The two essays in this volume explore how monks in medieval India and China wrote about themselves with their fellow monks. The author translates and discusses biographies and autobiographies of two Jain monks, who lives in the 11th and 14th century CE. The book tells us how a community of Chinese Buddhists viewed the life of the founder of their group, and how his biography reflected the changes that the community underwent. The essays are the result of a joint research project on religious biographies in Asia, carried out with assistance from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

The stories in this collection span almost one thousand years of story-telling in India., Most originate in North India and all were written by Jain Monks for the edification and amusement of the faithful. Jain literature is both rich and varied. Stories were told in verse and prose, in Sanskrit and in vernacular languages. Some resemble simple folk tales while others are as sophisticated as courtly romances. The stories in Jain literature are about holy men and holy places, famous kings and courtiers and those not often heard in ancient and medieval India - women and toiling villagers. The treasures of India's heritage of story-telling are known to us today mainly from these Jain stories which have been carefully pre-served through the ages. The stories in The Clever Adulteress have been translated by a renowned group of scholars from India, North America and Europe. Each translator has chosen his or her favourites from the vast treasures of Jain literature.