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mythological and legendary history of 40 places of pilgrimage in India is documented in 40 chapters (kalpas). Jinaprabha has used both the languages i.e. Sanskrit and Prakrit (Jaina Māhārāstrī). This fourteenth-century-text is widely studied by Prakritists, Sanskritists and particularly by Orientalists due to its historical importance.
We get the reference to Cāņakya (Jinaprabha refers his name as 'Cāņikya') in the 36th chapter entitled 'Pātaliputra-nagara-kalpa'. Since Cāņakya is supposed to be a historical personality and the history of Jainism and Cāņakya is related with Magadha and particularily with Pāțaliputra, we gather a lot of information from Jinaprabha. But we become totally disappointed when we find only two passing references to Cāņakya in this chapter. Jinaprabha documents one-line-story as below -
____ तत्रैव च चाणिक्यः सचिवो नन्दं समूलमुन्मूल्य मौर्यवंश्यं श्रीचन्द्रगुप्तं Ralfagfggryfard 1 (p.69)
"There, Cāņikya-the minister completely uprooted Nanda. The great Candragupta of the mauryan dynasty was installed upon the throne by him.”
After this, Jinaprabha has enumerated Candragupta's successors very briefly in a single line. Samprati's contribution to Jainism is underlined. The story of femine is repeated here in a brief manner. The only remarkable thing is, among all the names of Cāņakya, Jinaprabha has used the name 'Visnugupta', which is very rare in the Jaina tradition.
We can conclude that during the 14th century A.D., the Cāņakyanarrative was on the verge of disappearance from the horizon of the svetāmbara literature.
