Page:A Descriptive Catalogue of the Oriental Manuscripts.djvu/309

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JAIN LITERATURE.

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I. — Adi Purána.

a. Sanscrit, Hála Karnáta Character, Paim leaves.
b. ditto, incomplete; 25 Sections.
c. ditto, ditto ; the last portion.

The first Purána, or more correctly the first part of a collective body of legends, to which the Jainas have applied the term Purána. The compilation is ascribed to Jinasena Achárya, who is said to have lived in the reign of Vikramdáitya, but who was probably much later. In the Purána, however, the interlocutors are Sreníka the king, and Gautama the disciple of Mahávíra, who relates the formation of the present world, and the birth and actions of Vrishabha, the first Tirthankara or Pontiff, and Bharata the Chakravertti or universal Emperor, until the death or emancipation of both. According to this authority, Vrishabha was first born, &c. Mahabala Chabraverttí, being instructed in the Jain doctrines, he was next born in the second heaven as Salitanga deva. He was next born as Vajrajangha, son of Vajrabáhu, king of Utpala kata, a city on the Sitodá, one of the rivers of Mahámeru. Having in this existence