A History of Indian Literature v3.c35.s12.2

v3.c35.s12.2

⁴ We can hardly arrive at a decision as to whether the Buddhists or the Jainas had contributed more towards development of the Indian narrative literature and towards circulation of Indian stories. In any case it is an exaggeration to say, as assumed by Hertel, that we ought to be grateful to the Jainas, "due to whom we possess simple excellent prose of the type of narrative literature" (Geist des Ostens 1, 1913, p. 185). It can never be true, since we find the use of Sanskrit in Jaina literature first of all in the 9th century A.D., when Sanskrit prose had long before become fully developed.