ABSTRACT
This chapter queries a consistent feature of scholarly presentations about the redacting councils to which the Svetambara canon is attributed, namely a recurring weakness to adequately identify and examine the sources upon which these scholarly presentations are based, especially the bases for the dating of the councils. It demonstrates how accounts of the aspect of the canonical texts of the Svetambara Jainas rarely indicate the severely limited foundations upon which they are based. The chapter provides a survey of scholarly accounts of the final redaction of the Jaina Agamas, to show the evolution of received scholarly opinion on the place of the teachers mentioned earlier in the history of the Agama. Accounts of the history of the Jaina Agamas almost always refer to the redacting work of the two Jaina Acaryas Skandila and Nagarjuna and to Devarddhiganin Ksamasramana.
