Pushpadanta and Bhutabali were monks of the southern sangha, sent to study with Acharya Dharasena at Girnar. Tradition says their names come from this time: Bhutabali was honoured by celestial beings called bhutas, and Pushpadanta's uneven teeth were made even and lovely as flowers. After their studies they spent the rainy season at Ankleshwar in Gujarat and then went south. At Vanavasa, Pushpadanta composed the opening portion, 177 sutras on the states of living beings, and sent it to Bhutabali.
Bhutabali completed the work in the Tamil country, bringing it to about 6,000 Prakrit sutras. Called the Shatkhandagama, the scripture in six parts, it explains living beings, karmic bondage and the kinds of karma in precise detail. Tradition says the sangha worshipped the finished scripture on the fifth day of the bright half of Jyeshtha, and Digambara Jains still honour that day as Shruta Panchami. Its palm-leaf manuscripts, with the Dhavala commentary, were long preserved at Moodabidri in Karnataka.
