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guru, Indra, whose disciple was Divakara and that he, Guhamitra, had donated a portion of land in Yathagumpadŝum (?), the yield of which was for the maintenance of the image and its attendant shrine.
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Perhaps this beginning will encourage interest in studies into the traditions of groupings in the Newar merchant-castes, e.g., the Shresthas/Sheshyas, for further evidence of Jain presence in Nepal.
NOTES
1. Jagdishchandra Jain,
Prakrit Narrative Literature, Origin and Growth, pp. 155-56; and Brhatkalpa Sutra 1.50.
2. Moti Chandra, Trade and Trade Routes in Ancient India. Abhinav Publications. New Delhi. 1977. Pp. 50, 77.
3.See, e.g., Ardhakathanaka: Half a Tale by Mukund Lath. Publisher: Rajasthan Prakrit Bharati Sansthan, Jaipur; distributor: Impex India, New Delhi. 1981. On p. 111 Dr. Lath writes "The Nisitha Curni a Jain text written by Jinadas Gani in the 7th century, records that one of the ministers in a king's council of his days was called the 'sresthi'. He was an important businessman, representative of merchants and trading guilds of the state." See, also, pp. 7-8 of this earliest biography of the mid-seventeenth century where the author
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