Search Results (2)

This paper investigates the complex causal relationships within Jain narrative literature (prathamānuyoga/dharmakathānuyoga), specifically focusing on the examination of the Sītā abandonment narrative across Prakrit, Sanskrit, and Apabhramsha textual traditions. By employing textual analysis and philosophical interpretation, the study explores the intricate causative mechanisms in narratives by Vimalasūri, Raviṣeṇa, and Svayambhūdeva. The paper addresses critical research questions examining the multifaceted nature of causality: the root causes of Sītā’s abandonment, the identification of precursory causal signs like dreams, cravings during pregnancy and omens, an analysis of Sītā’s philosophical response to her circumstances, and the complex interplay between external and internal instrumental causes (bahiraṅga- and antaraṅga-nimitta-kāraṇa). Through rigorous textual comparison and philosophical analysis of the Paümacariyaṃ, Padmapuraṇa, and Paümacariü, the study reveals that Jain narrative literature predominantly employs instrumental causality as its primary explanatory framework. The paper demonstrates how external and internal instrumental causes interplay, and explores the role of Sītā’s bad or good karma in shaping her narrative trajectory. The paper contributes to the ongoing scholarship on Jain narratives by analyzing causality in religious narratives, offering philosophical insights into narrative causation, providing an interdisciplinary perspective that bridges literary analysis with philosophical interpretation, and illuminating the ways Jain narratives employ causality to explain complex human experiences and ethical dilemmas, ultimately revealing how narrative structures reflect deeper metaphysical and philosophical concepts within the Jain textual tradition. Full article

Scholars have long known that Jain authors from the early centuries of the common era composed their own versions of the story of Rāma, prince of Ayodhyā. Further, the differences between Jain and Brahminical versions of the narrative are well documented. Less studied are later versions of Jain Rāma narratives, particularly those composed during the early modern period. This paper examines one such version of the Rāma story, the fifteenth-century Sanskrit Padmapurāṇa by the Digambara author Brahma Jinadāsa. The paper compares Jinadāsa’s work with an earlier text, the seventh-century Sanskrit Padmapurāṇa, authored by Raviṣeṇa, as Jinadāsa explains that he has at hand a copy of his predecessor’s work and is recomposing it to make it “clear”. The paper thus demonstrates the multiple strategies of abridgement Jinadāsa employs in recomposing Raviṣeṇa’s earlier narrative and that, to Jinadāsa, this project of narrative abridgement was also one of clarification. Full article