A History of Indian Literature v2.c20.s2.25

v2.c20.s2.25

² Jacobi, SBE 45, xv ff.; Oldenberg, Buddha, 5. Aufl., p. 95 f. Bhandarkar (Report 1883-4, 124 ff.), relying on the tradition of the Digambaras, believes that the Jainas did not receive any written sacred books until 683 years after the death of Mahāvīra (that would be 216 A.D., but according to Bhandarkar 139 A.D.), when the last of the teachers who knew any portion of the sacred writings from memory, was dead. On the other hand, Jacobi (SBE 22, xxxvii ff.) thinks that we might place the writing of the works of the Jaina Canon towards the end of the 4th or beginning of the 3rd century B.C.