A History of Indian Literature v2.c20.s2.26

v2.c20.s2.26

So much is certain: the works of the Siddhānta cannot have originated at one period. The Canon which Devarddhi compiled, and which has come down to us, is the final result of a literary activity that must have begun as soon as the organisation of the Order and the monastic life were firmly established. This was in all probability the case not long after the death of Mahāvīra. The earliest portions of the Canon may therefore quite possibly belong to the period of the first disciples of Mahāvīra himself, or at the latest to the 2nd century after Mahāvīra's death—the period of the Maurya Candragupta, in which tradition places the Council of Pāṭaliputra—whilst the latest portions should probably be dated nearer the time of Devarddhi.¹ Scholars have only just begun to distinguish between the earlier and the later strata of the Canon.²