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History of Nirgrantha tradition 63
inheritance of which the famous ones are Kaşāyaprābhrta, Şaçkhandāgama, Bhagavatiārādhanā and Mūlācāra.
The history of Acela Nirgrantha tradition in South India till 3rd - 4th century AD is shrouded in obscurity. In this context, we have neither literary nor epigraphical evidence. Though, we do get some written documents in Brāhmi script of a slightly earlier period in Tamil Nadu, they do not give us any information except about the names of monks or of the makers of the caves. The caves with their records in Tamil Nadu probably were the places where Nirgranthas attained samadhi. The Tamil literature of Sangama period, however, reveals that Jaina Śramaņas have contributed a lot to the growth and enrichment of Tamil literature. According to a view 'Tirukurala', the famous Jaina literature in Tamil, is written by a Jaina Acārya. In the 4" century AD țhis Nirgrantha-samgha of Tamil region proceeded North wards via Karnataka. While the Nirgrantha-samgha of north branch into Sacela (Svetāmbara) and Acela (Yāpaniya) and proceeded south wards. Sacela Svetāmbara tradition travelled to north Karnataka via Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Western Maharashtra, while Acela-yāpaniya tradition travelled to North Karnataka via Bundelakhand, Vidisha, Vindhya, Satpuda and East
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