Jain Teachings Are Translated

The Jain monk Acharya Parshvachandrasuri translates a number of Jain scriptures into Gujarati in his Tabba, or ‘Paraphrasings’. These scriptures, written in Prakrit and Sanskrit, are derived indirectly from a portion of the fourteen Purvas believed to be a record of Mahavira’s exact words as written by Mahavira’s ganadharas (chief disciples). As the Purvas are believed to have been lost by the third century CE, the Tabba draws on various commentaries by Jain monks over the centuries. The Prakrit and Sanskrit texts were rewritten every few centuries to keep up with changes in language and maintain the texts’ intelligibility, but the translation into Gujarati ends this cycle, although some older scriptures have survived.