Critical Study Of Paumacariyam

SR No.: 022643
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: K R Chandra
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology and Ahimsa
Publication Year: 1970
Total Pages: 672
Language: English, Sanskrit
Classification: Book_English & Book_Devnagari
File Size: 18 MB

Page 124

COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE RAMA-STORY
95
brings the whole peak of the mountain. Suşeņa with the help of those herbs cures Lakṣmaṇa. In the VR these medicines are referred to for four times. First of all when Rama and Lakṣmaṇa are wounded by Indrajit, Susena asks for these herbs (Sañjivakaranim divyam Visalyam -6.50.30). The second occasion is the wounding of Rama and Lakṣmaṇa by Indrajit after the death of Kumbhakarna. Here Jambavat points out the place where these herbs grow (6.74.29), On the third time Suşeņa cures the injured warriors and Lakṣmaṇa who had been wounded while destroying the Yajña of Indrajit (6.91.25). And the fourth occasion is the wounding of Lakṣmaṇa by the hit of the Sakti hurled by Rāvana as mentioned above.
The places of their availability are mentioned as the Candra and the Drona mountains situated in the Kṣirodadhi (6.50.31). On the other occasion the location is said to be the Oṣadhi-parvata situated in the middle of the Rṣabha and the Kailasa mountains (6.74,29-31; 6.101.31-32).
According to the VR, the military physician (surgeon) Suşeņa is said to be the father-in-law of Sugrīva (6.50.23). There is no reference that while taking the medicinal herb Hanumat met with Bharata2 and no mention of the inevitability of producing the herb before the sun-rise.
In the TR the relation of Suşeņa is not mentioned. He is brought from Lanka by Hanumat. The former sends Hanumat to bring the osadhi, but the name of the oṣadhi and the name of the place of its availability are not specifically mentioned. Here Ravana tries to foil the plan of Hanumat by employing Rākṣasa Kālanemi, but he is unsuccessful (9.55-58). Here when Hanumat is returning with the Oṣadhi mountain, Bharatas makes the former fall down by shooting an arrow to foil his journey, considering him to be a Raksasa. After knowing the real situation Bharata permits Hanumat to go to Rama (6.60) so as to reach the destination before the sun-rise. In the final fight with Rāvana, Laksmana is said to have been once more wounded by the Sakti (which was given by Brahma) hurled by Ravana. As soon as Lakṣmana is taken to Rama, the Sakti flees away into the sky automatically (6.83-85).
1. At 4.22.13 Susena is referred to as the father of Tara, the wife of Vali. 2. The Gaudiya version contains this episode.
3. The Gaudiya & the N.W. versions of Rāmāyaṇa contain this episode (Bulcke, p. 379).
The Gaudiya version contains this episode but Bharata does not shoot Hanumat (Bulcke, p. 379).