Prabhavakacarita

Prabhāvakacarita (Life of the Prominent) is a Jaina text devoted to history, composed by Prabhācandra, an acarya of the Śvetāmbara tradition of Jainism in 1277–78. While Prabhāvakacarita is dedicated to the lives of Jain monks of the Śvetāmbara tradition, it is often quoted in the context of classical and medieval history, often dealing with the time of Acharya Hemachandra. As a historic text, this work serves as a major source of the information on the society in that era. Prabhāvakacarita includes a mention of use a parachute in ancient India.

Prabhācandra was inspired from the Pariśiṣṭaparva, an appendix to Triśaṣṭiśalākāpuruṣacarita by Hemacandrasūri to compose a work that encompasses the lives of Jaina monks prominently and the kings, statesmen, associated or belonging from 1^st century C. E. to 12^th century C. E. This work has been corrected by Pradyumnasūri, disciple of Kanakaprabhasūri. Prabhachandra gives accounts of acāryas from the first century of the Vikrama era to 13th century, concluding with the account of Hemachandra. It gives an account of 22 ācārya, including Vajrasvāmī, Kālaka, Haribhadra, Bapabhatti, Mānatuṅga, Mahendrasūri (which includes an account of poet Dhanapāla) and Hemachandra. It concludes by including a praśasti of the author himself.