Some Jaina Canonical Sutras c6.2

c6.2

The Jain literary records developed through centuries and by stages. It is difficult to say that the Jain canon belongs to one particular period as the works belonging to it are of different ages and origins. The sacred books of the Jains underwent considerable changes with the result that some works or portions of works were added to the canon from time to time. The words of Mahāvīra, the celebrated founder of Jainism, were handed down by an oral tradition which took a complete literary form through ten centuries from his demise. Up to a certain date this tradition was known in the form of the fourteen pūrvas, which themselves presuppose the existence of an earlier ten that had embodied the religious tradition of Pārśva and formed a common basis of the Jaina and Ājīvika canon. That the pūrvas were gradually lost may be accounted for by the rise of the sacred books of the Jain canon—the siddhānta or āgama by way of compilation from time to time. The process of compilation passed through several stages when it was stopped on account of the preparation of a final redaction of the canon at the council of Valabhī under the presidency of Ārya Devarddhi-gaṇi in 454 or 467 A.D.¹