MAHAVIRA

(SanskritGreat Hero) born c. 599 BCE traditional dating, Kshatriyakundagrama, India died 527 traditional dating, Pavapuri also known as Vardhamana Epithet of Vardhamana, the last of the 24 Tirthankaras (Ford-makers, i.e., saviours who promulgated Jainism), and the reformer of the Jain monastic community. According to the traditions of the two main Jain sects, the Shvetambara (White-robed) and the Digambara (Sky-clad, i.e., naked), Mahavira became a monk and followed an extreme ascetic life, attaining kevala, the stage of omniscience or highest perception. Teaching a doctrine of austerity, Mahavira advocated nonviolence (ahimsa) in all circumstances and the acceptance of the mahavratas, the five great vows of renunciation. Additional reading Padmanabh S. Jaini, The Jaina Path of Purification (1979); and Paul Dundas, The Jains (1992), deal with the issue of the chronology and contemporaneity of the Buddha and Mahavira. Jaina Sutras, (Gaina Stras), trans. from Prakrit by Hermann Jacobi, 2 vol. (188495, reissued 199495), supplies the earliest Jaina accounts of Mahavira and his teachings. See also Kailash Chand Jain, Lord Mahavira and his Times, rev. ed. (1991) and K.C. Lalwani, Sramana Bhagavan Mahavira: Life & Doctrine (1975).