महावीर
Mahavira · also Vardhamana; also Sanmati and Veer in Digambara usage
The twenty-fourth and final Tirthankara of this cycle, and a contemporary of the Buddha. The tradition as practised today descends from his teaching.
The twenty-fourth and final Tirthankara of this cycle, a contemporary of the Buddha, teaching in the eastern Gangetic plain in roughly the sixth to fifth centuries BCE. The tradition as it is practised today descends from his teaching.
Born Vardhamana, he renounced at about thirty and spent some twelve years in austerity and silence before attaining omniscience. What followed was thirty years of teaching, and the organisation of a community of monks, nuns, laymen and laywomen that has continued without interruption since — one of the longest unbroken institutional histories anywhere.
The traditions differ on his life. Svetambara accounts say he married and had a daughter before renouncing; Digambara accounts say he never married. They differ too on the dating of his liberation, and on whether his mother's embryo was transferred between women before his birth — an episode Svetambara texts include and Digambara texts reject entirely.
His liberation at Pavapuri is observed at Diwali. In Digambara usage he is also called Sanmati and Veer, and the first sermon that followed his omniscience is remembered as Veer Shasan Jayanti.
The traditions differ on whether Mahavira married before renouncing the world — Svetambara accounts say he did, Digambara accounts say he did not — and on the dating of his liberation.
There is historical evidence for this figure beyond tradition.
Written for Jain Times. Corrections are welcome — see sources and licences.