Jain tradition gives a relative chronology only, placing Skandila's recension beside Nagarjuna's at Valabhi and both before the final Valabhi redaction. No inscription, manuscript colophon or external record fixes an absolute date, and no date is defended in the scholarly literature.
What would resolve this A dated inscription or manuscript colophon from the Mathura Jain community referring to the recension, or a securely dated Jain text that demonstrably presupposes it.
Resolution The Council of Mathura's own council-historicity fact answers this: when it met is not established, Jain tradition gives only a relative chronology, and no inscription, colophon or external record dates the Mathuri recension. No absolute date is defended anywhere in the literature. That the date cannot be fixed is itself the settled scholarly position, distinct from an unfilled gap. · 08/08/2026 12:00:00 AM
ResolvedJain studies, with Indian epigraphy and manuscript studiesPaul Dundas, The Jains