Story Of Rama In Jain Literature

Author(s): V M Kulkarni
Publisher: Saraswati Pustak Bhandar

Page 26

Story of Rama in Jain Literature
a garland of wild flowers and 7. Kaustubha jewel. According to the Digambara tradi. tion he possesses all the seven except the last two for which they substitute Danda and Sakti. From the number of Ayudhas and also from the number of dreams - 7 according to the Svetambaras and 5 according to the Digambaras - which appear to his mother and announce his birth, it can be seen that the Jains represent him to be more powerful than his elder step-brother.
Prativasudeva is a mighty hero, no doubt, but he is portrayed as a tyrant. His birth is announced by 1-4 dreams, dreamt by his mother. Baladeva and Vasudeva are deeply attached to each other and for one reason or the other the two entertain hostility to the Prativāsudeva, who is an Ardha-Cakrin - one who rules three parts of the earth. In the war it is Vasudeva who kills the Prativāsudeva; the latter after death, sinks into hell as a result of his sinful deeds. Vasudeva then becomes an Ardha-Cakrin, enjoys the pleasures of kingdom for a long time and after death goes to hell as a result of 'himsa' that he has committed in war etc., and to counteract which he has not performed tapas after entering the ascetic order. After the death of Vasudeva, Baladeva finds no joy in Samsára, enters the ascetic order, practises austerities and finally obtains heaven or attains to Nirvāṇa.
The nams of these heroes are : Baladeva Vasudeva
Prativasudeva 1. Vijaya Triprsta
Ašvagriva 2. Acala Dviprsta
Taryka 3. Dharmaprabha Svayambhū
Meraka or Bhadra 4. Suprabha Puruşottama
Madhu-Kaitabha 5. Sudarsana Puruşasimha
Nisumbha 6. Ananda Pundarika
Balin 7. Nandana Datta
Prahlada 8. Padma (Rama) Lakşmaņa
Rāvana 9. (Bala-) Rāma Krşņa
Jarasandha From amongst these heroes we note that some are glorfied in the Hindu Mythology and the Epics, e.g., the 8th and the 9th sets of Baladevas, Vasudevas and Prativasudevas. Thus these 63 great men form the backbone, as it were, of Jain Mythology. From the schematic treatment of the lives of these heroes we note that the Jair Mythology 'has all the appearance of a purely constructed system'. At the same time it must be admitted that the heroes of the Rāmāyaṇa and of Kșsna-story may not have been absolutely fictitious characters. Reputed and eminent scholars of the Hindu Epics and Purānas do hold that Rama, Krşna etc., may have lived as actual human beings,