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Dynastic Lists and Genealogical Accounts
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Jaina Purānakäras' lack of historical sense and confused knowledge of traditional lore Now, what we arrive at from the study of these divergent statements is that the authors took up the same traditional dynastic and genealogical prototype which their predecessors had discarded as unworthy of attention and wove out a seemingly new pattern by inventing some new names, associations and legends around them And the obvious result was that the dynasties and their genealogies were set out in grossly distorted, distempered and confused form
The reasons for such a state of affairs are many First, having long remained almost totally cut off from the current of traditional lore, the Jaina savants lost all interests in matters of extra-religious nature Secondly, their religion having been averse to the secular side of the social institutions, they had little regard for the chronology of ancient events and genealogy of old dynasties Thirdly, they were ever busy striving to display the falsity and perversion of the traditional accounts which they dubbed as the productions of pseudopoets (osin afa) It was against such a background that the Jaina Purānas came into being.
Nevertheless, the impact of the Brahmanıcal epica Purānic tradition was so pressing and profound that it made itself felt in multifarious ways and on various planes and it is this state of affairs which gives the faina Purānic studies greater significance and values than anything else.
