Jain Journal 1968 10

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 26

OCTOBER, 1968
according to the tenets of their religion. The story of Buddhist Dasaratha Jātaka is well-known as at one time it was considered to be the earliest form of Rama story. Buddhist interest in Rama story, however, declined gradually with time. But that was not the case with the Jainas. They have produced from the earliest times a vast literature on Rama-story, not only in Prakrit but also in Sanskrit, Apabhramsa, and Kannada and at later period in Rajasthani, Hindi and Gujarati and sustained interest in it.
The earliest known Jaina poet of Rama story is Vimala Suri who is believed to have flourished in the 1st century A.D. But on the basis of the language of his Paumacariya, Dr. Jacobi placed him in the 3rd. Whatever that may be, Vimala Suri, like Valmiki of Sanskrit literature, is the first poet of Prakrit literature. Ravisena wrote his Sanskrit Padmacaritam in 660 A.D. It is almost a verbatim reproduction of Vimala Suri's Paumacariya. In this line Svayambhudeva comes third, but his Paumacariu is the earliest epic of Apabhramsa literature.
Of Svayambhudeva very little is known. He has been referred by his son, who himself was a poet, as Kavirāja, Kaviräja-cakravarti, Vidvān and Chandacūdāmani. These are not empty superlatives as Svayambhudeva has been acknowledged as a great poet even by modern scholars like Pandit Rahula Samkrityayana and his epic has been acclaimed as the finest specimen of Apabhramsa style. Besides this, he also wrote Rathanemicariu in the same epic style and a treaties on metrics.
Svayambhudeva belonged most probably to the yāpaniya sect of the Jainas, a sect which though existing at present only in name, once enjoyed a status parallel to the Svetāmbara and Digambara sects and it seems that his literary activities flourished in Maharastra-Karanataka region. Of the date of Svayambhudeva's Paumacariu we are not certain as no definite date of composition has been given by the poet himself. But on the basis of literary references it can be reasonably said th was composed between the beginning of the 8th century and the end of the 9th century A.D. It consists of 5 Books (kāndas), viz., Vijjāhara (Vidyadhara)—20 Chapters (sandhi), Ujjhā (Ayodhyā)-22 Chapters, Sundara—14 Chapters, Jujjha (Yuddha)---21 Chapters and Uttara—13 Chapters. Below we give a running summary of this great epic. It begins with a homage to the Tirthankaras.
tihuanalagganakhambhu gurū parametthi naveppiņu punu ärambhiya rāmakaha ārisu joeppiņu