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�
the righteous and the wicked respectively; (3) Celestial being's assis-
tance to their friends or their causing obstruction to their enemies
of this life or the previous life and (4) work of the evil spirits.
1. Supernatural occurrences connected with the life of great persons :
The PCV reveals that many incidents in the life of great persons
are hailed with some supernatural occrrences or with the pouring
of flowers and the beating of divine drums by the celestial beings.
Hanu's birth (17.90) was hailed with favourable phenomenal
occurrences. On the occasion of R膩ma's success in stringing the bow
(28. 106-121) there occurred many phenomenal changes such as the
trembling of mountains, agitating of the sea, reversing of the
currents of the rivers etc.
Celestial beings then poured flowers and beat divine drums.
Similarly the occasions like the battle between R膩ma and R膩va峁嘺
(71.20), the reunion of Rama and S墨t膩 at Lank膩 (71.20), the
triumph of Muni V膩li in subduing R膩va峁嘺 (9.80) on the Kail膩艣a
mountain, Lak峁a峁嘺's success in withstanding the 艢aktis hurled by
king Aridamana (38.42), queen Simhika's success in proving that she
was chaste (22.69), Bharata's intiation into monkkood (83.7) and
the success of monks in observing meditation (50.3,7) or penances
(117.2) were graced with pouring of flowers, sounding of divine drums
and hailing words from celestial beings.
The
2. Disposition of celestial beings towards righteous and wicked persons :-
PCV reveals that those who were righteous or of irreproa
chable conduct or were devoted to the religion of the Jina were
assisted by the celestial beings in critical times. The converting
of the fire-pit into a pond of water on the occasion of S墨t膩's fire-
ordeal (102.19.33), the advance information given to Satrughna
about the coming calamity on Mathura (87.17), the conjuring up
of R膩mapuri for R膩ma in the forest (35.25-36), sentinels guarding
the temple in which Ravana was meditating (67.49f) and saving a
monk from a calamity (5.231) were the works of divine beings for
assisting the righteous persons.
Those who were wicked and disrespectful to the righteous ones
and the true religion were punished by the celestial beings or some un-
toward phenomenal occurrences damaged their life. The absorption of
king Vasu by the earth on account of telling a lie (11,34) and the
paralysing of two Brahmins (105.65) who wanted to kill monks are
such examples.
