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that after he had renounced the world Buddha was for some time an ascetic following the Jain cult of Parsvanatha, the 23rd Tirthankar whose death took place 250 Years before Mahavira.
About 2600 years ago Lord Mahavira or Vardhamana (599 to 527 BC), the twenty fourth and the last Tirthankar of this era revived the Jain philosophy previously preached by his predecessor Lord Parshva (950 to 850 BC) in India. He expanded the code of conducts and implemented daily rites for his followers. He felt that such changes are essential for proper religious practice. The present Jain scriptures reflect only his teachings. Thus Mahavira was more of a reformer and propagator of an existing religious order than the founder of a new faith. He followed the wellestablished creed of his predecessor Tirthankaras.
Jainism does not believe in any divinity as the creator of this universe because according to Jain cosmology and metaphysics the world is beginning less and endless, and each human being, by the dint of his own ethical discipline