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JAIN JOURNAL
The text was edited by the versatile savant Hermann Jacobi and was published in 1941 by the Jaina Dharma Prasaraka Sabha, Bhavnagar (Kathiawad). Our present author does not accept Jacobi's readings in several instances and suggests his own conjecturally without consulting the Mss. material.
The text represents the earliest Jaina version of the Rama story (Pauma, Sansk. Padma is the Jaina name given to the great hero of the Raghus of Ayodhya), in the form of Prakrit epic, on the basis thereof were composed in subsequent times several other Jaina works, both in Prakrit and Sanskrit, with the same purpose. The author of the present text is Vimalasuri and it is the oldest epic written in Prakrit.
The author of the present work expresses his indebtedness to the book "Rāma-Kathā Utpatti aur Vikās' by Dr. C. Buleke on the origin and growth of the Rama story current in some Eastern and North-western Himalayan regions, as also in several South and South-east Asian lands. Dr. Chandra cites a number of instances where variants from Valmiki's version are found not only in the works mentioned in Blueke's book but also in several vernacular compositions of different areas in India and in some Sanskrit works by Jainas and Hindus. Dr. Chandra regards these variants from the orthodox Hindu version of Valmiki as being due to the influence of the tradition grown out of Pauma Cariya in reaching which conclusion he might have perhaps been carried away by his enthusiasm The truth perhaps lies in this historical and literary fact that from the mass of legends current among the people, the Hindus, Buddhists and Jainas, each chose material to frame stories according to their own wishes and aims.
Analysing the contents of the text Dr. Chandra gives a summary of the main story and of those that are told in course of it incidentally. Next he sets out the differences between the Rāmāyana and Mahābhāṣata version on one hand, and on the other hand the versions of the present text and of later Jaina compositions of similar nature, also tracing the influence of the present text on the latter.
Finally is given a detailed treatment of the cultural, socioeconomic, political, religious and topographical background of the text, as also of its grammatical, metrical and rhetorical features. Dr. Chandra's labour will no doubt be of considerable benifit to workers in the same field.
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