Jain Rāmāyaṇas

Jain Universal History

The repository of Jain myth and legend often called Jain Universal History offers a distinctive Jain perspective on the Rāmāyaṇa. Now an important Hindu scripture, the Rāmāyaṇa was not strongly identified with Hindu beliefs in the early stages of its composition. As figures in Jain Universal History, the key characters in the Jain Rāmāyaṇa differ from their Hindu counterparts.

The Jain protagonists of the Rāma story are considered to be three śalākā-puruṣas or mahā-puruṣas – ‘great men’ – of the current avasarpiṇī.

These three figures lived at the time of the 20th Jina, though in the story there is no contact between the Rāmāyaṇa characters and Munisuvratanātha or Lord Munisuvrata.

Story of Rāma

Hanumān and Sītā
Image by Soham Banerjee © CC BY 2.0

Even though there are differences in the diverse Jain versions of the Rāmāyaṇa, all of them tell the following story.

There once was a king named Daśaratha, who has three wives. He fathers four sons:

• Rāma
• Lakṣmaṇa
• Bharata
• Śatrughna.

Rāma marries a princess named Sītā. One day, the lovely Sītā is abducted by Rāvaṇa, the king of the island of Laṅkā. Rāma goes in search of his wife, together with his younger half-brother Lakṣmaṇa.

During their search, they encounter Sugrīva, a ruler who has been ousted from his kingdom. Rāma helps Sugrīva to regain his position, in return for Sugrīva’s help in finding Sītā. When Rāma has defeated Sugrīva’s adversary on his behalf, Sugrīva sends his associate Hanumān to Laṅkā for news of Sītā.

Rāvaṇa is rebuked for his behavior by his brother Vibhīṣaṇa. In due course Vibhīṣaṇa defects and joins Rāma’s forces. With the support of Sugrīva and his armies, Rāma declares war on Rāvaṇa. In the end Lakṣmaṇa kills Rāvaṇa. Eventually, Rāma, Sīta and Lakṣmaṇa return home.

Distinctive features of Jain Rāmāyaṇas

The synopsis of the Jain Rāmāyaṇa is largely the same as the story of Vālmīki’s Rāmāyaṇa. However, there are three important differences from the version attributed to Vālmīki, which has become a major Hindu text. Stressing moral issues and choices that affect the workings of karma, the principal characters and narratives of the various Jain Rāmāyaṇas generally uphold Jain values and doctrine.

An important difference is that in Vālmīki’s version Rāma, not Lakṣmaṇa, kills Rāvaṇa. Because the Jains categorise Rāvaṇa as a Prati-vāsudeva, he must ultimately be killed by a Vāsudeva, who is Lakṣmaṇa. This explains a key difference from Vālmīki’s version.

Another significant difference between the Hindu text and the Jain compositions lies in the characterisation of Sugrīva and Rāvaṇa. In Vālmīki’s Rāmāyaṇa, and most other Rāma tellings, Sugrīva is described as a vānara – a monkey – and leader of a monkey kingdom. These vānaras look outwardly like monkeys and possess many characteristics of monkeys, but also have many human traits, such as the ability to speak. The Jain authors consider Sugrīva, Hanumān and their fellows to be vānaras, but interpret the term differently. According to them the Vānaras are a race of humans, named vānaras after their emblem, a monkey.

Vālmīki’s Rāvaṇa is a Rākṣasa, a particular kind of demon. He is king of the Rākṣasas, who live in Laṅkā. In parallel with the concept of the Vānaras, the Jain authors interpret these Rākṣasas not as demons, but as humans. They state they are named Rākṣasas because they are descendants of a King Rakṣas.

These Jain Vānara and Rākṣasa races are branches of the larger Vidyā-dhara dynasty. The members of the Vidyā-dhara dynasty all possess one or more vidyās – genies. These give them various kinds of superhuman powers, including the power to fly.

Literary forms

Mahāvīra and the universal gathering
Image by British Library © CC0 1.0 (Creative Commons Public Domain)

The Jain story of Rāma is not found in the most ancient Jain literature, the Śvetāmbara canon, though the categories of Baladevas, Vāsudevas and Prati-vāsudevas are listed.

The stories of the mahā-puruṣas or ‘great men’ are typically told in the Jain Purāṇas, often also called Caritas. The oldest of these narrating the Jain Rāmāyaṇa is a Māhārāṣṭrī Prakrit poem, called Paüma-cariyam, in Sanskrit Padma-carita – Acts of Padma. It was composed by Vimala-sūri, who lived in or before the fifth century. The title refers to the principal character, Rāma, who is here named Padma – Lotus – to distinguish him from (Bala)rāma, the brother of Kṛṣṇa and the ninth Baladeva. Styled as a Purāṇa, the Paüma-cariyam begins by describing the narrative setting of Mahāvīra’s samavasaraṇa, which is attended by Śreṇika, the king of Rājagṛha. Śreṇika asks to hear the story of Rāma and the Rāmāyaṇa according to the Jain faith, whereupon the first disciple of Mahāvīra tells him the story.

Vimala-sūri’s version of the Rāmāyaṇa became the most popular and influential of all Jain Rāmāyaṇas. It is the model for many later well-known Jain Rāmāyaṇas, including Hemacandra’s famous full biography of all the ‘great men’ – Triṣaṣṭi-śalākā-puruṣa-caritra.

Famous Jain Rāmāyaṇas

Title	Author	Detail
Paüma-cariyam – Acts of Padma	Vimala-sūri	written in Māhārāṣṭrī Prākrit, before the 5th century
Padma-purāṇa – Purāṇa of Padma	Raviṣeṇa	written in Sanskrit in 678
Paüma-cariu – Acts of Padma	Svayaṃbhū-deva	written in Apabhraṃśa, in the 9th to 10th century
Triṣaṣṭi-śalākā-puruṣa-caritra – Lives of the 63 Great Men	Hemacandra	12th century