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.
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A CRITICAL STUDY OF PAUMACARIYAM
the previous night they are drinking the cup of life to their fill for it
may be their last sip. It is a vivid and powerful picture of extreme
indulgence in flesh. Someone is embracing her beloved. Some damsel
with her delicate body is lying in her husband's lap. The bālas,
young women are made drunken so that they might get rid of their
bashfulness.
These descriptions indicate poet's familiarity with the Kamasutra.
Similarly Rāma's watersport with Sītā in the Kroñcaravā river
described at
and Pavanañjaya's amorous sports with Añjanā are
42.18-22 and 16.77-80 with slight varieties here and there. At 117.
25-29 the coquettish gestures of divine damsels making amorous antics
are described. They were conjured up by Sītā who then was a celestial
being to distract Rāma from meditation. This device of diverting
attention from meditation has become conventional. In the Kiratarjuniya
also we find a similar description at 10.45-63 but there it is more
sensuous.
We have glimpses of Sambhoga Sṛngāra in Sītā's coming to
Rama after the (28.121-122) ‘svayamvara' ceremony, Lankāsundarī's
surrender to Hanumat (52.19-23) and Rama's reunion with Sītā at
Lankā (76.12-16).
There are instances of Vipralambha Sṛngāra also.
live an instinctive and
At 56.13-19 the Rākṣasīs in Lanka are bidding farewell to their
men proceeding to the battlefield. Here we find a juxtaposition of
the super-ego on one hand and an urge to
spontaneous life on the other. Some Rākṣaṣ� is asking her husband.
not to flee away from the battlefield. Others try to prevent their
going to the battlefield, for a life in the flesh is sweeter to them than
honour and heroic glory. It is the pang of separation that dominates
the scene.
One is led to think that the revels of Rākṣasa couples and bidding
of farewell by Rakṣasīs described in the PCV have their genesis in the
similar descriptions of the Setubandha at 10.56-82 and 12.45-52 res-
pectively.
The sorrow of separation from one's beloved is exemplified in
Rama's and Sīta's pining for each other, at 44.51-66 and 53.21-
26 also.
At 15.49-51 in the description of love lorn Pavaṇañjaya there
is a mere enumeration of the ten stages of love.
The sufferings of Bhāmaṇḍala and Rāvaṇa from the pangs of
separation from Sitä, described at 28.10-11 and 46.81-84 are the
