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Pearls of Jaina Wisdom
a second attempt was made. After the famine, under the leadership of Ārya Skandila, the Jaina council of Monks met in Mathura. The monks present compiled those Āgamas that they had been able to retain in their memory. In this congregation also, the scriptures were only recited and not written — this was called the Māthuri rendering. It was the second attempt of systematizing the Āgamas. During this same period another great Jaīna monk, Nāgārjūnasūri also invited many monks to Saurāstra for a council and tried to systematize the Agamic literature. The Third Convention
150 years after the second attempt ( 980-993 V. N.), a third attempt was made under the leadership of Devardhigani Kșamāśramana in Vallabhīnagara ( modern Şaurāstra ). Besides the Āgamas orally compiled in the first two councils, other available works and commentaries too were compiled in this council. The differences in the texts compiled during the two councils were reconciled and systematized. This task was undertaken 980 years after Lord Mahāvīra's nirvāṇa. The Āgamas available today represent the ones accepted and systematized in the third convention. The special feature of this council was that the sacred scriptures were finally written down. The differences occurring in the texts were mentioned and the twelfth Anga- Drstivāda was declared unavailable as it was not found in the memory of anyone. Devardhigani is reported to have distributed copies of the scriptures to all the centres of scriptural siudies which were flourishing in those days. Agamic Literature
The Agamic literature of the Jaina mainly consists of thirtytwo texts which are divided into three groups of works known as Pūrvas ( older ), Angapravista ( inner corpus ) and Angabāhya ( outer corpus ), all handed down in the ancient language, Ardhamāgadhi.
The Pūrvas : These include fourteen works of great antiquity claimed by the Jainas to go back to the time of Lord Pārśva.
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