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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EDUCATION AND ARCHITECTURE 437 religious worship were decorated with cloth-paintings (varacittaya-
mmapaur膩 pas膩riy膩 pa峁弓ay膩 bahave 92.19). Perhaps these paintings
depicted some of the episodes of the lives of Jinas and great religious
persons. There is a specific reference to a cloth-painting which
was hanged in a temple and it depicted an incident of the previous
life of prince V峁涐梗abhadhvaja who was then an old bull. As an old
bull he was lying down in a cow-pen. At that time Va峁噄ka Padma-
ruci riding on a horse reached there and recited the Pa帽ca Namas-
k膩ra formula for the religious awakening of that bull. The cloth-
painting is called 'niyayabhavacittiya峁� pa岣峚峁� 103. 45. Thus it
indicates that the episode of the life of the bull was painted in
various colours (cittapa岣峚m vivihavan峁嘺峁� 103. 47. This is an
example of group painting. This painting must have contained
the human and animal pictures as well as the surroundings. Thus it
can be called a landscape painting also. The terms 'n膩峁嚹乿ihac-
ittayakammakayasoha峁�' (68. 18) and 'varakanayavicittabhattiyam'
(77. 3) in connection with the palace of R膩va峁嘺 and a Jina-temple
respectively can be taken as references to frescoes or wall-paintings. The
Cittam-pecch膩haram = Citramprek峁Ｄ乬峁沨am of Rama should be a
chamber or a drama-hall of pictures artistically painted or an art-
gallery of protraits and paintings (80. 5).
Terracota and Plastic :-Leppamaya峁� (24.7)=Lepyam denoted
clay-modelling i. e. terracota鹿 or plaster decoration虏. Kaikeyi was trained
in this art also. Human effigies were prepared from these materials. The
PCV mentions that an effigy or a statue of Dasaratha was prepared to
deceive Vibh墨峁峁嘺 who was planning to kill Dasaratha (leppamaya-
pa岣峣bimba峁� 23. 17). When Vibh墨峁ａ箛a cut off the head of the effigy, the
(red coloured) lac-juice flowed out of it and Vibh墨峁峁嘺 took it to be a real
person of Dasaratha made of flesh and bone. Thus it indicates that the
lac also formed an important ingredient of such modellings. Similarly
an effigy of a lady is referred to have been installed in the palace of
R膩vana. Augada and his soldiers could not recognise that it was a
work of art. He took it to be a lady of flesh and bone. He could
recognise it when he touched it with his hand (tah膩karei phusiya峁�
leppamayamahil膩 vij膩峁嘺nti 68. 13). There is a reference to a stand
still elephant as if he was standing like a statue or an effigy (leppaya-
maoci峁弓hai 81. 11). Then there is a reference to the artificial
figures (ko峁弓imakay膩i峁� 68. 6) of lions and sea monsters which were
installed in the courtyard of the palace of R膩va峁嘺. Their appearance
1, Gupta Art By V, S. Agrawala, p. 11. (1948).
2. LAI, by J. C. Jain, p. 186.
