The Prelude: Invocation and Outline of the Story

Pandit Daulatram’s opening dohas (couplets) salute the Pancha Parameshthi (the five supreme beings), each of the 24 Tirthankaras from Rishabha to Vardhamana, the past 24 headed by Nirvana, the future 24 headed by Mahapadma, and the 20 living Tirthankaras headed by Simandhara who preach in Videha.

He also bows to the Ganadharas, Kevalis, Shrutakevalis, Acharyas and Upadhyayas; to Gautama, Sudharma, Jambu Kevali and Bhadrabahu; to texts such as the Dhavala, Jayadhavala and Mahadhavala, the Tattvartha Sutra, Gommatasara, Jnanarnava and Adipurana; and to teachers including Kundakunda, Samantabhadra, Akalanka, Umasvami, Pujyapada and Jinasena.

The couplets name the hero: Padma, that is Ramachandra, son of Dasharatha, the eighth Baladeva, who appeared after the time of Munisuvrata; his heroic brother Lakshmana is a Hari (Narayana), the great sati Sita is his wife, and Bharata and Shatrughna are his younger brothers.

Daulatram adds that Bharata attained liberation in that very life, that Rama’s sons Lava and Ankusha took the monk’s vows and were liberated, and that the story was told by Gautama, heard by King Shrenika and set down by Ravishena.

Acharya Ravishena’s own Sanskrit invocation bows to Mahavira, the auspicious one of the three worlds; the commentary explains that the Mimamsa, Samkhya, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Buddhist, Shunyavada and Vedanta schools are not causes of liberation, that only the Jina’s teaching, friend of every living being, leads to moksha, and that Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma, Hari, Shankara and Rudra are all names of Mahavira.

Each of the 24 Tirthankaras is then saluted with a fitting epithet; the text notes that Rama’s story unfolded in the tirtha (era) of the 20th Tirthankara, Munisuvrata, that the 22nd, Arishtanemi, is the ornament of the Harivamsha, and that Mahavira appeared at the end of the fourth age.

In humility the author says that even the Ganadharas can tell Rama’s life only in part, yet he follows the great munis as deer walk the path made by elephants; ears, heads and lips are worthy only when devoted to the stories of the great, and the good take virtue as a swan takes milk from water, while the wicked pick out faults as a crow picks flesh over pearls.

The lineage of the story is traced: what sounded in Vardhamana’s divyadhvani (divine voice) was held by Gautama Ganadhara, passed to Sudharma and Jambu Svami, then to the five Shrutakevalis (knowers of the entire scripture) and the line of acharyas, down to Ravishenacharya.

The work is said to have six great sections: the state of the world, the origin of the clans, forest wanderings and war, the birth of Lava and Ankusha, past lives, and Ramachandra’s nirvana.

Vardhamana, also called Ativira and Mahavira, is the source of the whole narrative: at Rajagriha, on Mount Vipulachala, he sits in the Samavasarana (the divine assembly hall of a Tirthankara), where King Shrenika questions his chief Ganadhara Gautama, also named Indrabhuti.

An outline of the whole Purana follows: the ages of time and the Kulakaras (patriarchs), Rishabhadeva’s birth to Nabhiraja and Marudevi, the founding of the karmabhumi (age of work), the duel of Bharata and Bahubali, the origin of the Brahmins and of the Ikshvaku and other clans, Vidyuddamshtra’s assault on the sage Sanjayanta, the gift of the Rakshasa island in Ajitanatha’s time, and the life of Sagara Chakravarti.

It continues with the Vanara clan of Kishkindhapura, Mali’s death at the hands of Indra of Rathanupura, Ravana’s birth to Ratnashrava and Kekasi, his mastery of vidyas (magical sciences) and marriage to Mandodari, his victories over Vaishravana, Yama and Indra, his lifting of Mount Kailasa in anger at the sage Bali, who pressed it down with his toe, his vow never to take another’s wife against her will, and Hanuman’s birth to Anjana and Pavananjaya.

The later outline covers Dasharatha and Kaikeyi’s boon, the births of Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata, Shatrughna, Sita and Bhamandala, Sita’s svayamvara, the exile, Sita’s abduction, the alliance with Sugriva, the war in which Ravana’s own chakra (discus) passes into Lakshmana’s hand and Ravana dies, and the initiation of Indrajit and Kumbhakarna.

It ends with the return to Ayodhya, Bharata’s renunciation, Shatrughna’s rule in Mathura, Sita’s exile and the birth of Lava and Ankusha under King Vajrajangha’s care, the fire ordeal turned to cool water by Sita’s chastity, Lakshmana’s death, and Rama’s initiation, Kevala Jnana (omniscience) and nirvana; reading or hearing this Purana is said to destroy the sins of many births.