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MAHAVIRA AND SOCIO-SPIRITUAL VALUES
In the cultural history of mankind, Mahāvīra is one of those few towering personalities who practised and propagated the principles of peaceful coexistence. The Jaina tradition of Tirthañkaras regards Mahāvīra as the twenty-fourth Tirthañkara whereas Rşbha or Adinātha has the honour of being the first Tirthankara who taught people the cultivation of land, reading and writing, and introduced the institution of marriage and social system etc. He is the first preacher of Ahimsă Dharma the basis of śramana culture.
This Ahimsa Dharma is so central in Mahāvīra's philosophy of life that it may be called the beginning and the end of his philosophy. He fought for individual liberty and revolted against the economic exploitation and social oppression of man and introduced vigorous innovations in the then existing social law and order. Mahāvīra regarded the individual and his social responsibility as the key to the progress of both individual and society. Mahāvīra did not confine himself to individual upliftment, but he dedicated himself to the development of a new creative social order for the healthiest orientation of the individual. Thus in the philosophy of Mahāvīra, both individual and society, 'T' and "Thou' are properly reconciled.
Mabāvīra was born at Ksatriya Kundagrāma or Kundalapura (now known as Vasukunda) in Bihar (50 kms. to the north of Patna) on Monday the 27th March 598 B. C. His father, Siddhartha, was the Gañarājā of Kundalapura, which was the centre of Jñatyka Kšatriyas. His mother, Trišalā was the daughter of Cetaka, the great Licchavi Ganarāja Pramukha of Vaiśālī republic. In Buddhist texts Mahāvīra is referred to as the Niggantha Nataputta. Mahāvīrá became a Nirgrantha Muni at the age of 30. He meditated day and night and at last under the sal tree on the bank of the river Rjukūla, he attained supreme knowledge known as Kevalajñāna and became Arhat at the age of forty-two. For thirty years thereafter he visited different parts of the country, especially the im
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Jaina Mysticism and other essays
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