Rama

===Jainism===
[[File:Swarn Jain temple, Gwalior - Ram.jpg|thumb|''Rama'', ''Lakshmana'', and ''Sita'' with Jain acharya ''yugal-charan'', Swarn Jain temple in Gwalior.]]

{{see also|Rama in Jainism|Salakapurusa}}

In [[Jainism]], the earliest known version of Rama story is variously dated from the 1st to 5th century CE. This Jain text credited to Vimalasuri shows no signs of distinction between [[Digambara]]-[[Svetambara]] (sects of Jainism), and is in a combination of [[Maharashtri Prakrit|Maharashtri]] and [[Sauraseni language]]s. These features suggest that this text has ancient roots.<ref name="Doniger1993p190">{{cite book |author=John E Cort |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-kZFzHCuiFAC |title=Purana Perennis: Reciprocity and Transformation in Hindu and Jaina Texts |publisher=State University of New York Press |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-7914-1381-4 |editor=Wendy Doniger |page=190}}</ref>

In Jain [[cosmology]], people continue to be reborn as they evolve in their spiritual qualities, until they reach the Jina state and complete enlightenment. This idea is explained as cyclically reborn triads in its Puranas, called the [[Balabhadra|Baladeva]], [[Vasudeva]] and evil [[Prati-vasudeva]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Jacobi |first=Herman |title=Vimalsuri's Paumachariyam |publisher=Prakrit Text Society |year=2005 |edition=2nd |location=Ahemdabad}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Iyengar |first=Kodaganallur Ramaswami Srinivasa |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CU92nFk5fU4C&pg=PA80 |title=Asian Variations in Ramayana |publisher=Sahitya Akademi |year=2005 |isbn=978-81-260-1809-3}}</ref> Rama, Lakshmana and evil Ravana are the eighth triad, with Rama being the reborn Baladeva, and Lakshmana as the reborn Vasudeva.<ref name="Padmanabh216" /> Rama is described to have lived long before the 22nd Jain Tirthankara called [[Neminatha]]. In the Jain tradition, Neminatha is believed to have been born 84,000 years before the 9th-century BCE [[Parshvanatha]].{{sfn|Zimmer|1953|p=226}}

Jain texts tell a very different version of the Rama legend than the Hindu texts such as by Valmiki. According to the Jain version, Lakshmana (Vasudeva) is the one who kills Ravana (Prativasudeva).<ref name="Padmanabh216" /> Rama, after all his participation in the rescue of Sita and preparation for war, he actually does not kill, thus remains a non-violent person. The Rama of Jainism has numerous wives as does Lakshmana, unlike the virtue of monogamy given to Rama in the Hindu texts. Towards the end of his life, Rama becomes a Jaina monk then successfully attains [[siddha]] followed by [[moksha]].<ref name="Padmanabh216" /> His first wife Sita becomes a Jaina nun at the end of the story. In the Jain version, Lakshmana and Ravana both go to the hell of Jain cosmology, because Ravana killed many, while Lakshmana killed Ravana to stop Ravana's violence.<ref name="Padmanabh216" /> ''Padmapurana'' mentions Rama as a contemporary of [[Munisuvrata]], 20th ''[[tirthankara]]'' of Jainism.{{sfn|Natubhai Shah|2004|pp=21–23}}