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In the olden days, the knowledge of scriptures was passed
on by the word of mouth, taught by a teacher.
The last man who knew all the Jain scriptures by-heart was Bhadrabhanuswami
who died 170 years after Lord Mahavira. About that time, around 360 B.C.,
the Jains were concerned that the knowledge of the holy scriptures might
get lost. To preserve the scriptures, a great conference of monks was
organized in Patliputra (now Patna, in Bihar, India) to put the contents
of the sacred texts in order.
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