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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482
A CRITICAL STUDY OF PAUMACARIYA峁�
peaceful self-mortification (sam膩himara峁嘺峁� 14.115) or (sa峁僱ekhan膩
63.49).
As regards the division of 12 vratas into two classes i. e. five
a峁噓vratas and seven sik峁Ｄ乸adas, the Jaina canonical work namely, the
Uv膩sagadas茫o agrees with the Paumacariya峁� (Pa帽c膩峁噓vvaiya峁� sattasi-
kkh膩vaiya峁� duv膩lasaviha峁� gihiddamma峁� 1. 13). But the 'disividisa'
i. e. the first gunavrata of the PCV is bifurcated and mentioned as the
first and the fifth 'Sik峁Ｄ乸adas (in the Uv膩sagadas茫o (disivaya &
desavag膩siya 1.50 & 54) while the fourth 'sik峁Ｄ乸ada' vrata of the PCV
is not included in the 12 'sik峁Ｄ乸adas' but is mentioned separately as a
supplementary vow (1.57). The 鈥榓tithisa峁僾ibh膩ga' of the PCV is
called as 'ahasamvibh膩ga-yath膩sa峁僾ibh膩ga' in the Uvasagadas茫o
(1.56). The Ovavaiyasutta (34) follows Uv膩sagadas茫o. It further
divides the seven latter vows into the three 'gunavratas' and four
'Sik峁Ｄ乸adas虏. This scheme is followed by the Sr膩vakapraj帽apti
(280-328, 378), Yogas astra of Hemacandra (3.1,4,74,23-87) with
some differences in arrangement of the Gunavratas and 艢ik峁Ｄ乿ratas
The Ratnakara峁囜笉a 艢r膩vak膩c膩ra (65, 91, 122) follows Ovav膩iyasutta. It
mentions 'vaiyy膩v峁泃ya' in place of 鈥榓tihisa峁僾ibh膩ga鈥�.
The Caritrapahu岣峚 of Kundakunda (24-25) and the Bhavasangraha
of Devasena鹿 (354-355) agree with the PCV in the arrangement
of the 'gu峁嘺vratas' and '艣ik峁Ｄ乸adas鈥�. The Adipurana of Jinase峁嘺
(10.65-66) divides 'disividisi' of the PCV into two separate vows and
then mentions the 'bhogopabhogavrata' as the fourth 'gunavrata'
while the four 'Sik峁Ｄ乸adas' are in agreement with the PCV.
The Tattv盲rthasutra (Dig. 7.21-22; Svet. 7.16.17) does not
mention the latter seven 'vratas' as either seven '艣ik峁Ｄ乸adas' or three
'gu峁嘺vratas' and four 'lik峁Ｄ乸adas'. Further it mentions 'dik, de艣a
and anarthadanda' as the first three i. e. they can be taken as three
'gu峁嘺vratas' (see the Sarvarthasiddhi). The Sa峁僱ekhan膩 is not included
in the 12 vratas. It is mentioned separately.
The Ya艣astilaka of Somadeva, Caritras盲ra (p. 8 MPJG 1974)
of Camun岣峚r膩ya and the Dharmapar墨k峁Ｄ� of Amitagati follow Tattv膩r-
迟丑补蝉奴迟谤补虏.
Here the vow of 'atithisa峁僾ibh膩ga鈥� i. e. offering of gifts deserves
a detailed treatment because the Paumacariya峁� deals with it at various
places in details and makes some pertinent observations. The PCV
mentions that gifts i. e. of 膩h膩ra (food), abhaya (protection), n膩峁嘺
1. It mentions 'Devatthuvai' for 'Sam膩yika鈥�.
2.
See Jaina Acaryon k膩 S膩sanabheda, p. 49.
