Jinasena lived in the golden age of the Rashtrakuta empire, whose capital Manyakheta (today's Malkhed in Kalaburagi district, Karnataka) was one of the great cities of its time. He was the teacher of the emperor Amoghavarsha I, a ruler famous for his learning and his love of peace, in whose reign the Kannada classic Kavirajamarga was written.
With his teacher Virasena he worked on the Jayadhavala, the vast commentary on the Kashayapahuda, and completed it after Virasena's death. He then began the Mahapurana, the Digambara universal history of the 63 great figures. He completed the first part, the Adipurana on Rishabhanatha and Bharata, and his disciple Gunabhadra finished the work as the Uttarapurana. Much of what Digambara Jains know of the Tirthankaras' lives comes from these pages.
