Mahavira

"Mahavira" redirects here. For the mathematician Mahavira Acharya, see Mahavira (mathematician).

Mahavira (वर्धमान महावीर) or Mahavir (the "Great Hero" -- Also, Vardhamana (increasing) Sanmati//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanmati or Niggantha Nathaputta or Gnatputra -- 599 BCE-527 BCE, though possibly 549 BCE-477 BCE) was the 24^th, and last, Jainist Tirthankara.

Mahavira established what are today considered to be the central tenets of Jainism and was a contemporary of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha.

Overview of Mahavir's life

In the ancient kingdom of Vaishali, now in Bihar, India, Mahavir was born on the thirteenth day under the rising moon of Chaitra (April 12 according to the Gregorian calendar). His birthday is celebrated as Mahavir Jayanti.He was known as "Vardhaman" (increasing) because his family's wealth and the kingdom's welfare grew after his conception. An increase of all that was good, like the abundant bloom of beautiful flowers, was noticed in the kingdom. Tradition states that after his birth, Indra bathed him in celestial milk with rituals befitting a future 'Tirthankar' and he was returned to his mother,Queen Trisala. She had dreamt of 14 auspicious symbols before giving birth, signs foretelling the advent of a great soul.

As King Siddartha's son, he lived as a prince, married Princess Yashodhara and had a daughter. At thirty, he left his family, gave up his worldly possessions (over the course of a year), and spent twelve years as an ascetic. At one point, Mahavir had over 400,000 followers. At 72, he left his body ^* in 527 BC, Pawapuri on Dipavali, the last day of the Hindu and Jain calendars. Jains celebrate this as the day he attained liberation and enlightenment, Moksh.

Jains believe Mahavir lived from 599-527 B.C., though some scholars prefer 549-477 B.C.The Perennial Dictionary of World Religions. Keith Crim, editor. Harper & Row Publishers: New York, 1989. 451.

Awakening and enlightenment

After renouncing his kingdom, he spent the next twelve and half years in deep silence and meditation and disciplined himself by conquering his desires, feelings, and attachments. He carefully avoided harming or annoying other living beings, including animals, birds, and plants. He went without food for long periods. His enduring calm, peaceful demeanour against unbearable hardships and his dedicated search for what is real, led others to call him Mahavir (a Sanskrit word, meaning very brave, heroic and courageous). During this period, he attained keval-jnana, or perfect enlightenment, that is when spiritual powers are fully developed and perfect perception, knowledge, power, and bliss completely realized.

Mahavir spent the next thirty years travelling around India preaching about the eternal truth. His ultimate objective was to show how to attain total freedom from birth, life, pain, and death, and such temporary joy or misery, and achieve permanent bliss, recognize one's self, or Moksha, Sanskrit for "liberation".

Grammar Of Mahavira's philosophy

As diction comprises eight parts of speech, Mahavir's philosophy has eight principal cardinals - three metaphysical and five ethical. The objective is to elevate the quality of life. These independent principles reveal exceptional unity of purpose, and aim at achieving spiritual excellence by ethically sound behavior and metaphysical thought. Mahavir's metaphysics consist of three principles - Anekantavada, Syadvada, and Karma; and his Panchavrats, five codes of conduct - Ahimsa, Satya, Asteya, Brahmacharya, and Aparigraha. He talks of Tri-ratnas - three gems, which are the means and the goal.

Mahavir preached that from eternity, every living being (soul) is in bondage of karmic atoms accumulated by good or bad deeds. Under karma, the soul is seeks temporary and illusory pleasure in materialistic possessions, which are the deep rooted causes of self-centered violent thoughts, deeds, anger, hatred, greed, and other vices. These result in further accumulation of karmas.

To liberate one's self, Mahavir taught the neccesity of right faith (samyak-darshana), right knowledge (samyak-jnana), and right conduct (samyak-charitra'). At the heart of right conduct for Jains lie the five great vows:

Nonviolence (Ahimsa)- not to cause harm to any living beings
Truthfulness (Satya)- to speak the harmless truth only
Non-stealing (Asteya)- not to take anything not properly given
Chastity (Brahmacharya)- not to indulge in sensual pleasure
Non-possession/Non-attachment (Aparigraha)- complete detachment from people, places, and material things.

As taught by Mahavir, Jains believe these vows cannot be fully implemented without accepting the philosophy of non-absolutism (Anekantvada) and the theory of relativity (Syadvada, also translated "qualified prediction"). Monks and nuns follow these vows strictly, while common people follow them as far as possible.

For spiritual advancement, Mahavir stated both men and women are equal and that both may renounce the world in search of moksh or ultimate happiness.

Mahavira attracted people from all walks of life, rich and poor, kings and commoners, men and women, princes and priests, touchable and untouchable. He organized his followers into a four-fold order, namely monk (Sadhu), nun (Sadhvi), layman (Shravak), and laywoman (Shravika). This order is known as Chaturvidh Jain Sangh.

Lord Mahavira's sermons were orally compiled by his immediate disciples in the Agam Sutras. These Agam Sutras were orally passed on to future generations. In the course of time, many Agam Sutras have been lost, destroyed, or modified. About one thousand years later the Agam Sutras were recorded on Tadpatris (leafy paper used in those days to preserve records for the future). Swetambar Jains accept these sutras as authentic teachings while Digambar Jains use them as a reference.

Jainism existed before Mahavir, and his teachings were based on those of his predecessors. Thus, Mahavira was a reformer and propagator of an existing religion rather than the founder of a new faith. He followed the well established creed of his predecessor Tirthankar Parshvanath. However, Mahavir did reorganize the philosophical tenets of Jainism to correspond to his times.

A few centuries after Mahavir's death, the Jain religious order (Sangh) grew more and more complex. There were schisms on minor points, although they did not affect Mahavir's original doctrines. Later generations saw the introduction of rituals and complexities that some criticize as placing Mahavira and other Tirthankars on the throne similar to those of Hindu deities.

Mahavira in visual arts

Images of Mahavira came to be sculpted more than six hundred years after his 'nirvana'. His images, or rather all Tirthankara images, were a votive necessity of Jain devotees. Hence, instead of aiming at discovering their real likenesses the prime thrust of such images was their spiritual and aesthetic modeling under prescribed norms.

Their images were largely the images of mind transformed into stone, metal or colors. With locks of hair falling on his shoulders and serpent hood behind his head the images of Rishabhadeva and Parshvanatha respectively have a distinct iconography, but such distinction, except some regional variations and a few minor and remote features, is not seen in other Tirthankara images.

Besides his lion emblem and a slightly different modeling of head, the images of Mahavira are largely identical to those of other Tirthankaras. In most images - at least the ancient ones which alone are in thousands, the pedestals, which contained emblems of different Tirthankaras, are not intact. Hence, identity of a Tirthankara image is difficult to discern.

Mahavira's images are mostly either in 'kayotsarga-mudra' or in 'padmasana'. Other postures have not been preferred - not even the 'godohana-mudra', which Mahavira had when he attained 'keval jnan'. His images rendered for devotees of Digambara sect are not only without clothes but also without every kind of ornamentation. Images rendered for Svetambara devotees are represented as wearing garments, jewels and even a crown. They are represented as seated in a throne much like a monarch. Episodes from his life do not, or little figure in visual arts. Both sculptors and painters have shown some interest in rendering his birth, sometimes as mother Trishala lying on a bed with a number of maids attending upon her, and sometimes as dreaming with sixteen auspicious signs around. A symbolic representation of Mahavira's 'tri-ratnas' is also found in various sculptural panels. Similarly, the diagram of his 'samavasarana' has been the theme of a number of miniatures and wall paintings.

Honours

Mahavira was ranked #100 on Michael H. Hart's list of the most influential figures in history.

Quotes

"Once when he sat meditation...they cut his flesh...tore his hair...picked him up and...dropped him...the Venerable One bore the pain." (from the Akaranga Sutra)

More about Lord Mahavir //www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/mahavira.html | //www.jainguru.com/mahabir.html

References

Lord Mahavira and His Philosophy by Prof. P.C. Jain and Dr Daljeet.

Footnotes

599 BC births | 527 BC deaths | Tirthankars | Indian religious figures | Ascetics

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