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INTRODUCTION
.: The Jain Granth Bhandars of Jaipur and Nagaur are the store
houses of the manuscripts, both religious and secular, written on palm leaves, cloth and paper. The number of manuscripts preserved in these Granth Bhandars is quite large, about more than fifty thousand. The religious manuscripts deal with principles as well as rituals of Jain religion, where as the secular manuscripts cover a wide range of subjects such as poetry, drama, medicine, astronomy, mathematics, music, aesthetics and fiction. The collections are centuries old. They are the result of hard and continuous efforts of several generations.
Two manuscripts on palm leaves namely BHAKTAMAR STOTRA and TATVARTHA SUTRA are available in the Jain Temple Patodi Granth Bhandar, Jaipur. The Parshvanath Jain Temple Granth Bhandar of Jaipur" contains a manuscript written on cloth dating back 'to 1459 A. D. The condition of cloth is still good notwithstanding its five hundred years of age. Another cloth munuscript contained Jobner
Jain Temple Granth Bhandar, Jaipur is embroidered with glass :.beads illustrating the i6 objects of dream seen by the mother of :: TIRTHANKAR MAHAVIR. Some maps of Jambu Dwipa, Adhai Dwipa
and some YANTRAS on cloth are also preserved in the Patodi Jain Temple Granth Bhandar of Jaipur,
The bulk of the manuscripts are, however, written on paper with ordinary, silver and golden ink. Many of them are beautifully illustrated. The folios are numbered only on one side and their edges
are decorated with various kinds of paintings and lines in red and blue :ink, The earliest among these manuscripts written on paper is
PANCHASTIKAYA by Acharya Kundkund which is preserved in the Bada Mandir Jain Granth Bhandar of Jaipur. The manuscript was copied in V.S. 1329 i.e. 1272 A.D. in Delhi which was as Yoginipur.
The Jain Granth Bhandars owe their origin to the indefitigua able efforts of the BHTTARAKAS and JATTIS who travelled quite
