Nagachandra , a scholar and the builder of the Mallinatha Jinalaya ( a Jain temple in honor of the 19th Jain tirthankar , Mallinatha , in Bijapur , Karnataka ) , wrote Mallinathapurana ( 1105 ) , an account of the evolution of the soul of the Jain saint . According to some historians , King Veera Ballala I was his patron . Later , he wrote his magnum opus , a Jain version of the Hindu epic Ramayana called Ramachandra Charitapurana ( or Pampa Ramayana ) . Written in the traditional champu metre and in the Pauma charia tradition of Vimalasuri , it is the earliest extant version of the epic in the Kannada language . The work contain 16 sections and deviate significantly from the original epic by Valmiki . Nagachandra represent King Ravana , the villain of the Hindu epic , as a tragic hero , who in a moment of weakness commits the sin of abducting Sita ( wife of the Hindu god Rama ) but is eventually purified by her devotion to Rama . In a further deviation , Rama 's loyal brother Lakshmana ( instead of Rama ) kill Ravana in the final battle . Eventually , Rama take jaina @-@ diksha ( converts to Digambara monk ) , become an ascetic and attain nirvana ( enlightenment ) . Considered a complementary work to the Pampa Bharatha of Adikavi Pampa ( 941 , a Jain version of the epic Mahabharata ) , the work earned Nagachandra the honorific " Abhinava Pampa " ( " new Pampa " ) . Only in the Kannada language do Jain versions exist of the Hindu epics , the Mahabharata and Ramayana , in addition to their brahminical version .