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CHAPTER-VI
THE RAMAYANA VERSION OF SILĀCĀRYA
(as found in his CAŪPPANNA-MAHĀPURISA-CARIYA) Introductory Remarks :
silācárya (or Silánkācārya) was a pupil of Mānadeva who belonged to the Nirvrtikulinagaccha. He is said to have written commentaries in Sanskrit on the eleven 'Angas' of the Jain Canon. The Cauppannamahāpurisacariya is a work written by him in Prakrit prose interspersed with verses in V.S. 925 (=A.D. 868). It is a little known work. As the title itself indicates, the work deals with the fifty-four eminent men of Jainismthe Salákápurusas. Although it treats of all the sixty-three Great Men it does not, in accordance with the earlier tradition in the Samavāyanga-sútra which knows only 54 "excellent men" (Uttamapurisa) count the 9 Prativasudevas as great or excellent men. This work is a precursor of the later and more famous Trişasti-salaka-purusa-carita of Hemacandra. The fifth part of this Prakrit work gives the life of Aristanemi, which includes the lives of Krsna and Balarama also".
Here we are concerned only with Silācārya's version of the story of Rama. He opens the narrative with verses (1-3) then changes over to prose (about six lines) and again resumes verse form (vv.27). The colophon reads: :gía AargitaTS TIA-FC0चरियं परिसमत्तं ति।
We give below a close summary of this version and then examine its relation to the Rāmāyana of Vālmiki and make remarks regarding the style of the author.
Rama-Laksmana Caritam : Summary There was a city called Ayodhyā. King Dasaratha ruled over it. He had three wives: Kosala, Kekayi and Sumitra. Rāmabhadra was born of Kosala, Bharata and Satrughna were born of Kekayi, and Lakşmana was born of Sumitrā. When Rama was about to be coronated, Kekayi, under some pretext, sent Rāma and Laksmana into exile, and
Cauppannamahäpurisacariam by Acarya Sri Silänka ed by Pt. Amritlal Mohanlal Bhojak, Prakrit Text Society. Ahmedabad Varanasi, 1961, available from L.D. Institute of Indology Ahmedabad, 380 009 Here we have an echo of Kálidasa's thought found in :
दध तो मङ्गलक्षौमे वसानस्य च वल्कले । दहशुर्विस्मितास्तस्य मुखरागं समं जनाः ।।
Raghuvamsa Canto XII. 8
