themselves the Kundakunda anvaya — his line.
His Prakrit works — the Samayasara, Pravachanasara, Panchastikayasara, Niyamasara and the Ashtapahuda — are among the most studied texts in Jainism. The Samayasara in particular speaks of the soul from two standpoints: the vyavahara or conventional view, in which the soul acts and is bound by karma, and the nishchaya or ultimate view, in which the soul is pure knowing, untouched by anything outside itself. Generations of seekers have found in it a path of inner awareness.
A Digambara tradition holds that he travelled in a spiritual body to Videha, where the Tirthankara Simandhar Swami is said to be teaching now, and returned with that teaching. His name is linked to Kondakunde (Konakondla) in today's Andhra Pradesh, close to the Karnataka border.
