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’s version.
Page 300 of: Paumacariya (critical study)
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SOURCES, CONTRIBUTION AND INFLUENCE OF PCV. 271 There is no reference to the fire-ordeal of Sītā. The Rāmopākhyāna
also does not refer to it. Scholars hold that it was not a part of the
Adi Ramayana (Bulcke, p. 328).
Then the following points of the VH are supported by some old
tradition :
-
Absence of references to :
(1) Setting Lanka on fire by Hanuman.
(2) Spying work of Rāvaṇa's men.
(3) Manifestation of huge form by Hanuman.
(4) Changing of his form by Hanuman while entering Lankā.
(5) Fire-ordeal of Sītā.
In the Uttarapurāṇa Hanumat is through out named as Aṇumat.
Dr. Bulcke (Vide Bulcke, p. 11) holds that Hanumat of the VR is
adopted from an old Dravidian name Āṇa-mandi i.e. Nara-kapi and the
word Hanumat is the Sanskrit form of the Dravadian word. In the old
Akhyāna Kavya Hanumat was an aboriginal whose lineage was Vānara.
The original meaning of the word Aṇa-mandi has been lost in the
VR as well as in the UP. In the VR Hanumat is named so because
his jaw was broken while in the UP he is named so becanse he assumed
the form like a particle of sand (See Supra, Ch. 4 No. 2). Further we
find that in all the Rāma-stories Hanumat hails from the south. The
name Aṇumat in UP is more akin to the word AĀṇa-mandi than to
Hanumat. It indicates that the UP preserves some ancient tradition
earlier than that of the VR in the name of Aṇumat.
The following points of the UP's Rama-story are supported by
old tradition :
Absence of references to :
( 1 ) Setting Laukā on fire by Hanumān.
(2) Spying work of Rāvana's men.
( 3 ) Manifestation of huge form by Hanuman.
( 4 ) Construction of a bridge.
( 5 ) Fire-ordeal.
VH and the UP moreover represent an old stage of the Rāma-
story because they do not refer to the abandonment of Sītā i. e. the
VR's Uttarakāṇaḍa story. The Rāmopākhyāna also does not refer to the
abandonment of Sītā. The same is the case with the Rama-stories of
Aranyaparva, Droṇaparva and Sāntiparva of the Mahābhārata (Bulcke,
pp. 43-44). The Harivamsa, Vayu, Viṣṇu and Nrsimha Purāṇas as well
as the Anāmakam Jātaka also do not contain the abandonment of Sītā.
1. Dhirendra Varma Viṣeśāṅka. p. 344.
