Mahavira Founds Jainism

Jainism is one of the world's oldest living religions, and its central ideal of ahimsa, or non-violence toward all living beings, has shaped Indian ethics far beyond its own followers. Tradition names Mahavira as the 24th and last Tirthankara of the present age, a "ford-maker" who showed others the path across the cycle of rebirth. The date of 600 BCE is approximate and traditional. Many modern historians place Mahavira's life in the 5th century BCE, roughly contemporary with the Buddha, and Jains themselves hold that the faith did not begin with him but is eternal, renewed in each cosmic cycle by a succession of teachers.

Mahavira lived in the Ganges plain of northeastern India, in the region of Magadha and Videha, at a time of intense religious questioning. Vedic ritual and priestly authority were being challenged by wandering ascetics, known as shramanas, who sought liberation through meditation, discipline and new philosophies. Jain tradition holds that Mahavira was born as Vardhamana, a prince of a ruling clan, and that the 23rd Tirthankara, Parshvanatha, had taught a similar path perhaps two or three centuries earlier. Historians generally regard Parshvanatha as plausibly historical, though evidence is thin for the earlier figures.

According to tradition, Vardhamana left home around the age of thirty, gave up possessions and spent some twelve years in severe austerity and meditation. He is said to have attained kevala jnana, or perfect knowledge, and was thereafter called Mahavira ("great hero") or Jina ("conqueror"), from which the word Jain derives. He then taught for about three decades, gathering monks, nuns and lay followers. Jain accounts credit him with organizing a fourfold community and restating the core vows: non-violence, truthfulness, not stealing, chastity and non-attachment.

Jain thought holds that every living thing has an eternal soul, and that karma, understood almost as a subtle material that clings to the soul, binds it to rebirth. Liberation comes through right faith, right knowledge and right conduct. Another key idea is anekantavada, the view that truth is many-sided and no single perspective captures it completely.

Over the following centuries the community split into two main branches, Digambara and Svetambara, differing on matters such as monastic dress and the status of scriptures. Jainism never became as widespread as Buddhism, but it persisted in India, especially among merchants, and left a lasting mark through vegetarianism, charity, temple art and scholarship. It is thought to have around four to five million adherents today. Its emphasis on non-violence also influenced modern figures, notably Mohandas Gandhi, who drew on Jain friends and teachers in Gujarat.