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.
Page 497 of: Paumacariya (critical study)
497 (of 671)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
Download the PDF file of the original publication
468
A CRITICAL STUDY OF PAUMACARIYA峁�
punished to death along with his fellow 艢rama峁嘺s (41.30-31) by a
king bigot. A Tapasa who entered. the harem and requested to
marry a princess, was tied with ropes and publicly censured (39.116)
by the king.
=
Divine Ordeal:-The PCV reveals that divine ordeals were ordered
for testing the guilt of a person. When S墨t膩 was asked to prove the
purity of her character, she offered to undergo any one of the five
ordeals (pa帽casu divvesu 101.38) of which the four are mentioned as
'tula = balance, jalanam-fire, phalam-ploughshare and visa峁�
poison'. S墨t膩 underwent the fire-ordeal. She entered a pit abla-
zing with fire. She was chaste so the fire pit changend into a water-
reservoir and she was acclaimed guiltless. Manu (7.114f) recognises
two ordeals viz. fire and water. The Sukraniti (4.747-52) adds to
them the ordeals of visa, gha峁璦 or tula, dharma and adharma,
tandula and Sapatha. It states that when all the other methods fail
the ordeals are resorted to for prosecuting the person who is charged
with some crime.
C. Army and Warfare.
Army:
A strong army was maintained by rulers for the protec-
tion and the safty of the territories from external attacks and inter-
nal upheavals. Thus the PCV reveals that the kings had at their dis-
posal strong army which is variously called as Bala (12.139), S膩dhana
(27.30), Sainya (59.11) and Anika (99.54). It consisted of four
columns (caturangabala 8.242) namely the infantry, cavalry, elephants
and chariots (Sandanavaragayaturangapaikkam峁� 8.48; 12.139). In
addition to the horses and elephants other beasts such as donkeys
(khara), bulls (vasaha & go), bisons (mahisa) and camels (maya &
karaha) were also employed in the army (7.14; 70, 06; 99.52).
Kautilya mentions that donkeys and camels should be employed
for defensive purposes in case of the shortage of elephants (10.4.19).
The references to the soldiers of R膩va峁嘺 and R膩ma riding on lions
(kesar墨 & siha), tigers (vaggha), Sarabha (saraha) and boars (var膩ha)
indicate that the masks of the respective wild beasts were put on
the faces of the ordinary beasts of burden to give them a frightening
look (7.14; 70. 66; 99.52; See RKSj, p. 45).
The PCV (56.2-11) gives the measurement of the different units
of army. It mentions that the smallest unit of army was called Pa峁卥ti
(Panti) which was comprised of one elephant, one chariot, three
horses and five infantry soldiers. Then there were the successive larger
units called Sen膩, San膩mukha, Gulma, V盲hin墨, P峁泃an膩, Cam奴 and
Aniki峁噄 which were three times larger than the preceding one
