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The parents of Mahavir were followers of
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the religion of Parsva....
"The age we live in there have appeared 24 Prophets of Jainism. They are ordinarily called Tirthankers. With the 23rd Parsvanath we enter into the region of History and reality."
Introduction to his Essay on Jain Biblio
graphy.
NOTE No. II I.
"In spite of this the second explanation is the right one, because the Buddhists themselves confirm the statements of the Jains about their prophet. Old historical traditions and inscriptions prove the independent existence of the sect of the Jainas even during the first five centuries after Buddha's death, and among the inscriptions are some which clear the Jaina tradition not only from the suspicion of fraud but bear powerful witness to its honesty." P. 23. The Indian Act of the Jainas by J. G. Buller & J. Burgess.
NOTE No. II J.
"Within the last thirty years a small band of scholars, pre-eminent amongst whom are the late Hofrath Professor Buhler, Professor Jacobi, and Dr. Hoernle, have effected a great advance in our knowledge of Jainism. For long it had been thought that Jainism was but a sub
