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मार्च २००९
Valmiki only at the end after the slaughter of Răvaņa. 18 Jain Rāmāyaṇas, especially Vimalasūri had developed the character of Mandodari throughout his epic very skillfully.'' Mandodari persuades Rāvana again and again to send Sită back. She puts forth her protest against Rāvana's unethical deeds. Her love and loyalty to Rävaņa is quite evident from her dialogues. The justice given to Mandodari's character is remarkable.
We find very stray and strange references of Añjanā, the mother of Hanuman in Valmiki. In Kiskindhākāņda it is said that Hanuman is '3119 of Vāyu and 2517945' of Kesari. 20 For removing the blemish on the character of Añjanā, Vimalasűri and particularly Svayambhu have reconstructed and developed the Añjanā episode into a full-fledged '3410f'. The name of Hanuman's father is Pavanañjaya. In his character, there is a mixture of the characteristics of Vāyu and Kesari. He is a brave egoist Vidyadhara and acts according to his male instincts and free wills. Añjanā bears painful sufferings created by him for twelve years, solacing her mind with the help of Karmasiddhānta. Pavanañjaya realizes his guilt and the episode ends on a happy note. In Jain tradition, Añjanā is enumerated among the sixteen adorable women.
With this brief account of some female characters in Jain Rāmāyaṇas, we can conclude that the Jaina approach to them is more humanistic, sympathetic and liberal than the contemporary Brahmanic tradition. It is very apt to note that in Jaina environment, right from the first Tirthankara Rsabhadeva, the number of Sādhvis and Śrāvikas is almost twice than that of Sādhus and Srāvakas.21 The Striking Dissimilarities Found in Various Jaina Versions of Rāmāyana
It is already noted that Paumacariya of Vimalasāri is the first Jaina version of Rāmāyaṇa. He is well-acquainted with Valmiki Rāmāyaṇa, but has not mentioned his name. The
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