A History of Indian Literature v2.c20.s3.57

v2.c20.s3.57

The Jainas did not rest content with adopting popular epic themes such as the Kṛṣṇa-legend, the legend of Draupadī, and others, into their sacred writings and the commentaries on them, but they also created poems of their own, which were to serve their adherents as a complete substitute for the great epics Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata. The earliest poem of this kind is the Prākrit epic Paümariya (Padma-Carita)¹ by the poet Vimala Sūri, which was written, according to the data given by the poet himself (CXVIII, 103), 530 years after the demise of Mahāvīra. It is written in pure Jaina-Māhārāṣṭrī and in the Āryā metre, which is the real metre of Prākrit poetry. The "Life of Padma"—Padma is the name of Rāma in the poem, though the name Rāma also occurs frequently enough—is told in 118 cantos,² which are only in partial agreement with the Rāmāyaṇa. It is no part of the author's intention to follow Vālmīki, whom indeed he puts down as a liar, but he wants to tell the story of Rāma in such a way as to fit in with the "history of the world" according to Jinistic tradition, and as it was communicated by Goyama (Gautama), the principal pupil of Mahāvīra, to King Seṇiya (Bimbisāra) in accordance with Mahāvīra's own instructions. As the author says (CXVIII, 118), there is much that he already found in the Pūrvas.