Taming the tamed elephant: Rāvaṇa, aesthetics, and the generation of humor in Raviṣeṇa’s Padmapurāṇa

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe seventh-century Digambara author Raviṣeṇa is an important figure in the history of pre-modern South Asian literature, having composed the earliest extant Jain Rāma narrative in Sanskrit, the Padmapurāṇa (‘The Deeds of Padma’), a text that stands at the forefront of centuries of Jain engagement with the Rāma story. This article examines for the first time Raviṣeṇa’s use of humor in constructing the character of Rāvaṇa, arguing first – with reference to both Bharata’s Nāṭyaśāstra and the works of Kālidāsa – that Raviṣeṇa establishes humor by subtly undercutting common Sanskrit literary tropes, and, second, that this humor serves three interrelated purposes vis-à-vis Rāvaṇa. First, the humor foreshadows Rāvaṇa’s primary character flaws that will lead to his abduction of Sītā and eventual death at the hands of Lakṣmaṇa. Second, the humor works to humanize Rāvaṇa, making him a sympathetic character to the reader. Third, the humor establishes Rāvaṇa in opposition to the calm and serious Rāma, thereby positing that, according to Raviṣeṇa, true heroism consists of controlling one’s passions.