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OCTOBER, 1982
Historical Biographies
There are a number of biographical accounts dealing with the life stories of the historical Jaina personalities like Mahavira, Gautama, Jambu, Bhadrabahu, Srenika, Karakandu, Jivandhara, Sudarsana Seth, Kunda Kunda, Pujyapada, Vidyanandi, Akalanka, Haribhadra, Hemacandra, etc.
Colophons
The authors and the copyists of the manuscripts have at times left a description of the cities and towns where these were written or copied as well as the rulers whose patronage they enjoyed. Such colophons or prasastis are generally found at the end or the beginning of the works. These constitute our most valuable literary source of history. These are generally of three types, namely, the author's prasasti, the copyist's prasasti and the donor's prasasti.
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Sundry References
There are works like the Harivansa Purāṇa, Padma Purāṇa, Pāṇḍava Purāṇa, Jambu Svāmi Cariu, etc. even if they do not contain a regular colophon often contain sundry references to previous authors or works, particularly relating to their own subject and incidentally even to some important facts about contemporary history. This is particularly true of our logico-philosophical literature which helps in a remarkable way in not only fixing up the chronological sequence of Jaina authors, but also of the important Brahmanic and Buddhist logicians and philosophers of the first millenium of the Christian era.
Story Literature
The story literature of the Jainas is very extensive. The importance and worth of the Jaina story literature has found due recognition at the hands of many Indian as well as European scholars. These also help sometimes to reconstruct history.
Pauranic Literature
The extensive pauranic literature of the Jainas is a fruitful source of ancient Indian historical traditions relating to pre-historic times, and has the same value as the Brahamanic Purāṇas and Buddhist Jātakās. Besides, being lively narratives, these works contain vivid pictures of the
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