It is said to have been based on oral teaching of the Digambara monk, acharya Dharasena (1st Century CE). According to the tradition, alarmed at the gradual dwindling of scriptural knowledge, he summoned two monks, Pushpadanta and Bhūtabali to a cave, known as Chandra Gupha, or the Moon Cave, his retreat in mount Girnar, Gujarat, and communicated what he remembered out of originally vast extent of sacred Jain writings. He taught them portions of the fifth Anga Viahapannatti (Vyakhya Prajnapti) and of the twelfth Anga Ditthivada (Drstivada). These were subsequently reduced to writing in Sutra form by his pupils. Pushpadanta composed the first 177 Sutras and his colleague Bhutabali wrote the rest, the total being 6000 Sutras. The palm leaf writings of this long work, originally written in Prakrit were deposited sometime in the early centuries of the Common Era in the Digambara holy place of Mudabidri, a temple town in South-West Karnataka. Here, these scriptures were treated with great reverence, but became mere objects of worship. Digambara āgamas like Satkhandāgama and the Kasāyapāhuda were in a state of neglect and were not studied or made available to the community.