Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. The stories contained in the Kathakoca are, in their present form, at any rate, intended to illustrate the tenets and practice of Jainism. In other words, though they are genuine fragments of Indian folk-lore, they have been edited by some Jain theologian for the purpose of the edification of the votaries of that religion. It seems, accordingly, desirable to give a short account of Jainism, in order to render these tales intelligible.