The manuscript of the Charyapada discovered by Haraprasad Shastri from Nepal consists of 47 padas (verses). The title-page, the colophon, and pages 36, 37, 38, 39, and 66 (containing padas 24, 25, and 48 and their commentary) were missing in this manuscript. The 47 verses of this manuscript were composed by 22 of the Mahasiddhas (750 and 1150 CE), or Siddhacharyas, whose names are mentioned at the beginning of each pada (except the first pada). Some parts of the manuscripts are lost; however, in the Tibetan Buddhist Canon, a translation of 50 padas is found, which includes padas 24, 25, and 48, and the complete pada 23. Pada 25 was written by the Siddhacharya poet Tantripāda, whose work was previously missing. In his commentary on pada 10, Munidatta mentions the name of another Siddhacharya poet, Ladidombipāda, but no pada written by him has been discovered so far.
The names of the Siddhacharyas in Sanskrit (or its Tibetan language equivalent), and the raga in which the verse was to be sung, are mentioned prior to each pada. The Sanskrit names of the Siddhacharya poets were likely assigned to each pada by the commentator Munidatta. Modern scholars doubt whether these assignments are proper, on the basis of the internal evidences and other literary sources. Controversies also exist among scholars as to the original names of the Siddhacharyas.
The poets and their works as mentioned in the text are as follows:
Poet: Pada
Luipāda: 1, 29
Kukkuripāda: 2, 20, 48
Virubāpāda: 3
Gundaripāda: 4
Chatillapāda: 5
Bhusukupāda: 6, 21, 23, 27, 30, 41, 43, 49
Kānhapāda: 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 18, 19, 24, 36, 40, 42, 45
Kambalāmbarapāda: 8
Dombipāda: 14
Shantipāda: 15, 26
Mahidharapāda: 16
Vināpāda: 17
Sarahapāda: 22, 32, 38, 39
Shabarapāda: 28, 50
Āryadevapāda: 31
Dhendhanapāda: 33
Darikapāda: 34
Bhādepāda: 35
Tādakapāda: 37
Kankanapāda: 44
Jayanandipāda: 46
Dhāmapāda: 47
Tantripāda: 25