Kevalgyān (Keval-jñāna) means perfect, infinite, all-comprehensive knowledge. It is the highest of the five kinds of Jain knowledge and is direct, unobstructed, and complete.

Key points:

• What it knows: All substances (dravya) and all their modes (paryāya) of past, present, and future at once, without error.
• Who has it: An Arihant (omniscient being still embodied) and a Siddha (liberated soul beyond the body). Arihants also manifest divine sound (divya-dhvani) to teach.
• How it arises: When the four ghāti karmas are completely destroyed—knowledge-obscuring (jñānāvaraṇīya), perception-obscuring (darśanāvaraṇīya), deluding (mohanīya), and obstructive (antarāya). After this destruction, infinite knowledge, perception, energy, and flawless conduct manifest naturally.
• Place among the five knowledges: 1) Mati (sensory/mental), 2) Śruta (scriptural), 3) Avadhi (clairvoyance), 4) Manaḥparyāya (telepathy), 5) Kevalgyān (omniscience). Kevalgyān is the highest and is considered direct knowledge (pratyakṣa).
• Digambara and Śvetāmbara: Both traditions equally affirm that Kevalgyān is infinite, perfect omniscience arising only after total destruction of the four ghāti karmas; the remaining non-destructive karmas (āyu, nāma, gotra, vedanīya) may persist in an Arihant until final liberation.

Essence: Kevalgyān is the natural, limitless knowing power of the soul revealed when all obscuring karmas are gone.