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Jain Prakrit, with the Prakrit of Hâla, Setubanda etc., on one side, and the Pâli on the other, concludes that the Jain Prakrit approaches more the Pali than the later Prakrit. This fact coupled with some metrical tests, based on observing the metres employed in the Jain sacred books, such as the Vaitâtîya metre, which is to be found in the Jain Sutrakritânga Sutra, and in the Dhammapada and other sacred books of the southern Buddhists, and the Trishtubh metre, enable Jacobi to come to the conclusion that "the chronological pcsiton of the oldest part of the Jain literature is intermediate between the Pâli literature and the composition of the Lalita Vistara," and further that the beginning of the Jain literature should be placed nearer the time of the Pali literature, rather than that of the Northern Buddhists. The truth of this statement is clearly attested by a tradition prevailing amongst the Svetambara section of the Jains. In the reign of Chandra Gupta
Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
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