An Outline of the Religious Literature of India c8.s3.9

c8.s3.9

§ 134. It is impossible to say how much of their early literature was still retained in the memories of Jain ascetics during these centuries, nor how far the formation of the Aṅgas, now preserved in the Śvetāmbara Canon, had gone. Weber believed that the gradual process of creating the present Aṅgas began in the second century A. D., but it is more probable that portions of the ancient literature have been preserved, though doubtless from the time of the Schism, about A. D. 80, a process of revision in the interest of the sect was carried out by Śvetāmbara monks. Numerous traditions refer certain of these canonical works or comments on them to writers believed to have lived during this period—to Ajjasāma, to Kālakāchārya, to Vīrabhadra—but everything is confused and obscure. As research proceeds, a measure of light will doubtless be thrown on the history.