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

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A CRITICAL STUDY OF PAUMACARIYAN
purity (6.116.27). At that time many gods appear and announce Rama as an incarnation of God (6.117.27) and Sītā as that of Lakşmi. Rāma is also called as eighth Rudra? (6.117.8). Here Maheśvara (6.119.4) and Dasaratha who also appear there (6.119.20), request Rāma to go to Ayodhyā to dispel the agony of his mothers and Bharata. Dasaratha tells that fourteen years of his exile have completed. Then appears Mahendra who brings to life all the dead Vānaras (6.120), advises Rāma to go home to console his mothers and Bharata and to accept the crown of Ayodhyā.
Rama travels in the Puspakavimāna. At the request of Sita he takes with him the Vānara ladies also (6.123). He continues his journey showing to Sītā various places of his sojourn and different incidents. He stays at the Aśrama of Bhardvāja and sends Hanumat to ascertain the mind of Bharata. Hanumat goes there in the form of a human being (6.125) Thereafter Rama reaches Ayodhyā. At that time the monkeys assume the form of human beings (6.127).
The TR generally agrees with the VR with the following additions. When Rāvana is killed, his head and arms fall down before Mandodarī (6.103). Here Rāma censures Sītā to obtain real Sītā from the deity of fire. The fire consumes illusory Sítā and the deity offers real Sītā to Rāma (6.109). Various deities praise Rāma as an Avatāra. Hanumat goes to Ayodhyā in the form of a Batu (6.121). When Rāma meets Bharata he creates many illusory Rāmas to facilitate his embrace to all the persons who are present there to receive him (7.6). Hanumat remains there and all the other Vanaras go back to their respective places (7.19).
According to the Rāmopākhyāna, Rāvana's body gets burnt to ashes on being pierced by the Brahmästra of Rama (3.290-30). It does not mention the fire ordeal of Sītā. Rāma gets convinced of the purity of Sītā by the appeals made by various deities. Brahmā tells that he protected Sita's purity through the curse given to Ravana by Nalakūbara (3.291,33). Here Brahmă revives the life of the dead monkeys. In other respects it agrees with the VR.
The Brahmanical Mahapurāṇas and the Upapurānas do not mention the fire ordeal (Bulcke, p. 399).
According to the Anāmakam Jataka, the king after retrieving his queen, questions her purity. She answers that she lived with a mean person, but she was not at all polluted just like a lotus, which though living in water has no attachment for the same. She further asks the
1. In the PCV he is the eighth Baladeva.