ABSTRACT
If an explanation of this sort is hardly satisfactory, it is noteworthy that the resilience of the literary tradition about the P¨rvas is such that no Jain scholar has seen fit seriously to challenge its validity. Indeed, despite both the absence of specific proof of the existence of these scriptures in the form of manuscripts and the occurrence of obviously fanciful statements calculating the amount of ink required to write the P¨rvas as equivalent to the volume of a number of elephants,18 flvetåmbara and Digambara texts alike record broadly similar names and descriptions for the P¨rvas and their contents which point to a common origin of the tradition. The fact that it is not unknown in classical Indian literature for later, betterformulated works to render otiose earlier writings suggests that the possibility of some sort of lost precursor of the currently existing scriptures, the memory of which predates sectarian division, should not be completely discounted.
