Mahavir Swami

Mahavira ( Sanskrit: महावीर) also known as Vardhaman, was the 24th '' tirthankara'' (supreme preacher) of Jainism. He was the spiritual successor of the 23rd ''tirthankara'' Parshvanatha. Mahavira was born in the early part of the 6th century BCE into a royal Kshatriya Jain family in ancient India. His mother's name was Trishala and his father's name was Siddhartha. They were lay devotees of Parshvanatha. Mahavira abandoned all worldly possessions at the age of about 30 and left home in pursuit of spiritual awakening, becoming an ascetic. Mahavira practiced intense meditation and severe austerities for twelve and a half years, after which he attained '' Kevala Jnana'' (omniscience). He preached for 30 years and attained Moksha (liberation) in the 6th century BCE, although the year varies by sect.

Historically, Mahavira, who revived and preached Jainism in ancient India, was an older contemporary of Gautama Buddha.

Jains celebrate ''Mahavir Janma Kalyanak'' every year on the 13th day of the Indian Calendar month of Chaitra.

Mahavira taught that observance of the vows of ''ahimsa'' (non-violence), ''satya'' (truth), ''asteya'' (non-stealing), ''brahmacharya'' (chastity), and ''aparigraha'' (non-attachment) are necessary for spiritual liberation. He taught the principles of ''Anekantavada'' (many-sided reality): '' syadvada'' and '' nayavada''. Mahavira's teachings were compiled by Indrabhuti Gautama (his chief disciple) as the Jain Agamas. The texts, transmitted orally by Jain monks, are believed to have been largely lost by about the 1st century CE (when the remaining were first written down in the Svetambara tradition). The surviving versions of the Agamas taught by Mahavira are some of Svetambara Jainism's foundation texts, but their authenticity is disputed in Digambara Jainism.

Mahavira is usually depicted in a sitting or standing meditative posture, with the symbol of a lion beneath him. His earliest iconography is from archaeological sites in the North Indian city of Mathura, and is dated from between the 1st century BCE and the 2nd century CE. His birth is celebrated as Mahavir Janma Kalyanak and his '' nirvana'' (salvation) and also his first ''shishya'' (spiritual enlightenment) of Shri Gautama Swami is observed by Jains as Diwali.

Names and epithets

Surviving early Jain and Buddhist literature uses several names (or epithets) for Mahavira, including ''Nayaputta'', ''Muni'', ''Samana'', ''Niggantha'', ''Brahman'', and ''Bhagavan''. In early Buddhist '' suttas'', he is referred to as ''Araha'' ("worthy") and ''Veyavi'' (derived from "Vedas", but meaning "wise". He is known as '' Sramana'' in the ''Kalpa Sūtra'', "devoid of love and hate".

According to later Jain texts, Mahavira's childhood name was ''Vardhamāna'' ("the one who grows") because of the kingdom's prosperity at the time of his birth. According to the ''Kalpasutras'', he was called Mahavira ("the great hero") by the gods in the ''Kalpa Sūtra'' because he remained steadfast in the midst of dangers, fears, hardships and calamities. He is also known as a '' tirthankara''.

Historical Mahavira

It is universally accepted by scholars of Jainism that Mahavira lived in ancient India. According to the Digambara '' Uttarapurana'' text, Mahavira was born in Kundalpur in the Kingdom of the Videhas; the Śvētāmbara ''Kalpa Sūtra'' uses the name "Kundagrama", said to be located in present-day Bihar, India. Although it is thought to be the town of Basu Kund, about north of Patna (the capital of Bihar), his birthplace remains a subject of dispute. Mahavira renounced his material wealth and left home when he was twenty-eight, by some accounts (thirty by others), lived an ascetic life for twelve and a half years in which he did not even sit for a time, attained Kevalgyana and then preached Jainism for thirty years. Where he preached has been a subject of disagreement between the two major traditions of Jainism: Śvētāmbara and Digambara traditions.

Mahavira was born in 540BCE and died in 443BCE. The Barli Inscription in Prakrit language which was inscribed in 443 BCE (year 84 of the Vira Nirvana Samvat), contains the line ''Viraya Bhagavate chaturasiti vase'', which can be interpreted as "dedicated to Lord Vira in his 84th year", 84 years after the Nirvana of the Mahavira. However, paleographic analysis dates the inscription to the 2nd-1st century BCE. According to Buddhist and Jain texts they are believed to have been contemporaries which is supported by much ancient Buddhist literature. The '' Vira Nirvana Samvat'' era began in 527BCE (with Mahavira's nirvana) and is a firmly-established part of Jain tradition.

The 12th-century Jain scholar Hemachandracharya placed Mahavira in the 5thcentury BCE. According to Jain, the traditional date of 527BCE is accurate; the Buddha was younger than Mahavira and "might have attained nirvana a few years later". The place of his nirvana, Pavapuri in present-day Bihar, is a pilgrimage site for Jains.

Jain tradition

According to Jain cosmology, 24 ''Tirthankaras'' have appeared on earth; Mahavira is the last ''tirthankara'' of '' Avasarpiṇī'' (the present time cycle). A ''tirthankara'' ( ford-maker, saviour or spiritual teacher) signifies the founding of a '' tirtha'', a passage across the sea of birth-and-death cycles.

Birth

Tirthankara Mahavira was born into a royal Kshatriya family of King Siddhartha of the Ikshvaku Dynasty and Queen Trishala of the Licchavi republic. The Ikshvaku Dynasty was founded by the First tirthankara Rishabhanatha.

According to Jains, Mahavira was born in 599BCE. His birthday falls on the thirteenth day of the rising moon in the month of Chaitra in the '' Vira Nirvana Samvat'' calendar era. It falls in March or April of the Gregorian calendar, and is celebrated by Jains as Mahavir Janma Kalyanak.

Kshatriyakund (the place of Mahavira's birth) is traditionally believed to be near Vaishali, an ancient town on the Indo-Gangetic Plain. Its location in present-day Bihar is unclear, partly because of migrations from ancient Bihar for economic and political reasons. According to the "Universal History" in Jain texts, Mahavira underwent many rebirths (total 27 births) before his 6th-century birth. They included a denizen of hell, a lion, and a god (''deva'') in a heavenly realm just before his last birth as the 24th ''tirthankara''. Svetambara texts state that his embryo first formed in a Brahman woman before it was transferred by Hari-Naigamesin (the divine commander of Indra's army) to the womb of Trishala, Siddhartha's wife. The embryo-transfer legend is not believed by adherents of the Digambara tradition.

Jain texts state that after Mahavira was born, the god Indra came from the heavens along with 56 ''digkumaries'', anointed him, and performed his '' abhisheka'' (consecration) on Mount Meru. These events, illustrated in a number of Jain temples, play a part in modern Jain temple rituals. Although the ''Kalpa Sūtra'' accounts of Mahavira's birth legends are recited by Svetambara Jains during the annual '' Paryushana'' festival, the same festival is observed by the Digambaras without the recitation.

Early life

Mahavira grew up as a prince. According to the second chapter of the Śvētāmbara Acharanga Sutra, his parents were lay devotees of Parshvanatha. Jain traditions differ about whether Mahavira married. The Digambara tradition believes that his parents wanted him to marry Yashoda, but he refused to marry. The Śvētāmbara tradition believes that he was married to Yashoda at a young age and had one daughter, Priyadarshana, also called Anojja.

Jain texts portray Mahavira as tall; his height was given as four cubits (6 feet) in the ''Aupapatika Sutra''. According to Jain texts, he was the shortest of the twenty-four ''tirthankaras''; earlier ''arihants'' were believed to have been taller, with Neminatha or Aristanemi —the 22nd ''tirthankara'', who lived for 1,000 years—said to have been sixty-five cubits (98feet) in height.

Renunciation

At age thirty, Mahavira abandoned royal life and left his home and family to live an ascetic life in the pursuit of spiritual awakening. He undertook severe fasts and bodily mortifications, meditated under the Ashoka tree, and discarded his clothes. The ''Acharanga Sutra'' has a graphic description of his hardships and self-mortification. According to the ''Kalpa Sūtra'', Mahavira spent the first forty-two monsoons of his life in Astikagrama, Champapuri, Prstichampa, Vaishali, Vanijagrama, Nalanda

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