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104
History of Jainism with Special Reference to Mathurā
The Mathurā Council
A few centuries later the Jaina canon suffered loss once again. Many Jaina monks died as a result of a great famine in the fourth century AD.268 Therefore, after the end of the famine a council was held at Mathurā under the presidentship of Arya Skandila and collected available knowledge of the Jaina canon.269 The Jaina canon compiled by this council is known as Māthuri Vācana.270
The Valabhi Council
According to some scholars, simultaneously another council was held at Valabhī under the presidentship of Nāgārjuna Sūri, who seems to have been a contemporary of Arya Skandila;271 this council compiled and carefully edited that part of the Jaina canon which had been forgotten.272 But it appears that Arya Skandila and Nāgärjuna Sūri could not meet for its final verification, and the difference seems to have continued.273
The Second Council of Valabhi The present form of the Svetāmbara canon owes its compilation and classification to another council at Valabhi which was held in the fifth century AD, 980 or 993 years after Mahāvīra's death.274 This council met under the presidentship of Devardhiganin Kşamāśramana. In this council the entire Jaina canonical literature was written according to the version of the Mathură Council,275 and variants from the followers of Nāgārjuna Sūri
268. HJM; p. 20; LDJC, pp. 32-3. 269. Ibid., p. 20; Ibid., p. 33. 270. Ibid., p. 21; Ibid., p. 33. 271. Ibid.; Ibid. 272. LDJC, p. 33. 273. Ibid.; HJM, p. 21. 274. Ibid.; ibid. It was held in AD 512 or AD 525. See CA, p. 410. The popular view is that it was
held in the fifth century AD. 275. Ibid., p. 33.
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