A History of the Canonical Literature of the Jainas c8.41

c8.41

the text was already lost and its contents were no longer known¹. Now when the real contents of the *Dṛṣṭivāda* had been forgotten, this text became a convenient place where everything could be located which it was thought desirable to invest with canonical authority. And since a continuous and systematic account of the Jaina mythology and hagiology, the "History of the 63² Great Men", was not found in the existing canon, it was attributed to the last part of the *Dṛṣṭivāda*. The *Vasudevahiṇḍī*, too, solemnly professes to be derived from the *prathamānuyoga* portion of the *Dṛṣṭivāda*, but it need hardly be pointed out that the Jain version of the *Bṛhatkathā* is not likely to have formed part of one the oldest works of the Jain canon."