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 614

LITERARY EVALUATION
585
It has 18. Dandaka: It is a variety of Dandaka type of metres. 84+87+87+84 syllables in the successive four feet and the scheimes Na, Na, and 26 times Ra in the first and the fourth foot each while Na, Na, and 27 times Ra gana in the second and the third foot each. Hemacanda1 says that Dandaka has always more than 26 syllables and the Ra ganas may increase up to the extent of 331 times.
SECTION 3. PCV AS A WORK OF ART
A. Title of the work:
The work is named Paumacariyam (Padmacaritam)2. The main theme of the work is about the life of Padma (Rama), eighth Baladeva of the Jaina faith, from his birth to emancipation. The pivotal incidents of the story are the voluntary exile of Padma, the kidnapping of his wife, Sītā by Ravana and Rama's success in rescuing Sita, therefore, the title of the work suits the theme.
B. The work a Carita or a Purana:
The poet introduces the work as a 'carita' and gives it the same nomenclature in the colophons at the end of all the cantos and at other places also. At two places the work is designated as a 'Purāņa5' also. The Jaina tradition does not distinguish between a 'Carita' and a 'Purana'. Raviṣeņa styles his Padmacaritam as Padmapuranam also in the colophons at the end of some of the cantos. Jinasena and Puspandanta name their work dealing with the life of sixty-three illustrious persons of the Jaina faith as Mahapuranas while Hemacandra calls his work on the same subject, a Carita.
Jinasena in his Adipurāna defines 'Purana' as a narrative about ancient persons traditionally recognised as illustrious. He says that there are twenty-four Purāņas dealing with the life of twenty-four Tirthankaras separately and the collection of all these is called a Mahapurana. So a Purana deals with the life of one illustrious person while a Mahapuraṇa deals with the lives of many. Thus Paumacariyam may legitimately be called a Purana because it contains the narrative
1. Chandanusasanam with Vrtti, p. 18a, lines 17 & 18 and p. 19a, line 3.
2. It is only at 1.90 & 118.101 that the work is named 'Ramadevacariyam'
and 'Ramaravinda-cariyam' respectively and in the Prasasti it is called 'Ramacariyam' 118. 102 and 'Rahavacariyam 118.114; 118. 118.
3. 1.8 (Paumacariyam).
4. See above reference No. 2.
5. Satta Puranettha ahigara-1.32; ettha Puraṇammi vaņņiya (Prasasti 118.111). 6. Puratanam Puranam 1.21.
7. 2.134.