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could recall the eleven Primary canonical texts (Anga-praviştha Agamas) and ten out of the fourteen fore-canons (Pūrvas) from the twelfth primary canon - Drstivāda. According to the Jaina lore, after Bhadrabāhu, Sthūlibhadra was the only monk, who knew the fourteen fore-canons in text and only ten of them in meaning. The Second Recitation -
The second recitation was held at a conclave assembled in the second century BC nearly three hundred years after the nirvā na of Lord Mahāvīra, at the Kumārī hill in Orissa, during the reign of emperor Khārvela. Not much is known about this conclave except that the efforts were made, here, to recall and revive the canonical knowledge forgotten during the Mauryan reign. The Third Recitation ‘Māthurī Vācanã'
This recitation was held at Mathură under the direction of Ārya Skandila about 840 years after the nirvāṇa of Lord Mahāvīra. The Fourth Recitation ‘Nāgārjuniya Vācană“
Yet another recitation was organised under the direction of Ārya Nāgārjuna at Vallabhi in the Saurāştra region of Gujarat almost at the same time as the Mathura conclave. The forgotten canonical knowledge was recollected but it was not reduced to writing The Fifth Recitation ‘Vallabhi Vācanā -
The fifth recitation was again held at a conclave assembled at Vallabhi, in the year 980 after the Vīra-nirvāṇa, under the direction of Acārya Devardhigani Ksamāśramaņa. It is popularly known as the 'Vallabhi Vācanā'. While in the earlier four conclaves the canonical lore was only recited orally and recommitted to memory, it was at this conclave that the canonical
SAMYAGJÑĀNA (THE RIGHT-KNOWLEDGE) : 163