Siddhantacharya Pandit Phoolchandra Shastri (11 April 1901 – 31 August 1991) was a Jain scholar, writer, editor, freedom fighter, social reformer and an intellectual giant in the field of Jainism.

[1][2][3] He is best known for dedicating a major part of his life in translating to Hindi the foremost and the oldest Digambara Jain Canon, Shatkhandāgama and Kasayapahuda, and its commentaries, Dhavala, Maha-Dhavala and Jai-Dhavala.

[4] Panditji was a strong advocate and proponent of abolishing many evils within the Jain community [5] and was the founding member of many institutes of learning and scholarship.

[4][5] Panditji was born in the village of Silawan, District Lalitpur which is part of Bundelkhand in the state of Uttar Pradesh on 11 April 1901.

However, the life of these Pandits was a difficult one due to the irregular source of income and constant migration in search of work.

[10] He enunciated on philosophical and controversial topics in Jainism such as caste, stri-mukti (the liberation of women) and the inherent purity of souls.

His interpretation of the philosophical concept of niyati or pre-destination, opened up a new field of research for the comparative study of Ajivika and Jain doctrines of bondage and salvation.

Padmanabh Jaini notes that the Shatkhandagama and the Kasayapahuda along with their commentaries Dhavala, Mahadhavala and Jayadhavala, which were translated into Hindi by Pandit Phoolchandra, were of epic proportions consisting of 172,000 shlokas.

Along with his career as a lecturer and Jain Scholar, Pandit Phoolchandra Shastri took part in the freedom struggle of India.

He volunteered as an office bearer at Bina, Sagar, Solapur and Amravati, District Congress Committees.

He supported the widely opposed Harijan Temple Entry Bill, 1949 on the grounds of the Jain doctrine which does not believe in the caste system.

He was also a founding member and Joint Secretary and Editor of Shri Ganesh Prasad Varni Jain Granthmala in Varanasi.

[4] Panditji was given the honorific Siddhantaratna by the Vice-President of India Basappa Jatti in 1974 on the occasion of the 2500th Nirvana celebrations of Bhagavan Mahavira.

Their youngest is son Prof. Ashok Kumar Jain, PhD a nuclear scientist and formerly professor of Physics at IIT Roorkee.

Books authored by Panditji:[4][15] In addition to above, Pandit Phoolchandra Shastri also edited or translated the following texts:[4][5][15]