A Jaina Adaptation of Raghuvamsa (Canto IV)

Summary

The article studies a medieval Jaina adaptation of Canto IV of Kālidāsa’s epic poem Raghuvaṃśa, focusing on how Jain authors reshaped the narrative to align with their doctrinal values. In Kālidāsa’s original, Canto IV describes King Raghu’s digvijaya (world conquest), wherein the righteous monarch sets out to subdue various regions, from the south Indian kingdoms to the Himalayas, to assert his sovereignty and accumulate wealth for the performance of a horse sacrifice. The Jaina adaptation, preserved in a text referred to as the Caravan Parva (CPC), replaces Raghu with Mahāsena, a Jaina prince, and reinterprets the digvijaya motif. The author compares parallel verses from the two poems, showing that while the adapted poem retains much of Kālidāsa’s elegant diction and geographical imagery, it fundamentally alters the hero’s motivation. In the Jaina version Mahāsena undertakes a circuit not to conquer and plunder but to purge himself of sensual indulgence and cultivate detachment. He offers gifts to feudal chiefs instead of demanding tribute, and his campaign emphasises spiritual conquest (dharmavijaya) over political domination. Enemy kings are portrayed as refractory rulers needing moral guidance rather than violent suppression. The article also notes that the Jaina poem eliminates the mention of Vedic rituals and blood sacrifice; where Kālidāsa describes the smell of meat and wine, the adaptation substitutes scenes of almsgiving and ascetic discipline. Mahāsena’s army travels through Central Asia, Kashmir and the Himalayan region, but the emphasis is on the natural beauty of these places and the peaceful reception by local people. In both poems the soldiers’ wives lament their separation, yet in the Jaina version these laments are couched in terms of spiritual longing rather than erotic desire. The author argues that the differences between the two texts reflect the broader Jaina literary strategy of appropriating popular Brahmanical narratives while cleansing them of violence and ritualism. By reworking the Raghuvaṃśa, Jaina poets could engage with a prestigious Sanskrit classic, showcase their own literary skill, and simultaneously promote Jaina ethics. The adaptation demonstrates the fluidity of cultural boundaries in medieval India: authors freely borrowed motifs and verses across sects, but they reinterpreted them to suit their own religious sensibilities.