Studies in Jain Literature

Author(s): V M Kulkarni
Publisher: Shardaben Chimanbhai Educational Research Centre

Page 93

IMPACT OF RAMAYAŅA ON JAIN LITERATURE
banishment of Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa for fourteen years, and he calls her Kūṭapeṭā 'a basket or bag of fraud or trick'. He describes the fight between Välin and Ravana and Ravana's humiliation at the hands of Välin. In introducing these changes he is obviously influenced by Valmiki's Rāmāyaṇa. His narrative is, however, on the whole an abridgment of Vimala's Paümacariya.
75
8. Bhadresvara wrote his Kahāvali (Kathāvali, Sk) in the 12th century. It is in Prakrit prose and interspersed with verses. It describes the lives of 63 eminent or great men (mahāpurusas) and includes an account of the patriarchs who came after Mahāvīra. Bhadreśvara, generally speaking, follows Vimala. He however introduces two important and original features: A dream dreamt by Sītā indicates that she would give birth to two heroic sons. Sītā is very happy at this but her co-wives become jealous of her. They manoeuvre to get Rāvana's feet delineated by Sītā and try to poison Rāma's mind ears that Sītā still remembers Rāvana and as a proof of this show to him the picture of Ravaṇa drawn by Sītā. Rāma even after seeing that picture keeps silence and continues to attend to Sītā. The rivals of Sītā through maid-servants give publicity to the picture incident. Now Rāma in disguise moves about and comes to the park. There he himself hears the people reproaching him for accepting Sītā back whom Rāvana, being enamoured of her beauty, had abducted and taken home to Lanka. This picture motif, Rama's moving about in disguise and personally hearing the scandal about Sītā are newly introduced by Bhadreśvara in the story of Rāma.
9. Hemacandra (2nd half of the 12th century) in his Triṣaṣṭiśalākāpurușacarita, Parva VII, gives the story of Rama. His narrative generally follows Vimala's Paümacariya. He adds two noteworthy features:
(i) Välin fights with Rāvaṇa, overpowers him, puts him under his armpit and in that position he circumambulates the earth thus proving his superior strength. This incident he has adopted from Valmiki's Rāmāyaṇa.
(ii) The second noteworthy feature is about the picture motif. This motif he has adopted from Bhadreśvara's Kahāvalī. Incidentally, it may be stated that Hemacandra also relates "The Tale of Sītā and Ravana" very briefly and excluding the 'Uttararāmacarita' in his commentary on his own Yogaśastra. Some of the incidents narrated in this Kathanaka betray divergences when compared with the corresponding incidents in his Trisaṣṭiśaläkāpuruşacarita. But for the purpose of this paper these divergences need not be considered here. These Jain versions are of the nature of Purāṇa, and their authors, preachers rather than poets; whereas Rāmāyaṇa is the adi
own