Ahimsa and Jainism

Author(s): Vijayvallabhsuri
Publisher: Vallabhsuri Smarak Nidhi

Page 33

[ 26 ]
to the Jnatri Kshatriyas, were lay worshipper's of Parsva.
Mahavira was born in the town of Kundanagara, a suburb of Vaisali and an important seat of the Jnatrikas. He was therefore called Vesalie or Vaisalika, a citizen of Vaisali. He was senior in age to the Buddha; the former predeceased the latter by a few years. The greater part of his life coincides with that of the Buddha. He was known as Jnatriputra or the scion of the Jnatri clan, and Sasananayaka or the head of the order. He is described in Jain literature as a supreme personality who was acknowledged as a great Brahmana, a great guardian, a great guide, a great preacher, a great pilot, and a great recluse. He was undoubtedly a supremely gifted Kshatriya teacher and leader of thought, who gathered unto him many men and women and was honoured and worshipped by innumerable lay disciples. He was the head of an order, of a following, the teacber of a school, well-known and of repute as a sophist, revered by the people, a man of experience who had long been a recluse, old and wellstricken in years. He lived restrained as regards all water, restrained as regards all evils, all evils he washed away, and he lived suffused with a sense of evil held at bay.