Puchisuñiam (also written Pucchisuṇiyaṁ, Puchhisunam; popularly called Vīr-stuti) is a Prakrit praise of Bhagwan Mahāvīr found in the Śvetāmbara canon (Sūtrakṛtāṅga, 1st Śrutaskandha, 6th adhyayan). It has 29 gāthās (stanzas) in a dialogue form: Ārya Jambu asks, and Ārya Sudharma answers, glorifying Mahāvīr’s keval‑jñān, keval‑darśan and śuddha‑cāritra.

Simple, traditional meaning (arth) of each stanza:

1. Jambu Swāmī respectfully asks: “Who is that Great One who revealed the incomparable, truly beneficial dharma?”

1. He further asks: “Please tell me clearly about Bhagwan’s Knowledge, Vision, and Conduct.”

1. Sudharma Swāmī replies: Mahāvīr knows the sufferings of all beings; He is omniscient, illustrious, and a guide for the worthy. Know His dharma and patience.

1. With perfect wisdom He explained the lamp‑like dharma that shows permanence and change in all living and non‑living across every direction.

1. He is all‑seeing, fearless, steady in pure conduct, beyond the cycle of birth and death.

1. A self‑guided seer, destroyer of ignorance like blazing fire, revealing things as they truly are.

1. The Kashyap‑gotra Muni Mahāvīr is the foremost leader of the path taught from Ṛṣabh to Pārśva; supreme among the gods as Indra is among devas.

1. He is an endless ocean of knowledge and free from the eight karmas; radiant like Śakra.

1. With all‑perfect energy (vīrya), He stands foremost among the great—pleasing to all just as Meru is supreme among mountains.

1. Description begins of Mount Sumeru’s vast height and structure—an image of unsurpassed greatness.

1. Sumeru touches the three worlds; sun, moon and planets circle it; it shines golden with divine groves—so is Bhagwan’s glory.

1. Sumeru is famed by many names, bright as burnished gold, girdled and gem‑studded—so too Mahāvīr’s renowned virtues.

1. This lordly mountain stands at the world’s center, radiant like the sun, lighting all ten directions—likewise, Bhagwan’s splendor illuminates all.

1. As Sumeru’s fame is told in many ways, so Mahāvīr excels in birth, fame, vision, knowledge, and conduct.

1. As Niṣadha among long ranges and Rucaka among circular ranges are best, so among monks, the Omniscient Mahāvīr is best.

1. His meditation is supremely pure—spotless like white foam, conch, and moon.

1. By the power of Knowledge, Vision, and Conduct He destroyed all ghāti karmas and attained the beginningless‑endless state of Siddhahood.

1. As the Śālmalī is the best of trees and Nandana the best of parks, so in knowledge and conduct Mahāvīr is supreme.

1. As thunder is chief among sounds, the moon among stars, and sandal among fragrances, so the unattached Mahāvīr is chief among monks.

1. As the Svayambhūramaṇa is best among oceans, and Dharaṇendra among Nāga‑devas, and sugarcane juice among tastes, so Mahāvīr is best among ascetics.

1. As Airāvata among elephants, lion among animals, Gaṅgā among rivers, and Garuḍa among birds—so is Mahāvīr among liberators.

1. As a cakravartin is foremost among warriors and the lotus among flowers, so is Vardhamān among seers.

1. Among gifts, fearlessness is best; among truth, that which harms none; among austerities, celibacy is highest—so too Mahāvīr is highest among the known.

1. As the highest heavens and the Sudharma assembly are supreme, and nirvāṇa is supreme among dharmas, so Mahāvīr is supreme among the wise.

1. He is the support of all beings, destroyer of karmas, utterly detached, crosser of the ocean of saṁsāra, bestower of fearlessness, possessor of infinite knowledge.

1. The Arihant has conquered anger, pride, deceit, and greed; He neither does sin, nor causes it, nor approves it.

1. Knowing all doctrines—kriyāvāda, akriyāvāda, etc.—He remained lifelong in perfect restraint.

1. The great ascetic renounced sensuality and night‑eating, practiced austerities, knew this world and beyond, and abandoned all sins.

1. Those who hear and have pure faith in the well‑reasoned, pure dharma taught by the Arihants attain liberation—or, failing that, very high divine states.

Tradition note:

• Śvetāmbara: Puchisuñiam is preserved in the Sūtrakṛtāṅga. It is sung as “Vīr‑stuti.”
• Digambara: While this Āgama is not accepted as scripture in the present form, the stuti’s sense—glorifying Mahāvīr’s keval‑jñān, vīrya, and śuddha‑cāritra—is fully in harmony with Digambara doctrine.

For a brief note on “Puchhisunam” on JainKnowledge, see here: