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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A CRITICAL STUDY OF PAUMACARIYA峁�
life. Thus their place in family and society as well as in the political
and the religious world will be worth studying for deciding their status
which is, in one way, the reflection of the state of civilization of a parti-
cular age.
A. Family status or Women inside the House.
Normally a woman in the family was treated under three
capacities-maiden, wife and mother.
Maiden -As a maiden she is called 'b膩liy膩' (b膩lik膩) 39.109,
鈥榢ann膩 (Kany膩) 24.4 or 'kum膩r墨' 15.38. The maiden stage of a woman
ended with her marriage when she became a wife. As long as she
remained a maiden the whole responsibility of her guardianship fell
upon her parents for whom it was necessary to make proper arrange-
ments for her nourishment, growth, education and marriage.
We are told that for the nourishment of the royal sons, foster-
mothers were engaged (22.5; 96.11). Then why not the same facilities
to the royal maidens? The mention of the 'dhai'=dh膩tr墨 of a
Vidyadhara princess, 艢r墨m膩l膩 (6.165) indicates that the maidens were
not neglected in this respect. 艢r墨m膩l膩's 'dh膩i' was not an ordinary
nurse. She was well-educated (savvatthasatthakusal膩 sarv膩rtha艣膩stra-
kusal膩) so that she could look after the physical as well as the
mental development of her ward. This instance shows that
the parents had equal consideration for their sons and
daughters. In the absence of a son the affection and love of
the parents increased for their daughter. Thus it is said that
when Bhama峁囜笉ala was kidnapped, his sister S墨t膩 became the sole
object of consolation to her parents who gradually annihilated the
sorrow of the loss of their son (soyassa moya峁嘺峁弓ha峁� 26.98). With the
advancement of the age of a girl it was necessary that open air,
suitable company and proper freedom were allowed to her for her
physical growth. The PCV reveals that A帽jan膩 used to play with a
ball (kilanti tendue峁嘺 varabhavane 15.13); S墨t膩 used to play in the
company of her girl friends (26.103); and the Vidyadhara girls used
to play and enjoy water-sports in gardens (8.31, 37).
Mere physical nourishment is not enough. With it the mental
nutrition is also necessary, otherwise a human being cannot develop
his personality to its fullness. The PCV refers to princess Atisundar膩 who
was getting her education in the house of a teacher (26.5). The
education of girls was manifold. Kaikeyi is mentioned to have studied
various subjects of both arts and science, viz. literary-scripts, grammar
and prosody; fine arts-music, dance, drawing, painting, dressing,
