Jain literature
texts related to the religion of Jainism
Jain literature (Sanskrit: जैन साहित्य) refers to the literature of the Jain religion. It is a vast and ancient literary tradition, which was initially transmitted orally. The oldest surviving material is contained in the canonical Jain Agamas, which are written in Ardhamagadhi, a Prakrit (Middle Indo-Aryan) language. Various commentaries were written on these canonical texts by later Jain monks. Later works were also written in other languages, such as Sanskrit and Maharashtri Prakrit.
Jain literature is primarily divided between the canons of the Digambara and Śvētāmbara orders. These two main sects of Jainism do not always agree on which texts should be considered authoritative.
More recent Jain literature has also been written in other languages, such as Marathi, Tamil, Rajasthani, Dhundari, Marwari, Hindi, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, and, more recently, in English.
Origins: The Oral Tradition (Śrutajñāna)
According to Jain tradition, the teachings that form the basis of their scriptures are eternal. It is believed that in each universal time cycle, twenty-four tīrthaṅkaras reveal these truths.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Jain literature” as texts related to the religion of Jainism. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q17006151. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Jain literature” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.