Studies in Jainism

Author(s): Ramkrishna Mission Institute of Culture Culcutta
Publisher: Ramkrishna Mission Institute of Culture Culcutta

Page 178

THE JAINA RAMAYANAS
169
and destroys all the gardens. But Rāvana sits on the hill Adityagiri to achieve some mighty powers. In the war that ensued Rāvana cuts off the head of an artificial Sītā. Rāma is struck with grief. Vibhiṣaṇa consoles him. Rāvana dies by the discus of Lakṣmaṇa. Returning to Vārāṇasi, Rāma becomes a Kevalin. Lakṣmaṇa enters a hell called Pankaprabhā.26
Such in brief is the story as narrated by Gunabhadra. I do not know of any work in the Prakrit language dealing with this story. The Tisaṭṭhi-mahāpuriṣa-guṇālankāra of Puspadanta, which is based on the Uttarapurāṇa, may give this version of the Rāmāyaṇa story. In Sanskrit there is a work called Punya-candrodaya Purana by Kṛṣṇa, written in 1528 A.D. Judged from the contents of the work as given by Rajendralala Mitra,27 it appears to belong to the tradition of Gunabhadra. Another work called Punyasrava by Ramacandra Mumukṣu, written some time before 1331 A.D., contains a Rāmāyaṇa story which in part seems to be similar to Gunabhadra's narrative. Coming to Kannada writers of this school, the earliest representative is Camuṇḍarāya, who wrote his Trisaṣṭi-salākā-puruṣa Purāṇaor as it is popularly called Camunḍarāya Purana composed in 978 A.D. on the basis of Gunabhadra's work. Next in importance is Nāgarāja, author of Punyasrava Kathāsāra, written in 1331 A.D. following the work of Ramacandra Mumukṣu. The story occuring in this work reminds one of the Gunabhadra school. Another story of a miscellaneous character occurs in the Jiva Sambodhane of Bandhuvarmā written in 1200 A.D.
The school may be represented in tabular form:
Gunabhadra
Prakrit.
(1) Story in Puspadanta's Tisatthi-mahāpuriṣaguṇālankara (?)
27
Sanskrit.
(1) Punyasrava (?) (Ramacandra Mumuksu)
(2) Punyacandrodaya Purana (Kṛṣṇa)
Kannada
(1) Story in (Camundarāya Purāṇa)
(2) Story in
Punyasrava (Nāgarāja)
(3) Miscellaneous (Bandhuvarmā)
26 The summary is based upon the already summarised story in the Camunḍaraya Purāṇa, a Kannada work, which is based
upon Gunabhadra's purana.
Notices of Sanskrit MSS., vol. VI, 70-74.