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The Prakrit and Apabhramśa Rāmāyaṇas
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tradition are lost, nothing can be said about their departures, if any, from Vālmiki's version. The Jain versions of the Rāmāyaṇa do not have an all-acceptable common narrative. They follow several traditions.
We have to distinguish no less than three considerably different versions, with a few sub-versions or minor variants. One of the three main versions is a direct descendent of the Standard or Vālmiki version (VR), while the other two, even through deriving from the same, have undergone some basic alterations- one can rather say, 'transformations'-, which make them characteristically distinct and peculiarly Jainistic.
Vimala has a special Jain version which is followed by Svayambhñdeva and Silānka. Sanghadāsa mainly follows the Digambara version found with Guņabhadra, it being a mixture of Vālmiki and Buddhist Dasaratba Jātaka version with some peculiar Jain features added. The detailed comparison and tabulation of depatures from Vālmiki are available in specialized studies and we need not go into them, we are concerned here primarily with the implications of the changes and variation in the narrative of Rāma.
It should be noted that the Rāmāyaṇas in Prakrit and Apabh. ramśa do not share a common tradition or character. The same applies to the Rāmāyaṇas in Sanskrit. Differences in the narrative of Rāma, follow the religious rather than the linguistic lines, and even in the former case there is anything but uniformity. Leaving aside minor differences, we shall consider the major changes in the Rāma narrative made by the pricipal and peculiar Jain tradition and make a few observations about the motivating factors. The remarks have relevance for most of the Jain versions (with some important reservations), irrespective of the works. (6) Vimalasūri's Paumacariya
The version we find in Vimalasūri's Paumacariya (VPc) is the earliest available Jain version, and most characteristic. It is in Prakrit and probably not later than fifth cent. A.D. Earlier than
