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History of Jainism with Special Reference to Mathurā
The literary activity of the Jainas has embraced an extremely wide field. Jaina authors have produced religious as well as secular literature. They have written numerous books on religion and philosophy.346 They also produced narrative literature in the form of kathās, kathākośas, epics, caritas,347 Purānas,348 prabhandas and praśastis.349 They also wrote sociopolitical histories, historical biographies, pattāvalis of the various Jaina ascetic congregations, commentaries on non-Jaina works, etc. 350 The Jainas also produced works on poetry in the form of kavyas, mahākāvyas and small poems351 They also wrote on technical and scientific subjects like poetics, grammar, lexicography geography, astronomy, mathematics, medicine, politics, etc.352
By producing literature in many Indian languages like Ardha-Magadhi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, etc., Jainism has played an important role in the linguistic development of India. Prākrt languages owe a lot to Jainism. The Jainas produced rich literature in Apabhraíía,353 and most of the surviving literature in this language is the creation of Jaina authors.354 Apabhramsa is a language which is a link between the classical languages, i.e., Sanskrit and Prākrt and the modern vernacular languages of India. 355 Apabhramśa represents an important stage in the development of IndoAryan languages - a stage in which the Präkrts die and out of them the bhāsās or the vernaculars are born'.356 Many modern Indian languages like
346. JIR, pp. 152-3; AOIK, p. 292. 347. CA, pp. 291ff; JIR, pp. 153-60; JSAI, pp. 20-2. 348. JIR, p. 153; JSAI, pp. 22-5. 349. JSAI, pp. 18-19. 350. Ibid., pp. 16-28. 351. CA, pp. 313-17; JIR, p. 166. 352. Ibid., pp. 317-24; Ibid., pp. 172-7; MJ, p. 266; JSAI, pp. 16ff. 353. CUHI, I, pp. 222-3; Ibid., p. 151; JSAI, p. 13. 354. JIR, p. 151. 355. CUHI, I, p. 223. 356. SFE, p. 351.
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