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PREFACE : LIX Historically these works have their own importance, as they carry critical descriptions of the conditions of the Jaina places of pilgrimage of their times. They contain not only the description of the place of pilgrimage in general but also about the architectural designs of the temples and the numbers and types of Jina and other idols therein. For instance, the Sūrata Caitya Paripāti by Katukamati Lādhāśāha describes that in the Gopīpura area of the town there were, in all, 75 Jina temples, of which eight were very large temples and that there were 1325 Jina idols therein. In the whole of Sürat town there were ten large Jina temples and 235 Derāsars, three Sanctum-sanctorums and 3178 Jina idols. Besides, if the Siddhacakras, Kamalacaumukhas, Pañcatīrthis and Caubīsīs were included there were 10041 Jina idols in that town. This description is dated 1713 AD, and it can only be imagined that how important these documents are from the point of view of historical study.
The study of all the Tīrthamālas and Caitya Paripātis is the subject of an independent research and, so, not mentioning all of them, we are only presenting a brief list of some of them here (This list is based on "Prācīna Tīrthamālā Sargraha' edited by Vijaya Dharmasūriji) -
Title
Author
Period
2
3
Sakalatirthastotra Astottarītīrthamälā Kalpapradīpa alias Vividhatīrthakalpa
Siddhasenasūri Mahendrasūri Jinaprabhasūri
1123 VE“ 1241 VE 1389 VE
46 Vikrama Era
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