Three broad strands of the Bhagavati Sūtra manuscript tradition have taken shape over centuries, each carrying its own regional flavor and scribal habits.

1. Western Indian (Gujarat-Rajasthan) Tradition
   • Language & Script: Jaina Śaurasenī Prakrit in Maru-Gurjar and Devanāgarī scripts.
   • Characteristics: Often richly illustrated with vibrant folios, these 15th–17th-century codices show careful ornamentation around cosmological diagrams. Slight exchanges of epithets for heavenly beings or Tīrthaṅkaras pop up from one copy to the next, as if each scribe added a personal flourish.
   • Modern Touchpoint: The National Mission for Manuscripts’ 2021 digitization drive featured several of these Gujarat gems, making them available online for the first time.

2. Malwa-Madhya Pradesh Tradition
   • Language & Script: Classical Śaurasenī Prakrit in a local variant of Devanāgarī.
   • Characteristics: Textual readings here tend to be more standardized—almost like a printed edition before printing existed. These manuscripts emphasize doctrinal passages on cosmology and rebirth, with fewer illustrative panels, reflecting a scholastic milieu around Dhar and Mandu.
   • Unique Quirk: Occasional marginalia highlight commentarial glosses that aren’t found in Western codices, as if the margins were whispering extra secrets.

3. Eastern Gangetic Tradition
   • Language & Script: Transitioning from Jaina Apabhraṃśa to early Old Bengali, written in Kaithi or Patna scripts.
   • Characteristics: Far scarcer than its western cousins, these copies sometimes preserve archaisms—words or spellings abandoned elsewhere. Their survival feels like finding a rare vintage record amid stacks of digital playlists.
   • Present Day Link: A handful of these manuscripts surfaced in private collections during the 2010s Bihar heritage revival, prompting fresh collations by scholars keen to map regional variants.

Across all traditions, the “core” chapters remain remarkably consistent—proof that, even as scribes crossed deserts and rivers, the heart of the Bhagavati Sūtra held firm, much like a well-tuned melody echoing through time.