ABSTRACT
A measure of the significance attached by later tellers to this originally quite peripheral character is that in some traditions Ahalya becomes the mother of Anjana and therefore the grandmother of the now all-powerful Hanuman. Yet Rama's behaviour was open to scrutiny, and even disapproval, not only in Jain material; the considerable amount of criticism of his behaviour among Indian women tellers is only recently coming to be acknowledged. The so-called 'women's tales', with their protest against Sita's sufferings, provide a welcome counter to the prevalent image of the meek and submissive wifely role model. Women cause trouble for Ravana too, either as passive victims or by their reaction to his abuse. In non-Jain verbal texts, Rambha appears with few modifications to her traditional role. Hemacandra's account perpetuates the motif of the avenging son inherited from the Valmiki Ramayana, where Khara's son Makaraksa is killed fighting a duel with Rama in the battle for Lanka.
