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Story of Rāma in Jain Literature
9. THE RĀMA STORY IN JAIN MYTHOLOGY
The threc principal characters of the Rāma legend are drawn from among the 63 Salākā-purusas. They are Padma (Rāma), Laksmana and Ravana who form the 8th set of Baladeva, Vasudeva and Prativasudeva. Of all the 27 heroes they enjoy supreme popularity and Balarama, Krsna and Jarāsandha stand next to them in popularity. That the Rāma story is nost popular with the Jains can be seen from the number of works which treat of it right from the first century down to 17th century AD. We give below a list of important works which sing of the glory of Rāma :
1. Paüma-cariya of Vimala Sūri (4 A.D. or 62 AD) 2. Vasudevahindi of Sanghadaa (not later than 609 A D.) 3. Padmapurāņa of Ravişena (678 A.D.) 4. Paüma-Carjü of Svayambhū (middle of the Sth cenrury A.D. ?) 5. Caupannamahāpurisacariya of Silācārya (868 A.D.) 6. Uttarapurāna of Gunabhadra (9th century A.D.) 7. Bịhat-Kathākośa of Harişeņa (931-32 A.D.) 8. Mahāpurāņa of Puspadanta (965 A.D.) 9. Kahā ali of Bhadreśvara (11th century A.D.) 10. Yogaśāstra-svopajña-vítti of Humacandra (latter half of the 12th century A.D.) 11. Trişastišalakāpuruşacarita of Hemacandra
-do- ) 12. Satruñjayamābātmya of Dhanesvara (14th century A.D.) 13. Punyacandrodayapurāņa of Krşnadāsa (1528 A.D.) 14. Rāmacarita of Devavijayaganin (1596 A.D.) 15. Laghutrişaştisalakāpuruşacaritra of Meghavijaya (second half of the 17th
century A.D.) The Dhurtākhyāna of Haribhadra (750 A.D.) and the Dharmapariksā of Amitagati (1014 A.D) casually treat of the story of Rāma. The work of Svayambhū is not yet published in full. The works of Krsnadāsa, Devavijaya and Meghavijaya are not accessible to me.
Jinaratnakośa notices some other Jain works which treat the subject-matter of the Rāmāyana :
1. Siyācariya of Bhuvanatunga Sūri. 2. Rāmalakkhanacariya of Bhuvanatunga Sūri. 3. Padmapurāņa by Somasena. 4. Padmapurāņa by Dharmakirti.
