Short answer
No, not all of it, by the Jains' own account. The two main Jain traditions, the Svetambaras and the Digambaras, both teach that the fourteen Purvas were lost. These were the oldest teaching, and the knowledge faded until it was totally extinct. The Svetambaras say the twelfth Anga, which held them, was lost too. The Digambaras say the Angas, the main books of the canon, are themselves lost. So part of what Mahavira, the last of the Jain Tirthankaras (teachers), taught is gone. Islam's claim is narrow and can be checked. The Qur'an was written down as it came, and Companions learned it by heart, in the Prophet's (ﷺ) lifetime. God (﷾) also promises to guard it (15:9).
Full explanation
What the Jain traditions say was lost
Hermann Jacobi, who translated the Svetambara Kalpa Sutra for the Sacred Books of the East, reports the Jains' own account in his introduction. The Svetambaras and the Digambaras both say there were once fourteen Purvas, older works that stood beside the Angas, the main books of the canon. They both say the knowledge of the Purvas faded until it was totally extinct. The Svetambaras say the Purvas had been placed in the twelfth Anga, the Drishtivada, and that it was lost before the year 1000 after Mahavira. Jacobi adds that the Digambaras have lost the Purvas, and the Angas as well. Svetambaras accept the surviving Angas as their canon. Digambaras do not accept that canon.
“we are told by the Svetambaras, as well as the Digambaras, that besides the Angas, there existed other and probably older works, called Purvas, of which there were originally fourteen. The knowledge of these Purvas was gradually lost, till at last it became totally extinct.”
“the fourteen Purvas had been incorporated in the twelfth Anga, the Drishtivada, which was lost before 1000 A.V.”
“the Digambaras also have lost the Purvas, and the Angas to boot”
| Text | Svetambaras | Digambaras |
|---|---|---|
| The fourteen Purvas | Lost | Lost |
| The twelfth Anga, the Drishtivada | Lost | Lost |
| The other Angas | Kept, and written down at Valabhi | Lost |
The writing down at Valabhi
Svetambara tradition holds that the canon was written down at the council of Valabhi under Devarddhi. The date is 980 (or 993) years after Mahavira (about 454 or 467 CE). Jacobi notes that the tradition links this date to Kalpa Sutra §148. The commentators themselves were unsure what the date marks (SBE 22, p. xxxvii and p. 270 n.). The Kalpa Sutra itself gives only two figures, shown beneath, and says nothing of Valabhi or of writing.
“The redaction of the Gaina canon or the Siddhanta took place, according to the unanimous tradition, on the council of Valabhi, under the presidency of Devarddhi.”
“Since the time that the Venerable Ascetic Mahavira died, &c. (all down to) freed from all pains, nine centuries have elapsed, and of the tenth century this is the eightieth year. Another redaction has ninety-third year (instead of eightieth)”
“To what facts the two dates in this paragraph relate, is not certain. The commentators confess that there was no fixed tradition, and bring forward the following four facts, which are applied at will to either date: 1. The council of Valabhi under the presidency of Devarddhi, who caused the Siddhanta to be written in books.”
How Jains answer
Svetambaras hold that the Angas written down at Valabhi still carry the Jina's teaching. Jacobi argued that the oldest Jain works are far older than their writing and that the Jains could keep their tradition free of large borrowings. Digambaras hold that the original Angas and Purvas are lost. They say a few sections of the Purva teaching live on in the Shatkhandagama and the Kasayapahuda. Each of these answers grants the loss. None of them restores what the tradition says is gone.
Sets out to show that the oldest Gaina works were composed many centuries before they were written down, and that the Gainas could keep their creed and tradition free of large borrowings from other systems. In the same pages he records the Svetambara and Digambara tradition that the Purvas were lost.
Jaini writes that the Svetambaras accept forty-five extant texts as canonical, though the Sthanakavasi, a Svetambara sect, accept a shorter list (p. 49, n. 12). The Digambaras keep the names of the Purva and Anga texts but do not admit that any of them survive in authentic form (p. 49, n. 12). In the Digambara account, a few sections on karma theory from the lost twelfth Anga were passed down by the teacher Dharasena to Pushpadanta and Bhutabali, who wrote them down as the Shatkhandagama, and another Digambara teacher drew on the same source for the Kasayaprabhrta; these are the only canonical works the Digambaras possess (pp. 50-51). Jaini adds that they have consistently maintained that the Anga texts were "totally lost" as early as the second century CE, and that the Svetambaras preserved large portions of the Anga texts though they lost the Purvas and the twelfth Anga (p. 51).
“we are told by the Svetambaras, as well as the Digambaras, that besides the Angas, there existed other and probably older works, called Purvas, of which there were originally fourteen. The knowledge of these Purvas was gradually lost, till at last it became totally extinct.”
A test any reader can apply
A teaching reaches us whole only if nothing of it was lost. So ask of any scripture: does its own community say that part of the teacher's teaching was actually lost among his followers after he died? For the Jain canons the answer is yes. Both traditions say so, and they name what was lost: the Purvas, the Drishtivada and, for the Digambaras, the Angas. The same question can be asked of the Qur'an. Muslims teach that nothing of it is lost, and the next block sets out the record from the Prophet's (ﷺ) lifetime.
“we are told by the Svetambaras, as well as the Digambaras, that besides the Angas, there existed other and probably older works, called Purvas, of which there were originally fourteen. The knowledge of these Purvas was gradually lost, till at last it became totally extinct.”
“the fourteen Purvas had been incorporated in the twelfth Anga, the Drishtivada, which was lost before 1000 A.V.”
“the Digambaras also have lost the Purvas, and the Angas to boot”
“We have, without doubt, sent down the Message; and We will assuredly guard it (from corruption).”
What the Qur'an says and what the record shows
The Qur'an says God (﷾) sent down the Message and will guard it. It says that no falsehood can approach it from before or behind. Zayd ibn Thabit used to write down the revelation for the Prophet (ﷺ). Gabriel went over the Qur'an with the Prophet (ﷺ) once every year, and twice in the year he died. The page "How was the Qur'an preserved?" sets out the full record. Jains and Muslims agree that each soul answers for its own deeds, so guidance that reaches us whole matters. Read the Qur'an for yourself, and consider the last Prophet (ﷺ) through whom it came.
“We have, without doubt, sent down the Message; and We will assuredly guard it (from corruption).”
“No falsehood can approach it from before or behind it: It is sent down by One Full of Wisdom, Worthy of all Praise.”
Zayd ibn Thabit reports that after many who knew the Qur'an by heart were killed at Yamama, Abu Bakr asked him to gather the Qur'an into one volume, reminding him that he used to write down the revelation for the Messenger of Allah. Zayd collected it from written pieces and from the memories of men, and the finished copy passed from Abu Bakr to Umar and then to Hafsa.
Abu Hurayra reports that Gabriel went over the Qur'an with the Prophet (ﷺ) once every year, and twice in the year he died.
The Qur'an lost verses too?
Qur'an 2:106 — Surat al-Baqara (The Cow), verse 106
“None of Our revelations do We abrogate or cause to be forgotten, but We substitute something better or similar: Knowest thou not that Allah Hath power over all things?”
Cited for
Critics say the Qur'an also lost verses, through abrogation, so Muslims face the same problem as the Jains.
The response
In 2:106 God (﷾) says that whatever verse He abrogates or causes to be forgotten, He replaces with something better or similar. In 87:6-7 He tells the Prophet (ﷺ) he will not forget, except as God (﷾) wills. So any removal is God's (﷾) own act, stated in the Book itself. The Jain traditions report loss among the followers, after Mahavira had died. Zayd wrote the revelation for the Prophet (ﷺ), and Gabriel reviewed the Qur'an with him each year.
Where it lands — What God (﷾) removed, He removed in the Prophet's (ﷺ) lifetime, by His own word. That is not teaching lost among followers after the teacher died.
Sahih al-Bukhari 4986 — Kitab Fada'il al-Qur'an (Virtues of the Qur'an), hadith 4986
Zayd ibn Thabit reports that after many who knew the Qur'an by heart were killed at Yamama, Abu Bakr asked him to gather the Qur'an into one volume, reminding him that he used to write down the revelation for the Messenger of Allah. Zayd collected it from written pieces and from the memories of men, and the finished copy passed from Abu Bakr to Umar and then to Hafsa.
Cited for
Abu Bakr also had the Qur'an gathered after reciters were killed, so the Qur'an faced the same danger.
The response
The Qur'an was already written down in pieces as it came, in the Prophet's (ﷺ) lifetime. Umar feared that more reciters might fall. So Abu Bakr had the Qur'an gathered into one volume, from those written pieces and from the men who knew it by heart. The Jain traditions report something different: that the Purvas were lost. The page "How was the Qur'an preserved?" sets out the record.
Where it lands — The gathering kept the Qur'an from being lost. The Jain traditions say that the Purvas and the twelfth Anga were lost.
Perspectives
Svetambara Jain
The Svetambara canon, the Agamas, was fixed at Valabhi and carries what the Jina taught. The Svetambaras themselves say the Purvas and the twelfth Anga are lost.
The Angas that survive, written down at Valabhi, still carry the Jina's teaching even though the Purvas are lost.
Rebuttal
Grant that they carry much. By the tradition's own account, the Purvas and the twelfth Anga were lost, and nothing restores them.
The oldest Jain works are far older than their writing, and the Jains could hand them on faithfully by memory.
Rebuttal
Grant that the surviving works are old. Age is not completeness. The same pages record that the Purvas and the twelfth Anga are lost.
Memory kept the teaching faithfully, so the later writing down lost nothing.
Rebuttal
The tradition itself says the knowledge of the Purvas faded until it was extinct, and that the twelfth Anga was lost. Memory kept much, but not those.
Digambara Jain
The Digambaras do not accept the Svetambara canon. They hold that the original Angas and Purvas are lost and that a few sections of their teaching survive in other texts.
A few sections of the Purva teaching survive in the Shatkhandagama and the Kasayapahuda.
Rebuttal
Grant it. The same tradition says the Purvas and the Angas themselves are lost, so what survives is a part, not the whole.
Both traditions agree on the core teaching, so the lost works matter little.
Rebuttal
Which teaching survives? The two traditions do not agree on which books carry it, so there is no one record to check the core against. The page "Which Jain canon holds Mahavira's words?" sets this out.
What the record shows
The loss is reported by the Jain traditions themselves. The figures in the Kalpa Sutra are two dates that its commentators could not tie to one event.
The Svetambaras and the Digambaras both say that the fourteen Purvas were gradually lost until the knowledge was totally extinct.
The Svetambaras say the twelfth Anga, the Drishtivada, which held the Purvas, was lost before the year 1000 after Mahavira.
Jacobi records that the Digambaras have lost the Purvas, and the Angas as well.
The Svetambara tradition places the redaction of its canon at the council of Valabhi under Devarddhi.
Kalpa Sutra §148 gives two figures only, and Jacobi says the commentators could not agree what events they mark.
The Islamic perspective
The Qur'an was written down as it came and reviewed with Gabriel in the Prophet's (ﷺ) lifetime. God (﷾) promises to guard it.
The Qur'an says God (﷾) sent down the Message and will guard it, and that no falsehood can approach it.
Zayd ibn Thabit used to write down the revelation for the Prophet (ﷺ).
Gabriel went over the Qur'an with the Prophet (ﷺ) once every year, and twice in the year he died.