page_title: Mahavira
section_title: Texts
hierarchical_section_title: Mahavira / Jain tradition / Texts
caption_attribution_description: English: Mahavira's Nirvana or Moksa. Note the crescent shaped Siddhashila (a place where all siddhas reside after Nirvana). Folio 53r from Kalpasutra series, loose leaf manuscript, Patan, Gujarat. c. 1472.
context_page_description: Mahavira, also known as Vardhamana was the 24th tirthankara of Jainism. He was the spiritual successor of 23rd tirthankara Parshvanatha. Mahavira was born in the early part of the 6th century BC into a royal Kshatriya Jain family in present-day Bihar, India. His mother's name was Trishala and 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 12 and half years, after which he attained Kevala Jnana. He preached for 30 years and attained moksha in the 6th century BC, although the year varies by sect.
  Historically, Mahavira, who preached Jainism in ancient India, was an older contemporary of Gautama Buddha. Scholars variously date him from 6th-5th century BC and his place of birth is also a point of dispute among them.
  Mahavira taught that observance of the vows of ahimsa, satya, asteya, brahmacharya, and aparigraha are necessary for spiritual liberation. He taught the principles of Anekantavada: syadvada and nayavada.
context_section_description: 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 8th century. 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, 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 Acharanga Sutra recounts his asceticism.
caption: Folio from the Kalpa Sūtra, 15th century
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