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Importance of The Jaina Grantha Bhandars
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7. In the Sastra Bhandar of Khandelwal Mandir, Kämā there is a
manuscript of Pandava Carita of Devprabha Sürı copied in the year 1397 A. D. It was copied by Vayararsena for Muniprabha Sür. The prasasti is as follows.
संवत् १४५४ वर्ष ज्येष्ठ सुदि सप्तमी शुक्रवारे श्री पान्डवचरितं वयरसेरणेन लिखित महाहडीयगच्छे श्रीमुनिप्रभसूरीणां योग्यं ।।
8. Parmatma Prakāśa of Yogindn (8th Century) exists in the Sastra
Bhandār of Pandya Lūnkaranji of Jaipur. It is a manuscript of the year 1400 A.D.
There are several manuscripts written in the 14th and 15th centuries in the Grantha Bhandar, and one or two inanuscript of this period are easily available in most of the Grantha Bhandārs.
Thus the Jaina Grantha Bhandārs are of great value from the point of earlist written manuscripts. In this respect they are incomparable to others and inspite of frequent destruction of the manuscripts there are still manuscripts from 11th Century.
TREASURE HOUSES FOR NON-JAINA WORKS
The Grantha Bhandārs are not only the treasure houses for the books written by the Jaina writers but they are also the good centres for the manuscripts written by the scholars other than Jainas. The Sådhus and also the house-holders made no difference while collecting the manuscripts for these Bhandārs and they collected giving them the same importance to the manuscripts written by non-Jaina scholars also some of the manuscripts are also such which are available in these Jaina Bhandars alone In this respect the Granth Bhandars of Āmer, Jaipur, Nāgaur, Bikāner. Jaisalmer, Kotah, Bûndi and Ajmer are important.
The Jaina scholars not only saved the manuscripts from destruction but also wrote commentaries, Vrittis, and Bhâsyas on them. They translated them into Hindi and gave full support for their wide circulation
The manuscripts relating to the subjects of Kavya, Katha, Vyakarana, Ayurveda, Jyotışa and subjects of other general interest are found in good number Manuscripts even on the religious subjects based on the Smritis, Upnisadas, Samhitas, Brahmanas are also available in the collection of these Bhandars. There are about 500 manuscripts only in Jaina Sastra Bhandar of Mandir Paçodr Jaipur on the above subjects.
