Mahavira

Mahavira (), also known by his birth name Vardhamana (), was an Indian religious reformer and spiritual leader, considered by Jains to be the 24th and final Tirthankara (Supreme Preacher) in the current time cycle of Jain cosmology. He is believed by historians to have lived in the 6th or 5th century BCE, reviving and reforming an earlier Jain or proto-Jain community which had likely been led by Pārśvanātha, whom Jains consider to be Mahavira's predecessor. Although the dates of Mahavira's life are uncertain and historically reliable information is scarce, and traditional accounts vary by sectarian traditions, the historicity of Mahavira is well-established and not in dispute among scholars.

According to traditional legends and hagiographies, Mahavira was born in 599 BCE to a ruling royal kshatriya Jain family of the Nāya tribe in what is now Bihar in India. According to traditional sources like the Ācārāṅga Sūtra, the Nāyas were followers of Parshvanatha, Mahavira's predecessor. 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) when he died.

Mahavira taught attainment of samyak darshan or self realization (atma-anubhuti) through the practice of bhedvijnāna, which involves positioning oneself as a pure soul, separate from body, mind and emotions, and being aware of the soul's true nature; and to remain grounded and steadfast in soul's unchanging essence during varying auspicious or inauspicious external circumstances. He also preached that the 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.

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 Mahavira Janma Kalyanaka while his nirvana (liberation) and attainment of Kevala jnana (omniscience) by Gautama Swami are observed by Jains as Diwali.

Historical Mahavira

thumb|The Gaṇasaṅghas (tribal republics) at the time of Mahavira

Although it is universally accepted by scholars of Jainism that Mahavira lived in ancient India, the year of his birth and additional information of his life are "uncertain and debatable."

Dating

thumb|Painting of Mahavira among the [[Six Heretical Teachers in Kizil Caves, Xinjiang, China, 4th century CE]]

Traditional Jain-accounts

The Digambara and Śvetāmbara sects give different accounts of Mahavira's life. They agree that Mahavira was born in 599BCE, but according to the Śvetāmbaras he died in 527 BCE, while the Digambaras believe that he died in 510 BCE.

Rapson notes that "The Jains themselves have preserved chronological records concerning Mahavira and the succeeding pontiffs of the Jain church, which may have been begun at a comparatively early date. But it seems quite clear that, at the time when these lists were put into their present form, the real date of Mahavira had already either been forgotten or was at least doubtful."

The Jain-tradition accepts the Vira Nirvana Samvat chronology, which starts in 527BCE. The Vira Nirvana Samvat is based on the Vikram Samvat, which dates from the medieaval period, and starts in 57 or 58 BCE, to which 470 years are added, giving 527 or 528 BCE. According to Rapson, this calculation is based on "a list of kings and dynasties, who are supposed to have reigned between 528 and 58 BC[E]," and is not reliable, "as it confuses rulers of Ujjain, Magadha, and other kingdoms; and some of these may perhaps have been contemporary, and not successive as they are represented."

The 12th-century Jain scholar Hemachandra placed Mahavira in the 6th-5thcentury BCE.

Scholarly datings

There has been considerable scholarly debate on Mahavira's dates since th 19th century, and various dates have been proposed. While traditional accounts adhere to the timeline that places his birth in 599 BCE and his nirvana in 527 BCE or 510 BCE, "[s]ome scholars believe this date to be as much as 100 years early."

On the basis of chronologies in Hemachandra's Pariśiṣṭaparvan, some historians have dated Mahavira's birth to 549 BCE, and his death to 477 or ca. 468-467 BCE.

Ultimately, Mahavira's dates depend on the dates for the Buddha, who was a (slightly later) contemporary of Mahavira, which is supported by Buddhist texts. They both lived during the reigns of the kings Bimbisara and Ajatashatru of Magadha. Historians who accept the "Short Chronology" for Gautama Buddha's lifetime (ca. 480-400 BCE), argue that the traditional dates for Mahavira also are too early, by as much as one century, since Mahavira and Buddha were contemporaries. Dundas suggests that Mahavira may have died "around 425 BCE, or a few years after", and Long suggests "c.499-427 BCE" as his approximate lifespan.

Role in Jainism

Jain-accounts: successor

Jains believe that the 23 previous tirthankaras also espoused Jainism. Mahavira is placed in Parshvanatha's lineage as his spiritual successor and ultimate leader of shraman sangha. According to Dundas, Jains believe that the lineage of Parshvanatha influenced Mahavira. Parshvanatha, as the one who "removes obstacles and has the capacity to save", is a popular icon; his image is the focus of Jain temple devotion. Of the 24 tirthankaras, Jain iconography has celebrated Mahavira and Parshvanatha the most; sculptures discovered at the Mathura archaeological site have been dated to the 1stcentury BCE.

According to Jain tradition, Parshvanatha was a tirthankara born 273 years before Mahavira, which would mean he lived in about the 9th or 8th century BCE. However, "some scholars have suggested that Pārśvanātha and Mahāvīra were actually closer in time than the tradition claims", and that "Pārśva could not have started his ascetic career before the beginning of the sixth century BC" and "may have passed away only a few decades before Vardhamāna [i.e., Mahāvīra] had started his preaching career".

Scholarly accounts: reformer

Mahavira is believed by historians to have revived and reformed an earlier Jain or proto-Jain community which had likely been led by Pārśvanātha, whom Jains consider to be Mahavira's predecessor. According to Moriz Winternitz, Mahavira may be considered a reformer of an existing Jain sect known as Niganthas (fetter-less) which was mentioned in early Buddhist texts.

Birthplace

According to both sectarian text Uttarapurana and Kalpa Sūtra, Mahavira was born in Kundagrama in the Kingdom of the Videhas. Kundagrama is said to be located in present-day Bihar, India, although the exact location of Kundagrama within Bihar remains a subject of dispute.

Kundagrama was identified by JP Sharma as a suburb of the city of Vaishali, and because of this, some sources refer to him as Vesālie.

Another potential location of Kundagrāma is the village of Basu Kund, about north of Patna (the capital of Bihar).

Life-course

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 Dharma for thirty years. Where he preached has been a subject of disagreement between the two major traditions of Jainism: Śvētāmbara and Digambara. The place of his nirvana, Pavapuri in present-day Bihar, is a pilgrimage site for Jains.

Life according to Jain tradition

Sources

thumb|alt=Old illustrated manuscript|[[Folio from the Kalpa Sūtra, 15th century]]

Yativṛṣabha's Tiloya-paṇṇatti recounts nearly all the events of Mahavira's life in a form convenient for memorisation. Jinasena's Mahapurana (which includes the Ādi purāṇa and Uttara-purāṇa) was completed by his disciple, Gunabhadra, in the 8thcentury. In the Uttara-purāṇa, Mahavira's life is described in three parvans, or sections, (74–76) and 1,818 verses.

Vardhamacharitra is a Sanskrit kāvya poem, written by Asaga in 853 CE, which narrates the life of Mahavira.

The Kalpa Sūtra is a collection of biographies of tirthankaras, notably Parshvanatha and Mahavira. Samavayanga Sutra is a collection of Mahavira's teachings, and the Ācārāṅga Sūtra recounts his asceticism.

Tirthankaras

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.

Previous births

Mahavira's previous births are recounted in Jain texts such as the Mahapurana and Tri-shashti-shalaka-purusha-charitra. Although a soul undergoes countless reincarnations in the transmigratory cycle of saṃsāra, the birth of a tirthankara is reckoned from the time he determines the causes of karma and pursues ratnatraya. Jain texts describe Mahavira's 26 births before his incarnation as a tirthankara. According to the texts, he was born as Marichi (the son of Bharata Chakravartin) in a previous life.

Birth

Tirthankara Mahavira was born in Kundagrāma into the royal Jain family of King Siddhartha of the Nāya tribe and Queen Trishala of the Licchavi republic.

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 7 hastas or 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

thumb|150px|Tirthankar Mahavir giving his half garment to a brahmin as alms

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 Ācārāṅga Sūtra 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, Mithila, Bhadrika, Alabhika, Panitabhumi, Shravasti, and Pawapuri. He is said to have lived in Rajagriha during the rainy season of the forty-first year of his ascetic life, which is traditionally dated to 491BCE.

Omniscience

thumb|Lord [[Mahavir attaining omniscience in shukla dhyana, the highest and purest level of meditation]]

According to traditional accounts, Mahavira achieved Kevala Jnana (omniscience, or infinite knowledge) under a Sāla tree on the bank of the River Rijuvalika near Jrimbhikagrama at age 43 after twelve years of rigorous penance. The details of the event are described in the Jain Uttar-purāņa and Harivamśa-purāņa texts. The Ācārāṅga Sūtra describes Mahavira as all-seeing. The Sutrakritanga expands it to all-knowing, and describes his other qualities. Jains believe that Mahavira had a most auspicious body (paramaudārika śarīra) and was free from eighteen imperfections when he attained omniscience. According to the Śvētāmbara, he traveled throughout India to teach his philosophy for thirty years after attaining omniscience. However, the Digambara believe that he remained in his Samavasarana and delivered sermons to his followers.

Disciples

[[File:Samosarana Mahaviras enlightenment.jpg|thumb|[Top illustration] Mahavira attains kevala jñāna (complete knowledge); [Bottom] a samosarana (divine preaching hall). Folio 60 from Kalpasutra series, loose leaf manuscript, Patan, Gujarat. .]]

Jain texts document eleven Brahmanas as Mahavira's first disciples, traditionally known as the eleven . Indrabhuti Gautama is believed to have been their leader, the others were named: Agnibhuti, Vayubhuti, Akampita, Arya Vyakta, Sudharman, Manditaputra, Mauryaputra, Acalabhraataa, Metraya, and Prabhasa. The are believed to have remembered and to have verbally transmitted Mahavira's teachings after his death. His teachings became known as , or the Jain . According to , Mahavira had 14,000 (male ascetic devotees), 36,000 (female ascetics), 159,000 (male lay followers), and 318,000 (female lay followers). Jain tradition mentions Srenika and Kunika of Haryanka dynasty (popularly known as Bimbisara and Ajatashatru) and Chetaka of Videha as his royal followers. Mahavira initiated his mendicants with the (Five Vows). He delivered fifty-five (recitations) and a set of lectures (). Chandana is believed to be the leader of female monastic order.

Nirvana and moksha

thumb|alt=Large, white temple on the water|Lord Mahavira's [[Jal Mandir (water temple) in Pawapuri, Bihar, India]]

thumb|The "Charan Paduka" or foot impression of Mahavira at [[Jal Mandir ]]

According to Jain texts, Mahavira's nirvana (death) occurred in the town of Pawapuri in present-day Bihar. His life as a spiritual light and the night of his nirvana are commemorated by Jains as Diwali at the same time that Hindus celebrate it. His chief disciple, Gautama, is said to have attained omniscience the night that Mahavira achieved nirvana from Pawapuri.

Accounts of Mahavira's nirvana vary among Jain texts, with some describing a simple nirvana and others recounting grandiose celebrations attended by gods and kings. According to the Jinasena's Mahapurana, heavenly beings arrived to perform his funeral rites. The Pravachanasara of Digambara tradition says that only the nails and hair of tirthankaras are left behind; the rest of the body dissolves in the air like camphor. In some texts Mahavira is described, at age 72, as delivering his final preaching over a six-day period to a large group of people. The crowd falls asleep, awakening to find that he has disappeared (leaving only his nails and hair, which his followers cremate).

The Jain Śvētāmbara tradition believes that Mahavira's nirvana occurred in 527 BCE, and the Digambara tradition holds that date of 510 BCE. In both traditions, his jiva (soul) is believed to abide in Siddhashila (the home of liberated souls). Mahavira's Jal Mandir stands at the place where he is said to have attained nirvana (moksha). Artworks in Jain temples and texts depict his final liberation and cremation, sometimes shown symbolically as a small pyre of sandalwood and a piece of burning camphor.

Teachings

Colonial-era Indologists considered Jainism (and Mahavira's followers) a sect of Buddhism because of superficial similarities in iconography and meditative and ascetic practices. As scholarship progressed, differences between the teachings of Mahavira and the Buddha were found so divergent that the religions were acknowledged as separate. Mahavira, says Moriz Winternitz, taught a "very elaborate belief in the soul" (unlike the Buddhists, who denied such elaboration). His ascetic teachings have a higher order of magnitude than those of Buddhism or Hinduism, and his emphasis on ahimsa (non-violence) is greater than that in other Indian religions.

Agamas

Mahavira's teachings were compiled by Gautama Swami, his Ganadhara (chief disciple). The canonical scriptures are in twelve parts. Mahavira's teachings were gradually lost after about 300BCE, according to Jain tradition, when a severe famine in the Magadha kingdom dispersed the Jain monks. Attempts were made by later monks to gather, recite the canon, and re-establish it. These efforts identified differences in recitations of Mahavira's teachings, and an attempt was made in the 5thcentury CE to reconcile the differences. The reconciliation efforts failed, with Svetambara and Digambara Jain traditions holding their own incomplete, somewhat-different versions of Mahavira's teachings. In the early centuries of the common era, Jain texts containing Mahavira's teachings were written in palm-leaf manuscripts. According to the Digambaras, Āchārya Bhutabali was the last ascetic with partial knowledge of the original canon. Later, some learned achāryas restored, compiled, and wrote down the teachings of Mahavira which were the subjects of the Agamas. Āchārya Dharasena, in the 1stcentury CE, guided the Āchāryas Pushpadant and Bhutabali as they wrote down the teachings. The two Āchāryas wrote Ṣaṭkhaṅḍāgama, among the oldest-known Digambara texts, on palm leaves.

Five Vows

150px|thumbnail|alt=Tan stone relief of the Jain swastika and its five vows|The [[Jain symbols#Swastika|swastika and five vows]]

The Jain Agamas enumerate five vratas (vows) which ascetics and householders must observe. These ethical principles were preached by Mahavira:

(Non-violence or non-injury): Mahavira taught that every living being has sanctity and dignity which should be respected as one expects one's own sanctity and dignity to be respected. , Jainism's first and most important vow, applies to actions, speech, and thought.
(truthfulness): Applies to oneself and others.
(non-attachment): For lay people, an attitude of non-attachment to property or worldly possessions; for mendicants, not owning anything

The goal of these principles is to achieve spiritual peace, a better rebirth, or (ultimately) liberation. According to Chakravarthi, these teachings help improve a person's quality of life. However, Paul Dundas writes that Mahavira's emphasis on non-violence and restraint has been interpreted by some Jain scholars to "not be driven by merit from giving or compassion to other creatures, nor a duty to rescue all creatures" but by "continual self discipline": a cleansing of the soul which leads to spiritual development and release.

Mahavira is best remembered in the Indian traditions for his teaching that is the supreme moral virtue. He taught that covers all living beings, and injuring any being in any form creates bad karma (which affects one's rebirth, future well-being, and suffering). According to Mahatma Gandhi, Mahavira was the greatest authority on .

Soul

Mahavira taught that the soul exists. There is no soul (or self) in Buddhism, and its teachings are based on the concept of anatta (non-self). Mahavira taught that the soul is dravya (substantial), eternal, and yet temporary.

To Mahavira, the metaphysical nature of the universe consists of dravya, jiva, and ajiva (inanimate objects). The jiva is bound to saṃsāra (transmigration) because of karma (the effects of one's actions). Karma, in Jainism, includes actions and intent; it colors the soul (lesya), affecting how, where, and as what a soul is reborn after death.

According to Mahavira, there is no creator deity and existence has neither beginning nor end. Deities and demons however exist in Jainism, whose jivas are a part of the same cycle of birth and death. The goal of spiritual practice is to liberate the jiva from its karmic accumulation and enter the realm of the siddhas, souls who are liberated from rebirth. Enlightenment, to Mahavira, is the consequence of self awareness, self-cultivation and restraint from materialism.

Anekantavada

Mahavira taught the doctrine of anekantavada (many-sided reality). Although the word does not appear in the earliest Jain literature or the Agamas, the doctrine is illustrated in Mahavira's answers to questions posed by his followers. Truth and reality are complex, and have a number of aspects. Reality can be experienced, but it is impossible to express it fully with language alone; human attempts to communicate are nayas ("partial expression[s] of the truth"). Language itself is not truth, but a means of expressing it. From truth, according to Mahavira, language returns—not the other way around. One can experience the "truth" of a taste, but cannot fully express that taste through language. Any attempt to express the experience is syāt: valid "in some respect", but still a "perhaps, just one perspective, incomplete". and downcast eyes in digamber tradition while in Shetamber tradition it is wide open.

Mahavira's earliest iconography is from archaeological sites in the north Indian city of Mathura, dated from the 1stcentury BCE to the 2ndcentury CE. The srivatsa mark on his chest and his dhyana-mudra posture appears in Kushana Empire-era artwork. Differences in Mahavira's depiction between the Digambara and Svetambara traditions appear in the late 5thcentury CE. According to John Cort, the earliest archaeological evidence of Jina iconography with inscriptions precedes its datable texts by over 250 years.

Many images of Mahavira have been dated to the 12th century and earlier; an ancient sculpture was found in a cave in Sundarajapuram, Theni district, Tamil Nadu. K. Ajithadoss, a Jain scholar in Chennai, dated it to the 9th century.

Jivantasvami represents Mahavira as a princely state. The Jina is represented as standing in the kayotsarga pose wearing crown and ornaments.

File:Osian_17-67.jpg|Jivantasvami image of a Tirthankara carved on Torana in Mahavira Jain temple, Osian

File:Vardhaman Keezhakuyilkudi.jpg|alt=See caption|Rock-cut sculpture of Mahavira in Samanar Hills, Madurai, Tamil Nadu

File:Solitary Jina Kalugumalai.jpg|Rock-cut sculpture of Mahavira in Kalugumalai Jain Beds, 8th century

File:Mahavira Pratimaji.jpg|alt=See caption|Tallest known image of the seated Mahavira, Patnaganj

File:Mahaveer.jpg|alt=See caption|Four-sided sculpture of Mahavira in Kankali Tila, Mathura

File:Tirthankaras.jpg|alt=Two nude statues|Tirthankaras Rishabhanatha (left) and Mahavira, 11th century (British Museum)

File:Mahavira Seattle 01.JPG|alt=Mahavira, seated|Temple relief of Mahavira, 14th century (Seattle Asian Art Museum)

File:Thirakoil-mahaaveerar.JPG|alt=See caption|Relief of Mahavira in Thirakoil, Tamil Nadu

File:Ahinsa_Sthal.jpg|16-foot, 2-inch stone statue of Mahavira in Ahinsa Sthal, Mehrauli, New Delhi|alt=Large outdoor statue of Mahavira, with a seated worshipper for scale

File:Ellora Cave 32 si0339.jpg|alt=See caption|Mahavira statue in Cave 32 of the Ellora Caves

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Worship

thumb|alt=See caption|Mahavira worship in a manuscript c.1825

Samantabhadra's Svayambhustotra praises the twenty-four tirthankaras, and its eight shlokas (songs) adore Mahavira. One such shloka reads: Samantabhadra's Yuktyanusasana is a 64-verse poem which also praises Mahavira.

Festivals

Two major annual Jain festivals associated with Mahavira are Mahavir Janma Kalyanak and Diwali. During Mahavir Janma Kalyanak, Jains celebrate Mahavira's birth as the 24th and last tirthankara of avasarpiṇī (the current time cycle). During Mahavir Janma Kalyanak, the five auspicious events of Mahavira's life are re-enacted. Diwali commemorates the anniversary of Mahavira's nirvana, and is celebrated at the same time as the Hindu festival. Diwali marks the New Year for Jains. Jains celebrate Mahavir Janma Kalyanak every year on the 13th day of the Indian Calendar month of Chaitra.

Legacy

Mahavira's legacy is the systematic codification of Jain philosophy and the establishment of the chaturvidha sangha (four-fold order) of monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen. This structure, which provides a path for both ascetics and lay followers, enabled Jainism to be preserved as a living tradition. His teachings, particularly the cardinal vow of Ahimsa (non-violence), had a lasting influence on Indian culture.

Michael H. Hart ranked him 100th in his 1978 book, “The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History”, below the Buddha (ranked 4th) and Ashoka (ranked 53rd). According to Pantheon's 2024 Historical Popularity Index (HPI), Mahavira is ranked 19th among the most famous Indian people of all time.

Mahavira's teachings were influential. According to Rabindranath Tagore,