Life in Ancient India as Depicted in the Jain Canons, with Commentaries: An Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey c20.9

c20.9

It may be noted that the chronological side of the Jain Canons is very weak and so a systematic chronological framework cannot be expected from such a class of work. As a matter of fact, the Jain texts are full of legendary traditions interspersed with loose facts here and there, which were narrated by the religious teachers to enliven their sermons and to illustrate their doctrines. Like Buddhist kings and monarchs, here also we notice the kings and emperors renouncing the world and attaining salvation on some mountain after severe penance. Very often we meet king Jiyasattu in these legends which seems to be a common designation of kings like Bambhadatta of the Buddhists or the epithet Devānāmpiya of a later age.