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MAHAVIRA-A GREAT DEMOCRAT
Lord Mahāvira, the last pontiff of Jains, was born in Bihar six hundred years before Christ. He was elder contemporary of Ruddha and came from the clan of Lichhavi Kşatriyas, well known for its spirit of indepenidence and democratic state. His father. Siddhārtha was a member of the great republic of Vaishāli constituted by nine Malli and nine Lichhavi kingdoms. Vaishāli is now a small village known as Vasāla. It is situated 30 miles north of Muzaffarpur in Bihar. Mahāvira was born in Kștriyakunda, which was a suburb of Vaishāli.
Deeply imbibed with the great spirit of democracy, Mahāvira could not tolerate inequality, not only between man and man, but between man and animal also. His heart pained at the pathetic sight of animals being secrificed for the sake of human enjoyments. His mind revolted against the social injustice perpetrated to the female and Sudras. He did not like the slavery of man to gods and godesses, and though that man himself is the moulder of his destiny. He wanted to introduce drastic reform in the human outlook and in the standards of valuation. But, he thought, only a strong soul could implement reforms, and the strength of soul lies in its purity. A soul guided by prides and prejudices, carried by favours and frowns, induced by desires for sensual enjoyments and perverted by such other weaknesses cannot purify the society.
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