Essay name: Paumacariya (critical study)
Author:
K. R. Chandra
Affiliation: Research institute of Prakrit, Jainology and Ahimsa Vaishali
This is a critical study of the Paumacariya: the earliest Jain version of Rama's life story, written in Prakrit by Vimalasuri dating to the 4th century AD. In this text, Rama (referred to as Padma) is depicted with lotus-like eyes and a blooming face. The Paumacariya places emphasis on the human aspects of characters rooted in Jain values, contrasting with the divine portrayal in Valmiki鈥檚 version.
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248
A CRITICAL STUDY OF PAUMACARIYA峁�
(i) Abusing of Vibh墨峁峁嘺 as coward by Indrajit (PCV, 55.9;
VRTP, 110).
(ii) PCV (Ch. 23) N膩rada once went to La峁卥膩 to worship the
Jinas. He heard a prophecy there. S膩garavidhi told R膩vana that he
would be killed by Dasaratha's son. Vibh墨峁峁嘺 then plotted to kill
Dasaratha. N膩rada went to Dasaratha and alerted him of the im-
pending danger to his life. S.VR-It contains a somewhat similar
story in the interpolated chapters 2-4 after Ch. 37 of the Uttarak膩峁囜笉a
of the Southern version of VR. In the N-W. version they are placed
in footnotes after Ch 39 of Uttarak膩峁囜笉a. In the Gau岣嵞珁a version they
are absent. It shows that these chapters did not form the part of the
original Uttarakanda of the VR but they are interpolated later. The story
is as follows:-
"On enquiry from R膩vana, Sanatkum膩ra told him that one
who is killed by Prabhu (Hari-N膩r膩ya峁嘺) attains the abode of Hari
(emancipation). Sanatkum膩ra further prophesied that Hari would
soon take birth in the form of the son of Dasaratha and would go in
exile. Thereupon R膩vana decided to kidnap S墨t膩 so that he would
attain emancipation on being killed at the hands of 搁腻尘补." When
N膩rada came to know about this episode he went to Muni Agastya
and made him acquainted with it. Muni Agastya narrated it to
搁腻尘补.
The striking similarities are Sagaravidhi in the PCV and Sanat-
kum膩ra in the VR, prophecy in both the works, learning of it by
N膩rada and then passing it on to Dasaratha in the PCV and to Muni
Agastya in the VR.
It is held that as regards the topics which are found in the
Southern recension as well as in the N-W. version of VR, there is
influence of the Southern recension on the N-W. version (VRTP, p.31)
As regards the above mentioned point (a) we cannot
be sure
whether the Southern version has influenced the PCV or the PCV
has influenced both the versions of VR, but on the point (b) the.
influence of the PCV is very obvious as it will be clear from the
following discussion.
Dr. R.G. Bhandarkar鹿 says that R膩ma's indentification with
Vi峁ａ箛u had become popular in the early centuries of Christian era, but
his worship i.e. Rama-bhakti originated very late, probably in the
11th century A.D. (See Bulcke, p. 150). The oldest works which refer
to R膩ma-bhakti belong to Tamil Alvaras from the 8th century A.D.
1. See Collected works of R. G. Bhandarkar, Vol. IV. p,66.
