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 618

LITERARY EVALUATION
589 Thus the side stories are like the sauces which keep up the appetite of the reader for the main-story, and the highest value of them lies in their motto of imparting some moral instructions to the people. Finally it is also true that the religious discourses intervening at some places hamper the free-flow of the narrative but it should not be forgotten that our work is called a Purāņa or a Carita and the introducing of religious discourses in such a work is a conventional style of the ancient literature.
E. Characterisation :
Generally in the Purānas episodes or events hold the first place while the participant characters are kept in the background, but the author of our work has paid due attention to characterisation. The characters of the PCV are somewhat differently moulded than those of the VR. We find that they are ennobled and are more plausible on account of generally being disconnected with the elements of superstition. Kaikeys of the PCV is no more a wicked and selfish woman. She is only a frail human being tossed by natural desires and affection. Ravana here is not a downright villain. The Vānaras are not monkeys in the literal sense of the term. They are a tribe having monkey as their state-emblem. Similarly the Rākşasas are not fabulously ferocious and grotesque in appearance. They also are a race of ordinary human beings with war-like spirit. Rāvana is one headed. Kumbhakarna is religious, not diabolical by nature. Indra is not a celestial lord. He is the lord of the Vidyadharas, a human race. There is nothing supernatural about the birth of Sugriva, Bāli and Hanumat They are born just like human beings. Sītā is not here born in any supernatural way. She is born of Videhā, the wife of Janaka. Thus we find that the characters in the PCV are plausible and devoid of any element of superstition. It is this due attention on the part of the poet, paid to characterisation that raises the PCV above a simple traditional Purāna and takes it to the plane of a work of art. Now we shall deal with the important characters of the PCV individually,
Rāma :-Rama is the hero of the PCV as he is of the VR and the other Rama-epics. He is a dhīrodātta character, brave and generous, patient and firm in adverse situations, endowed with divine virtues and extraodinary prowess. The Rāma of the PCV and the Rama of the VR are mostly alike but in the PCV there are points where Rāma rises above the Rāma of the VR. In the PCV Rāma accepts exile voluntarily to remove the scruples of Bharata who does not accept the throne considering that it will be an onslanught on the legitimate