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Mahavira and his Philosophy of Life
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we are in a position to appreciate the greatness of Mahâvîra and Buddha, better than we could do in earlier days.
As a sign of the new spirit, the 2500th Parinirvana Day of Buddha was celebrated few years back; besides, the Jayanti days of Mahâvîra and Buddha are now celebrated all over the country every year.
Mahâvîra was a contemporary of Buddha and he stands as the 24th Tirthankara whose preachings fully breathe the spirit of what I have called the Eastern stream of thought in India. All that Mahâvîra and his predecessors preached goes under the name of Jainism today, but that should not come in the way of our appreciating and putting into practice the great principles preached by Mahâvîra which stand today embeded and elaborately interpreted in Jaina literature in different languages.
Those who have visited Bihar can testify to the fertility of that part of India; but more than that, in the history of Indian thought and culture, Bihar has played an important role. The great champions of Atma philosophy like Buddha, Janaka and Mahâvîra hail from this part. It is Mithila in Bihar that has made substantial contributions to Mimamsa, Nyaya and Vaisesika systems. Some 2500 years ago, Vaishali (modern Basarh, some 30 miles to the north of Patna) was a prosperous capital. A suburb of it was called Kundapura or Ksatriyakunda; and here in the palace of King Sidahartha of his queen Trishala or Pryakarini Mahâvîra was born : to emphasise his various outstanding traits, he was also known as Jnata putra, Vaishaliya, Vardhamana, Sanmati, etc. His mother belonged to the family of Chetaka, the mighty Licchavi ruler of Videha at whose call Licchavis and Mallas cooperated both for defence and offence. Tradition is not unanimous about his marriage; according to the one, he was a celibate throughout; while according to another, he married Yasoda and had a daughter called Priyadarshana. As a prince, having excellent connections with ruling dynasties of his times, it was expected of him to rule with authority and enjoy the pleasures of a prosperous career after his faiher. But that was not to be. Just at the age of 30, Mahâvîra decided like a hero to relinquish the comforts of a princely life and undertook the life of an ascetic with a view to attain spiritual happiness, and thus place before the world the
