Jain Miniature Paintings from Western India c5.10

c5.10

The foundation of the Jain Jñāna Bhaṇḍārs, paradoxically enough, is attributed to a terrible famine which occurred in the 5th century A.D. As a result of this famine, a majority of the Jain monks, well versed in the sacred lore, died. To add to this disaster, this century also witnessed the weakening of the memory of the Jain monks, due perhaps to malnutrition. If, therefore, the sacred Jain lore was to be saved from complete extinction some drastic steps had to be taken. Feeling the urgency of the occasion a council of the Jain monks under the presidency of Devardhigaṇi Kṣamā-Śramaṇa was summoned in Vīra Saṃvat 980 (V. S. 510 or 570, according to Jacobi, i.e., A. D. 453 or 513) to Valabhīpura in Kāṭhiāwār, and with the common consent of the monks assembled there, the Jain Aṅgas and Upāṅgas were committed to writing.² The cryptic notices of this council in Jain literature, however, do not tell us anything as to how these books were written, what materials were employed, what technique in book writing was followed and how they were kept in the Jñāna Bhaṇḍārs. One thing is, however, certain that learning received a great impetus in the following centuries, and there is every likelihood that many Jñāna Bhaṇḍārs were established which acted as custodians of the sacred literature.